Three times in the final five weeks of this regular season, the Chiefs will be reminded of their AFC West dominance.
As long as the Chiefs continue to win those games, theyll be asked about the run that has reached 19 victories in the last 20 games against their most familiar opponents.
Their next opportunity to extend the streak arrives Sunday when the Chiefs visit the Oakland Raiders.
This occasion provides a rarity: a revenge motive for Kansas City. Their lone loss to a division opponent since early in the 2015 season occurred at Oakland last year.
And a bitter loss it was. Oaklands Derek Carr threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree on the final play after the game was extended by two straight defensive holding calls.
The Raiders ended a four-game losing streak, and it wasnt the first time in Andy Reids tenure that an ailing Oakland team reversed its fortune at the Chiefs expense. The Raiders opened the 2014 season with 10 straight losses a 15-game losing streak dating to the previous season and beat the visiting Chiefs 24-20 in Carrs first victory as a starter.
Since Reid took over as head coach in Kansas City in 2013, the Chiefs have lost twice in Oakland and Denver. The difference is, those Broncos teams were division winners. Both Raiders teams finished with double-digit losses.
This time around, the Chiefs own the AFCs best record at 9-2, the Raiders the worst at 2-9 under first-year coach Jon Gruden, which explains why Kansas City is a 15-point favorite.
But its looked easy at Oakland before.
Guys play hard for (Gruden), theyre aggressive, Reid said. And with AFC West opponents, those are tough venues to play at.
Still, the Chiefs success against their division rivals has been remarkable. Since losing at home to the Broncos in the second game of 2015, Kansas City is 19-1 against the AFC West and 22-15 against everyone else.
No other NFL team has had that type of in-division success in the same time span. The Patriots have lost at least one game to each of their AFC East opponents since the Chiefs started their current run.
For the Chiefs, three straight playoff appearances, two division titles and this years record have been built largely on owning the division. After Sunday, the Chiefs have AFC West games remaining against the Chargers and Raiders at Arrowhead Stadium.
Also, each AFC West rival is on its second coach since the Chiefs run started: Vance Joseph with the Broncos, Anthony Lynn with the Chargers, and Gruden, who is trying to match the success he enjoyed during his previous stint with the Raiders.
From 1998-2001, Gruden dropped his first three meetings to Kansas City but then won the next five. He added two more victories over the Chiefs as the Buccaneers coach.