The Kansas City Chiefs are locked into the third or fourth seed in the playoffs so however things work out in Week 17, they'll be hosting a home playoff game in round one. That's caused some of us to wonder if the Chiefs will rest some starters against the Oakland Raiders in Week 17.
Chiefs head coach Todd Haley has indicated that they're unlikely to do that and that they'll be playing to win against the Raiders. Even without much to gain in this game, Haley says he's not having any problems selling the players on the need to win.
"This Raider team is a dangerous, dangerous team that has beat some good teams, had the chance to beat other good teams, has been in the mix the entire year and beat us in a game that we had a chance to take care of some business and we didn’t do it," Haley said Wednesday.
"It’s not a sell, it doesn’t feel like a sell, our guys know the task at hand and they know that this is the biggest game of the year because if we don’t take care of business in this game, there are a lot of problems that could cause us – we’re not thinking about them but we know they’re there."
It's hard to see how there's not at least some part of the players that want to lay down in Week 17. This is the first time all year the next game can't be considered the biggest of the year but apparently that's not an issue.
I do think, though, momentum is a significant factor with these Chiefs. They're fairly young, and some contributors were preparing for Bowl games at this point last year, so continuing their hot streak is important. That's the part of the sell I can believe. I imagine the revenge factor from the loss to the Raiders earlier in the season comes into play.