The Kansas City Chiefs fell to their AFC rivals, the Buffalo Bills, last Sunday.
It was their first defeat of the 2024 season, ending any chance of an unbeaten regular season run to their ultimate goal – a historic three-peat.
The back-to-back Super Bowl champions have been the NFL’s dominant force in recent years, and walked into Highmark Stadium with a 9-0 record.
But when Josh Allen bounced off two Chiefs defenders before crossing into the end zone on a 26-yard run with just two minutes left to seal Buffalo’s 30-21 victory, cheers and celebrations erupted not only around the field, but perhaps across the country.
That’s because Kansas City have become the team that America loves to hate.
Every league has a villain, who the majority like to root against.
It was once seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady, but now it’s Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
Love them or hate them, Kansas City are a major draw right now.
In fact, recent NFL viewership figures revealed that of the five most watched games through the first 11 weeks of the season, four involved the Chiefs.
Those were the Week 1 win over the Baltimore Ravens, the Week 2 win against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Week 7 victory over the San Francisco 49ers and the Week 11 loss against the Bills.
A massive 31.2 million viewers tuned in to witness their perfect record fall, making it one of the most watched NFL games of the last 17 years.
With such a following each week, there’s also a suggestion that Kansas City have overtaken the Dallas Cowboys as ‘America’s Team’.
And that, according to talkSPORT’s NFL analyst Jason Bell, feeds into their growing reputation as the league’s most disliked team.
“I feel like you have to be both. Because if you are de facto America’s team, that means you’re getting all the attention, which means you’re a villain to everybody else,” the former New York Giants cornerback said.
“So this is true, they had a lot of attention for things on and off the field, deservedly so. They performed at a high level, especially under a lot of scrutiny, a lot of eyeballs last year.
“But this is what happens when you win. Everybody’s going for you, and it’s just like a championship fighter. 50% of the crowd is there to see you win, 50% is there to see you lose. And I think that’s what it is with the Chiefs this year.”
While the prize-fighting Chiefs suffered their first defeat of the season against the Bills, they are still tipped to make their three-peat dreams a reality.
According to Bell, they can make a deep playoff run thanks to a major postseason weapon.
“The thing about the Chiefs is, as much as I question them, especially on offense, what I saw Patrick Mahomes do in the playoffs last year was unbelievable,” he continued.
“I mean, he just lit them up. He became the Patrick Mahomes who we know of. So I’m almost thinking, even though I don’t believe they’re the best team in the AFC, if that happens again, who’s to stop them?
“You know, the defense is great. They’re not as good as they were last year, in my opinion, because they lost their corner (L’Jarius) Sneed. And because of that, they can’t play man-to-man all the time like they want to.
“I mean, Trent McDuffie is really good, but they had two great corners last year.
“But my goodness, the way Patrick Mahomes turns it on in the postseason, they’re gonna be hard to beat with Andy Reid. You got a play caller and a playmaker, it’s hard to doubt them.”
If the Chiefs are successful in their bid for a third-straight Super Bowl, that will no doubt add to the ‘super villain’ debate that is growing around them.