Arrowhead Pride
Before the Kansas City Chiefs’ Week 14 matchup against the Houston Texans, nearly every Arrowhead Pride panelist picked Kansas City to win. Their aggregated prediction — a 20-10 Chiefs victory — missed by 26 points compared to the Chiefs’ 20-10 loss. Our readers fared much better: just over half picked Houston to win, and 14% correctly believed the Texans would leave Kansas City with an easy victory.
In Week 15, the Chiefs return to GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium to face the Los Angeles Chargers. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, Kansas City is favored by 5.5 points.
Here’s how the staff — and our readers — see the matchup playing out.
Last week, I picked against the Chiefs because I felt it was an unfavorable matchup for the team.
This week feels different. This is a game Kansas City should win.
The Chargers’ edge rushers will cause some issues, but not to the extent Houston did. Los Angeles also isn’t a man-heavy coverage team, which better suits the Chiefs’ offense. Finding answers should come more easily.
And we saw what the Kansas City defense did to Houston’s offensive line last week. The Chargers might be worse. In a game against the Eagles without Jalen Carter, Los Angeles allowed nearly a 70% pressure rate and seven sacks. Chris Jones should dominate.
It should be close, but this matchup favors the Chiefs.
Kansas City 24, Chargers 20
In more than seven years of making Chiefs predictions in this space, I’ve learned one lesson above all else: trust the team. During that span, Kansas City has posted the NFL’s best record. So even if I only missed on losses, my overall mark would still be strong. Predicting the Chiefs’ defeats has usually meant predicting upsets — and those are nearly impossible to foresee.
I can’t fully explain how the 2025 team ended up at 6-7. By most measures, the offense has been more productive than the 15-2 team from 2024. There are visible cracks on defense, but none that should have pushed the team to the brink of missing the postseason. And in the third quarter against Houston, we saw that the unit can still be dominant.
I just can’t justify giving up on the Chiefs. Hopefully, they won’t give up on themselves, either.
Chiefs 27, Chargers 20
This is one of the most difficult Chiefs games I’ve tried to project. It’s still unclear which version of this team will show up. The record says 6–7 — and that matters. Yet the offense has outperformed last season’s 15–2 unit statistically, and the defense — even with noticeable regression — still flashes its former identity. The third quarter last week was a reminder of that ceiling.
Execution has been the difference. In past seasons, Kansas City delivered in defining moments. This year, those moments have swung the other way. Penalties, drops and missed assignments — particularly late — have defined...
