National Football League

First impression? The Chiefs can get to 10 wins in 2015 -- just don't ask us how

Published Apr. 21, 2015 9:52 p.m. ET

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- So the dance card is out, and Kansas City Chiefs fans ...

... like their team's travel itinerary, are kind of all over the place regarding 2015.

Pro: A trio of prime-time games, with two -- vs. Denver on a Thursday (Sept. 17) and at Lambeau Field in Week 3 (Sept. 28) -- in the first month.

Con: Two of those three night games are away from the loudest damn stadium in the NFL.

Pro: Four of the last six at Arrowhead Stadium, including two softies in Cleveland (Dec. 27) and Oakland (Jan. 3).

Con: Four of the first six on the road, including toughies at Houston (Sept. 13), at Green Bay and at Cincinnati (Oct. 4).

Pro: Four home games after Thanksgiving, one of the kindest finishes of any NFL slate.

Con: Just three home games before Thanksgiving, a stretch of 11 weeks, and none between Oct. 25 and Nov. 29.

Thanks, London. It's not that we don't love ya, mate. It's that we don't love giving up a home game to ya (Nov. 1, vs. Detroit, 8:30 a.m.).

So there's plenty to love, plenty to loathe, and the truth probably falls, as it usually does, somewhere in the middle. It's the first time the Chiefs have opened a regular season with three out of their first four on the road since 2007. And five of six divisional matchups fall after the Week 9 bye, including a stretch of three AFC West roadies over four weekends (at Denver, Nov. 15; at San Diego, Nov. 22; at Oakland, Dec. 6).

On the bright side, potential subplots abound, especially early. Look! There's Romeo Crennel in Week 1! And Peyton Manning just four days later! General manager John Dorsey gets a lap in his old Wisconsin stomping grounds! Da Bears visit our shores for the first time since 2003! Todd Haley! Again!

Plus, the Local 22 get Cleveland at home just after Christmas, which somebody we know well noticed right away:

Never misses a trick, our Dwayne.

Because of a second straight second-place divisional finish and a pairing with the NFC North, the Chiefs are tied for the seventh-toughest slate, in terms of 2014 opponent winning percentage (.545), with the Oakland Raiders. Both teams' foes went 139-116-1 last year, and only the Steelers (.579), Bengals (.563), Niners (.561), Seahawks (.559), Cardinals (.557) and Rams (.553) got a tougher card.

Of course, these things don't always follow the script, whatever we think the script is supposed to look like. A year ago, the Chiefs were also saddled with the seventh-toughest slate -- this time drawing the NFC West -- and pegged by most of the football talking heads as one of the surest bets to dip after their 11-5, wild-card form of 2013.

And dip they did, but not as far as many of the suits had thought. The Andy Gang's 9-7 mark was three games back of the division-winning Broncos -- who swept them for a third straight year, that (pick your expletive) Manning just doesn't know when to quit -- but remained mathematically in the nutso race for the final AFC playoff spot 'til the second half of Week 17's victory over San Diego.

It wasn't that 9-7 was unexpected so much as the way it happened. A home loss in Week 1 to the woeful Titans raised blood pressures; just three weeks later, that same Chiefs team routed the eventual Super Bowl champion Patriots 41-14. Road wins in Miami, San Diego and Buffalo made sense; a November setback at miserable Oakland in Week 12 did not, the latter kicking off a three-game losing streak that dropped the Chiefs to 7-6. In between, we saw everything from the absurd -- Bowe missed the opener because of a suspension that stemmed from his infamous "Sonic" arrest -- to the tragic, with safety Eric Berry's shock cancer diagnosis.

So if we learned anything from last fall, it's to expect the unexpected. On paper, this bunch, you might figure, has more than enough goods to get back to double digits in the win column. Just don't ask us how.

You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter at @SeanKeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.

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