Kansas City Chiefs Have Found a Turning Point

Last year, the Kansas City Chiefs went from worst to first in the AFC West after finishing with a 4-12 record in 2009 and put together the biggest turnaround in franchise history with a 10-6 record as AFC West champions.

This year, the worst-to-first jump could happen for the Chiefs in the span of just eight weeks.

Kansas City started off as one of the worst football teams in the league. Having lost to the Buffalo Bills and the Detroit Lions by a combined score of 89-10, the Chiefs gave up the most points in the league. On top of that, the Chiefs also scored the fewest points in the league in the first two games of the season.

Kansas City had high hopes of turning their season around when they went to visit the San Diego Chargers to play their first game in the division. After a slow start, the Chiefs rallied in the second half, but fell short.

In Week 4, Todd Haley and his Chiefs wanted to end the losing streak at home against the winless Minnesota Vikings. Haley and the Chiefs succeeded as Matt Cassel and Ryan Succop had redeemed themselves after struggling earlier in the season.

The Chiefs hoped to carry over their success against another winless team as they visited the Indianapolis Colts. Despite getting off to a slow 17-0 start in the game, Cassel fired his offense up and threw four touchdown passes. Dwayne Bowe and Steve Breaston each shined and caught two touchdown passes to help the Chiefs come back and win going into the bye week.

The Chiefs' biggest test of the season came against the Oakland Raiders, who were 4-2 but without their starting quarterback. All eyes were on the Raiders, who had Kyle Boller and Carson Palmer.

Despite all the hype Oakland received, the Chiefs took advantage of what was given to them as they picked off the Raiders six times to help come away with their first shutout victory since 2006.

After starting 0-3, the topics of firing Haley, letting Cassel go and drafting Andrew Luck were the center of discussion in Kansas City. However, the Chiefs started to win some games and put those topics to sleep, sitting with a 3-3 record after a huge win in the division on the road.

Despite the 0-3 start, the Chiefs are now in a position in which they can take the lead in the AFC West if they win on Halloween night when the Chargers come to visit for Monday Night Football.

The Chargers are 4-2 with a division record of 2-0 and a conference record of 3-2. For San Diego, losing to Kansas City would be vital and it would place them in second.

If the Chiefs win, the Chiefs, Raiders and Chargers will all have a 4-3 record after eight weeks of football.

Since the Raiders lost to the Chiefs this Sunday, their head-to-head record would prevent them from being in first place and because of their 1-1 record in the division, they would be in third.

The Chiefs and Chargers would be tied with a 1-1 head-to-head record. They would also be tied with a 2-1 record in the division as well as being tied in common games this season. The only common game they have is against the Vikings, which both teams won.

However, the Chargers would fall to 3-3 in the conference while the Chiefs go to 3-2 in the conference.

Therefore, a win next week would give the Chiefs the lead in the division race, thanks to the fourth tiebreaker rule.

The Raiders had a chance to steal the lead, but didn't because they were not able to take care of the football.

The Chiefs have a golden opportunity and cannot let this slip through their hands. The Chiefs have a very grueling schedule coming up after their next three games. Every game counts for Kansas City. The 0-3 record cannot be dwelled upon now that they are back at .500 with a chance to steal the spotlight from the Chargers.

The Chiefs have bigger and better things to look forward to and must prepare for a huge game on Monday Night Football at Arrowhead Stadium.