A Look at the AFC West

As the Broncos play the Jets on Thursday Night Fooball (NFL Network if you have it) to try to keep pace with the division leader Oakland Raiders, the Chiefs wait their turn for a second Monday Night appearance against the New England Patriots. Although, with the knowledge of Cassel's hand injury and subsequent surgery, the Chiefs path to division contention looks bleak.

Here's the standings in the AFC West, not including the winner of tonight's match-up.

Team	Record	Division Record
Oakland Raiders	5 – 4	2 – 3
San Diego Chargers	4 – 5	3 – 2
Denver Broncos	4 – 5	1 – 3
Kansas City Chiefs	4 – 5	2 – 3

If you care what my opinion is, I say the Chargers probably come back and win this division, but I have no conviction on that opinion whatsoever. I was bullish about the Chiefs after their victory over San Diego, but following two straight losses to losing opponents and the potential season loss of Cassel, I am bearish about our odds. The one thing that hasn't convinced me the Chiefs are done this season is that we are in the AFC West.

Back in July, I dug through team records since realignment in 2002, and made the assessment that the AFC West had been the worst division in football, despite the commonly held belief that the NFC West had been beyond pathetic for what seemed like forever. I conceded that the NFC West record was by far the worst, but the division's performance in the playoffs was what I put the most weight on. [To read the entire post, just click the hyperlink above.]

While the NFC West is still an awful division, it looks like everyone is starting to see what I've thought for quite some time. Even this season, only one game separates first and last place in the AFC West, and that one game is the difference between a winning and losing record. The NFC West, while having three bad teams, has a legitimate Super Bowl contender in the San Francisco 49ers. They have made up for the rest of the division. No one in the AFC West can do that, and the division has been exposed.

I hate to be sound so negative, because the fact is I love the division. I love the parity. I love how any team can still win it this season. It turns a bad team into a playoff shot. It turns the Chiefs into one game back. Even if Palko is starting, you can't help but have hope because all the other teams in your division are just as likely to lose as you are. Although, they don't have this schedule:

@ New England; Steelers; @ Chicago; @ New York Jets; Green Bay; Oakland; @ Denver