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Many of you here at Arrowhead Pride began being polled last year on various things concerning the Kansas City Chiefs and matters across the NFL. This is part of SB Nation’s FanPulse tool, which sends weekly questions to the city’s most plugged-in and dedicated Chiefs fans via email.
If you are interested in joining the Chiefs’ FanPulse, please sign up here.
On Thursday, we received our first Arrowhead Pride results of the offseason. First, we asked:
If the Chiefs don’t win the Super Bowl in 2019, would you consider the season a failure?
55 percent of fans said that, “yes, it would be a failure”
45 percent of fans said that, “no, it would not be a failure”
In this question, I would probably lean, “yes.” Keeping in mind the cold, hard truth that 31 teams go home unhappy, the 2019 Chiefs season is Andy Reid’s seventh year (what, already?) with the club. I think we can all agree that Clark Hunt brought Reid to Kansas City for two reasons: 1) Turn the franchise upside-down and around (check). 2) Win a championship.
There is also the point of the Chiefs being right on the doorstep last season. It is painful to remember but bears repeating here: the Chiefs lost the AFC title in overtime, the defense holding it back (then and all season). The Chiefs have changed every defensive position coach, including its coordinator and have moved on from key contributors in favor of a youth movement led by Tyrann Mathieu and Chris Jones. The expectation immediately becomes greater.
Finally, Patrick Mahomes is due for what could be the richest contract in NFL history next offseason. This is the final cheap year of Mahomes in what many hope will be a decade-or-two long career in Kansas City. Hit on the first title window.
Did the Chiefs get better in free agency?
59 percent of fans said, “yes”
41 percent of fans said, “no”
This is a tough question, in my opinion, considering some of the players the Chiefs added during the free agency period (Tyrann Mathieu, Alex Okafor, Damien Wilson, Carlos Hyde, among others) and some of the players they lost (Eric Berry, Dee Ford, Justin Houston, Steve Nelson, among others).
With the additions and subtractions staring you in the face, this is a “no” in my opinion. But football isn’t played on paper.
We also borrowed some results from Pats Pulpit, which runs the same FanPulse polls but with Patriots fans. Pats Pulpit asked...
Who is the biggest challenger to the Patriots in the AFC?
Chiefs - 72 percent
Browns - 12 percent
Chargers - 6 percent
Colts - 5 percent
Ravens - 3 percent
Other - 2 percent
We asked Pats Pulpit editor Bernd Buchmasser if the results surprised him:
BUCHMASSER: “New England’s fans certainly know the value of a quality starting quarterback and the impact one can have on the game, so I’m not at all surprised to see a Patrick Mahomes-led Chiefs team as the overwhelming choice to be the Pats’ top challenger in the conference again in 2019. After all, as we have seen twice last year, Kansas City is certainly capable of hanging with the Patriots even though they have not been able to beat them… yet.”
If you are interested in joining the Chiefs’ FanPulse, please sign up here.