Kansas City Chiefs 2011 Schedule Vs. 2010 Schedule

We know that the Kansas City Chiefs 2011 opponents have already been determined and we know that the 2011 schedule is tougher (on paper) than the 2010 schedule. So I wanted to take a closer look at next year's schedule compared to the one the Chiefs just completed. My conclusion is that the AFC West games become even more important moving forward.

Instead of the NFC West this year, the Chiefs will play the NFC North:

NFC North: Packers, Bears, Lions and Vikings

And instead of the AFC South, which ended up being worse than we thought, the Chiefs will play arguably the best division in the AFC East:

AFC East: Patriots, Dolphins, Jets and Bills

And the Chiefs won't be playing a last place schedule this year which means two wins in 2010 against the Bills and Browns turns into the Steelers and Colts:

AFC: Steelers and Colts

So the Chiefs had eight of their ten wins from this schedule with the other two coming against the Raiders Chargers and Broncos. What this means to me is that the Chiefs simply can't go 2-4 in the division again. If they do, I don't see how they compete in 2011.

The importance of winning your division games next year will become an even bigger emphasis in 2011 than it was in 2010.