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For the first time this year the Kansas City Chiefs are favored to win. Depending on where you look they're about 4.5 point favorites for next Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The game is in Kansas City and the Chiefs are clearly playing more consistent than the Jaguars so I can see why they're favored.
But how will they react?
It's a totally different dynamic, I think, when you're expected to win versus being expected to lose. I'm sure the Chiefs used the underdog label as motivation at times. The key for Todd Haley moving forward will be making the team want more. I think we've seen that from him to this point. When the Chiefs are up, he tells them they haven't done anything. When they're down, he tells them they're doing a lot of things right. Motivation tactics are clearly important to him as the head coach.
The Chiefs have been able to play off of the underdog role to this point in the season. The closest they got to being favored was two point dogs against the Cleveland Browns in Week 2.
This is something the Chiefs will have to get used to. Over the next seven games, I could see them being favored at home against the Buffalo Bills, Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos. Maybe even an away game against the Oakland Raiders.
What do you think about the Chiefs as favorites? Does anything change?