The number of unbeaten teams goes down week by week, well it has to, right? As of week 3, the Kansas City Chiefs are still sitting pretty as one of the 5 as-yet undefeated teams. However, they’re not content to sit on their laurels and take things for granted. None of their three victories yet have been convincing ones. In particular, in week 2 against the Cincinnati Bengals, they scraped by 26-25, and Patrick Mahomes got intercepted twice.

Luckily, they’ve had a surprisingly good defense to lean on, with them pitching in for every win. Nevertheless, things got to the point that Mahomes opened up at the press conference after the Atlanta Falcons game. “We haven’t played good the last three games. We’ve been able to win. That speaks to the character of the team, the grit,” the star quarterback says. But, being mature, he clarified his role in the team’s performance, “Offensively, especially me, myself, I feel like I haven’t been playing well, and that’s not a stats thing. I just feel like I’m missing opportunities whenever they’re out there. Not throwing the ball to the exact spot I wanted to.”

On paper, Mahomes had a good game, throwing for 217 yards with two touchdown passes, even with an interception. But what he says rings true, the Chiefs are winning, but they’re not at their best. Mahomes thrived with the smaller passes but hit the longer ones, the longest being his 27-yard one to Rashee Rice. Speaking on what he would change, Mahomes said, “I gotta get my base right. I think I’m trusting my arm too much in some of those passes. I gotta get back to my fundamentals.”

Even head coach Andy Reid said there was significant room for improvement in the team’s performance. And that’s a man who knows his football. Mahome’s teammate Rashee Rice pitched in too, “He’s the greatest quarterback I’ve ever played with. Whenever he feels like he hasn’t had a great game, I feel the same way. We’ve just got to get back to practice so we can get better together.” For a quarterback who few would doubt is the best in the league right now, acknowledging that he isn’t at the top of his game is huge. If the Chiefs (and Patrick Mahomes) can be playing subpar games and still winning, what’s to come now that they’ve recognized their problem and are working on it? Both Kansas City Chiefs fans and fans of their rivals will look on with bated breath.

With the Chiefs winning, but barely, is a 3-peat on the table?

At the start of the season, the Chiefs were already regarded as favorites to scoop up the Lombardi trophy. The San Francisco 49ers weren’t far behind either. Now, week 3, the top two places haven’t changed. Shaky wins are still wins, after all. It’s still impossibly early to tell who’s going to end up winning, but these boys are hungry for it. Just one good, decisive win might be what the Chiefs need to put themselves on track. To become that win-hungry team again.

The next game against the Los Angeles Chargers might bring just that. The Chiefs have been dominating the Chargers for years now, winning 5 of their last 5 games. Chase Daniel has waxed poetic about how it’s basically guaranteed, and while that’s probably going too far, things do look good for them. Andy Reid is a coach whose style focuses on efficiency and conciseness, which just might be what they need. These are all gifted players, most of them repeat Super Bowl winners. They have what it takes. They’re at a stage where all they need is leadership that knows what it’s doing, and that certainly seems to be the case here. We might just see history be made this year.

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