The Kansas City Chiefs are underdogs for the first time since Week 4 as they visit the Panthers in Carolina this weekend. The odds have the Panthers as a 3-point favorite.
This is one of the best remaining tests as we try to determine the whether the Chiefs are a good team who can beat bad teams or a great team who can beat other great teams. I’m not sure I would call the Panthers great at 3-5 but clearly winning on the road against the defending NFC champions would be a nice feather in their cap.
The Chiefs also play the Falcons, Broncos (twice), Raiders and Chargers which are all in the same ballpark in terms of quality of opponent. The Chiefs will be ‘dogs probably twice (at Falcons, at Broncos). How they perform against those teams — especially the stretch of at Atlanta, at Denver and the Raiders in three weeks — will tell us which type of team the Chiefs are as they gear up for a playoff run.