The Biggest Thing That Could Hold the Chiefs Back

Several narratives have been presented to the Kansas City Chiefs on how their 2025 regular season will go down. Whether some believe the Chiefs' Super Bowl LIX performance was a show of things to come in the future, or if the Chiefs are believed to lose the AFC West, the narratives have been negative.

Recency bias haunts the Chiefs. They lost the Super Bowl embarrassingly, and some believed they didn't even deserve to be there. All in all, the Chiefs won 15 games last season and are still counted out. Until the throne is toppled by another AFC franchise, the Chiefs should be considered favorites in the conference.

The Super Bowl loss has only fueled the fire burning underneath the Chiefs, but motivation can only take you so far. One thing that plagued the Chiefs last season, and has quietly been hindering their training camp, has been injuries to players on both sides of the football.

The Chiefs' first-round draft pick was on an injured player in Josh Simmons; they re-signed Hollywood Brown, who missed most of last season due to injury, and could be losing out on Rashee Rice, who is also returning from injury, for multiple games due to suspension.

Approaching the 2025 regular season, the biggest thing that could hold the Chiefs back from success is injuries. Brown is recovering from an ankle injury this offseason, free agent signee Kristian Fulton just recently put pads on, and other players have already been bitten by the injury bug. While the Chiefs survived last season with all the injuries they had, it could easily hold them back if someone doesn't step up.

Aug 9, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) prays as safety Deon Bush (26) is tended to by trainers after suffering an injury against the Arizona Cardinals during a preseason NFL game at State Farm Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Analyst's Thoughts

According to CBS Sports' Jared Dubin, along with injuries, suspensions could also lead to a troublesome season for the Chiefs.

"Hollywood is already banged up in camp, Rice is facing a suspension stemming from his arrest last offseason, explosive rookie running back Brashard Smith has been out of practice and, well, who the heck knows if we'll ever even see the Chiefs at full strength and back to cooking with the type of gas we saw them hit during Patrick Mahomes' first few years in the league," Dubin wrote.

The Chiefs can't afford to lose any more players to injury if they want to continue to be viewed as the team to beat in the AFC West and the conference alone.

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