Go Raiders?

The Chiefs are well positioned going forward in the AFC West. While we all know we have holes, we also boast talent at many positions and look to have an arrow pointing up as we head into the fourth year of the Pioli regime.

The rest of the west isn't so lucky. The Chargers are aging and still underperforming and look to lose at least Norv Turner (new Chiefs' OC, anyone) and maybe AJ Smith, too. That's going to trigger a couple of years of rebuilding, by which time the core of their team will be retired or playing elsewhere. The Broncos are still feeling out the rebuild that McDaniels started (so pitifully) and are now stuck with Tebow's mediocre skillset and unlikely heroics for at least a year if not more. If he fails to develop, there may still be another head coach or two in Denver's pursuit of greatness as well. And the Raiders, while probably the best of the three on paper going into 2012, have hitched their future, along with half of their top picks the next two years, to an aging Carson Palmer. He's not what he once was, and it's almost impossible to see him playing well enough to be worth a 1st and a 2nd round pick. I see a couple years of past-his-prime, interception-rich mediocrity which will eventually cost Jackson his job and send Oakland back to the drawing board as well.

If Crennel can right the ship long-term as well as he did in his first couple weeks, the top spot in this division for the next 3 to 5 years is ours for the taking! We have high draft picks, a low salary cap, and a good bit of improvement already built in with the return of injured players. If we keep Orton or even if Cassel can just be solid enough to keep us competitive until a better QB can be groomed, the sky is the limit.

The Raiders can give the Chiefs another little boost this weekend if they whip the Chargers while we beat the Broncos. If the Chiefs win and the Chargers lose, both teams would finish 7-9 and by virtue of division record, the Chiefs would get third place in the west and the Chargers fourth. Normally, the fourth place schedule is a bit easier, but this year that's not the case. The AFC West plays the AFC North (the Steelers, Ravens, Bengals, and Browns... the best division in the AFC this year and likely next year, too) and the NFC South (Saints, Falcons, Carolina, and the Bucs... last years division champ is the easy game!) It's going to be rough, to say the least, but I stillthink the Chiefs are in the best situation to handle it. Add in six games of division play, and you are left with two games decided by division finish. Third place this year will get the Jaguars and either Dolphins or Bills, and fourth place gets Indy and either the Dolphins or Bills. Assuming either Manning is back next year, or replaced by Andrew Luck, it would definitely be a boost to get the Jags. We will all be playing four playoff teams from this year (five if the Bengals make it) and adding Indy to SD's slate will make them and Oakland (who would be playing the Texans and Patriots in this scenario) fight the hardest road to the West title in 2012.

Plus, SD losing it's last two games en route to missing the playoffs for the second straight year might be the straw that breaks AJ Smith's back and sends him packing with Turner next week. That would trigger an even deeper rebuild for the Chargers than if Smith survives...

Obviously the Chiefs need to take care of their own business and beat the Donks, but I'll also be pulling for the hated Raiders as I watch the scores crawl at the bottom of my screen...