FanPost

Lucky, Lucky Chiefs

Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

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The Kansas City Chiefs are lucky!

Do you believe that certain teams just have better fortunes, a better role of the dice, catch chance by the tail and ride it to say... a 9-0 start?

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We all have heard naysayers claim that the success of the Kansas City Chiefs is simply, luck. The Kansas Chiefs, they say, have played a soft schedule, have played against back-up quarterbacks, and lack a high explosive offense. Surely that evidence proves that the Chiefs are lucky. Doesn't it?

I'm here to assert to you that, yes, the Kansas City Chiefs ARE lucky. But not because of any of the evidence above.

Blind Luck

Blind luck is, at its simplest form, a favorable condition that comes from an unexplainable source, i.e., from nowhere. It can be considered a type of luck that is simply stumbled into. Blind luck does not include situations in which people prepare and because of that preparation, favorable conditions may result. If the Kansas City Chiefs drill over and over for months on pass coverage, disguise, and rush pressure and then a defender finds himself in the right place to intercept a pass, even a pass that might be deflected, then this situation does not constitute blind luck. Being in a position to intercept a pass, deflected or not, that a player was trained to be in is not blind luck...it is self-created luck.

The Kansas City Chief's 9-0 start is NOT a product of blind luck.

All Teams That Win Can Be Said To Be Lucky

...The teams that finish plus-1 or better in turnover margin will most likely be your winners. Since 2000, teams that have been plus-1 in turnover margin have won 92 of 128 postseason games (a winning percentage of .719). Teams that have lost the turnover battle have won just 14.8 percent of the time....Ashley Fox

If you want to know one of the leading statistics in the NFL in predicting which team might come out the victor...look no further than the turnover margin. In other words, whoever strips the ball more often, intercepts a pass, falls on a fumble, that team has a better chance at winning the game. But that is not blind luck, not as far as I'm concerned. That type of luck is self-created. It is a product of the prepared. It is taking advantage of statistical likelihoods by preparation.

You ever hear a coach say that he is going to work on the teams concentration and turnovers? And then the next year the team has less turnovers? Many might fail to look a little deeper into the preparation and assert that the team had stumbled onto some good fortune, had finally had some good luck. But it was not simply blind luck, it was self-created.

Self-Created Luck

Richard Wiseman did a ten year study of luck. He recognized that there was a type of luck that was driven simply by random chance. However, many of his experiments led him to conclude that a significant portion of a person's good fortune was due to one's state of mind and behaviors. The foundation of luck is opportunity, so it would follow that the more the opportunities that one encounters along with the receptiveness of those opportunities, the luckier one will be.

Simply by the eye test, the Kansas City Chiefs appear more prepared, they look organized, well drilled and focused. They have been prepared, especially defensively, to encounter more opportunities for luck. And by doing so, they have self-created their own luck.

Lucky people are skilled at creating, noticing and acting upon chance opportunities. -Richard Wiseman

So, the Kansas City Chiefs ARE lucky. But that's not a concession that their 9-0 start is not due to their efforts, talent, dedication, and play. On the contrary, saying they have been lucky in this 9-0 start is making the assertion that their efforts, talent, dedication, and play has generated more opportunities and made them more receptive to good fortune.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.