The Kansas City Chiefs travel to take on the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots on Saturday afternoon at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, in the Divisional Round of the AFC playoffs.
Here are five storylines to follow during the game:
1. Will the magical season for the Chiefs continue?
It's something we probably won't fully appreciate until the season has come to a conclusion—whenever that might be.
A season that began with such high hopes faltered early into the depth of a 1-5 hole and the loss of their best offensive player—Jamaal Charles. But this only set the stage to prove what general manager John Dorsey has preached all along—signing and drafting players of high football character.
It was the right group of players and the right leadership to set forth a plan that ultimately was as simple as having everyone grab their shovels and get to work.
They dug themselves out of that early hole to the tune of 11 straight wins, setting franchise records both as a team and individuals in the process, and they've now earned the opportunity to play the defending Super Bowl champions in their house for a shot at playing for the Lamar Hunt Trophy in the AFC title game next week.
This season is the 50th anniversary of the Super Bowl, an event only possible because of the strength and vision of Hunt—the founder of the Chiefs and the AFL and a man whose contributions to the game might not ever be fully appreciated.
Both the Chiefs and Patriots are original AFL teams.
This year, these two teams have taken drastically different paths to get to this point. The Patriots won their first 10 games of the season and then proceeded to lose four of their final six, including dropping their last two against the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.
The Chiefs have won 11 straight and haven't lost since the Kansas City Royals won the World Series, Eric Fisher moved back to left tackle, Jeff Allen returned after missing the first six games with a knee injury, and also, since former Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez hit the drum during pregame ceremonies before that Steelers game, when all of this winning originated.
On Saturday, it will be 90 days since the Chiefs last lost a football game, and whether or not this magical season continues for the Chiefs all rests on their ability to overcome the challenges undoubtedly awaiting them, something they've thrived on this season.
2. Tom Brady and the Patriots quick passing game
The Chiefs defense understands the challenges that await them with the Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady—the best postseason quarterback in NFL history.
"He's probably the best," linebacker Derrick Johnson said of Brady. "He's playing at such a high level that you could play tight coverage and he's still going to stick it in there.
"We're going to have to make a play at some point in the game."
Brady is known for getting the ball out quick, averaging just 2.1 seconds before the ball is out of his hands. This helps negate a defense's pass rush while at the same time helping an offensive line that has seen numerous injuries this season.
The Patriots have had 13 different starting combinations along the offensive line this season, which is the most of any team in the NFL. The Chiefs have had nine of their own including the game last Saturday against the Texans, which ties them for the second-most in the NFL.
In Week 17, the Patriots started Cameron Fleming at left tackle, Josh Kline at left guard, Bryan Stork at center, Tre' Jackson at right guard and Marcus Cannon at right tackle.
Those five players have combined for 72 career starts, which are by far the fewest of any OL in the playoffs.
The average number of career starts for an offensive line of the eight teams remaining in the playoffs is 224. The Chiefs have 135 using the starters from the game last week against the Texans.
But with the return of Patriots left tackle Sebastian Vollmer, who missed their last game because of an ankle injury and who has 80 career starts, they will have more than doubled the amount of experience up front.
The Arizona Cardinals have the most experience up front on the offensive line with 395 career games played (an average of 79 games per player).
One of the reasons Brady has been able to get rid of the ball quickly and still find success is because of receiver Julian Edelman, who despite not playing since Week 10, still finished second on the team with 61 receptions for 692 yards with 7 touchdowns in just nine games.
Edelman's return after a two-month absence from a foot injury means a lot to the Patriots offense. With Edelman on the field, the Patriots converted 50 percent of their third-down attempts and just 33 percent without him.
He's the go-to guy in most situations for Brady when he's on the field and healthy, and when it's not Edelman, it's tight end Rob Gronkowski, who leads the Patriots with 72 receptions for 1,176 yards and 11 touchdowns this season.
"He's a competitor," safety Eric Berry said this week of Gronkowski. "With his size and ability, I feel like he's a big time competitor and he's going to compete every chance he gets."
The Chiefs defensive linemen have already said they're looking forward to this challenge of facing Brady and this offense.
"I'm licking my chops," linebacker Justin Houston, who had 2 sacks on Brady in their meeting last year, said of getting after the quarterback this week. "It doesn't matter if it's [Tom Brady] back there or someone else. We've got a goal in mind and that's what we're trying to do."
The Chiefs defense has allowed less than 12 points per game throughout this 11-game winning streak, a dominance which includes the first postseason shutout in the NFL in more than a decade with their 30-0 win last week over the Texans.
3. Can the Chiefs offensive line control the line of scrimmage?
All the talk leading up to the Wild Card game against the Texans was whether or not the Chiefs offensive line could handle the Texans front seven led by all-everything defensive lineman J.J. Watt and company.
They answered that question and then some.
The guys up front were physical, technical and played with an edge that drew the praise of coach Andy Reid. The Chiefs ran for more than 140 yards and held Watt to just 1 tackle before he left in the second half with an injury.
They have another challenge ahead of them this week with the Patriots, who finished second in the NFL with 49 sacks this season. Chandler Jones, who has drawn plenty of headlines in the past few days, leads the Patriots.
But the area that will be of the utmost importance to the Chiefs will be in the running game, led by the running back tandem of Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware.
Ware is currently battling an ankle injury and his availability for Saturday's game isn't yet known, but in the four losses for the Patriots this season, they've given up 546 yards rushing combined, with three of the teams (Jets, Eagles, Broncos) all rushing for more than 125 yards.
In three of their last six games, the Patriots allowed more than 125 yards rushing, and they lost each of those games.
4. Alex Smith and whomever is on the other end of the passing game
The questions surrounding veteran receiver Jeremy Maclin and his high-ankle sprain have dominated much of the talk in Kansas City. He's the team's leading receiver and his availability for Saturday's game is in question after suffering the injury last week against the Texans.
He went through the early portion of Thursday's practice and his status has been described as "day-to-day." Coach Reid said Maclin would be a game-time decision.
Maclin missed one game earlier in the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a concussion. That was also the first of the current 11-game winning streak, which means the Chiefs have beat a playoff team without Maclin on the field. While he doesn't play defense, it's still worth noting that the Steelers didn't have Ben Roethlisberger that day.
In that game back in Week 7, tight end Travis Kelce (5 receptions, 73 yards), second-year receiver Albert Wilson (3 receptions, 61 yards) and rookie Chris Conley (6 receptions, 63 yards and 1 touchdown) all stepped up in Maclin's absence.
Alex Smith finished 21 of 32 for 251 yards and a touchdown, and it was Conley's fourth-quarter touchdown that sealed the 23-13 victory.
That was the first time we saw Conley step up in Maclin's absence, and then we saw it again last week against the Texans.
Just four plays after Maclin left with his injury, Conley caught a 9-yard touchdown and gave the Chiefs a 20-0 lead late in the third quarter. That was Conley's only catch of the day.
"We'll be leaning on [Chris Conley] a little bit more and ask him to fulfill that role (if Maclin can't go)," offensive coordinator Doug Pederson said this week. "[Conley] got some valuable experience and we've moved him around in certain packages during the week, so he's comfortable that way."
It's also worth noting that Smith is just 3 touchdown passes shy of becoming the lone franchise leader in postseason touchdown passes. He currently has 5 and is looking up at Pro Football Hall of Famer and Chiefs legend, Len Dawson (7).
5. Will special teams be the difference-maker this time around?
There has been a lot of discussion about whether or not last year's 41-14 victory for the Chiefs on Monday Night Football over the Patriots means anything going into this game, and if you ask special team's coach Dave Toub, he's hoping it doesn't.
"They got the best of us," Toub noted. "Even though we won the game, they got us on special teams. We showed that tape a bunch this week already. We could play a lot better against them and we're using that for motivation this week."
According to Football Outsiders, the performance last week against the Texans by the Chiefs special teams units was the best of any team in 2015 and one of the best they've ever measured.
Here's what they had to say:
"The Chiefs only fielded one kickoff, but of course Knile Davis returned it for a touchdown. Frankie Hammond averaged 19.5 yards on four punt returns, which is phenomenal. Dustin Colquitt punted four times with no returns; two of the punts landed inside the 10 and another was inside the 20. Cairo Santos had touchbacks on every one of his kickoffs and converted all three field goals, including two of 49 yards."
Toub noted that the Patriots special teams units are "outstanding," and that wasn't the case with the Texans even before the Chiefs played them last week.
If the special teams units for the Chiefs can have an impact in this game, much like the one the Philadelphia Eagles had against the Patriots back in Week 13, when they had a blocked punt returned for a touchdown as well as a punt returned for a touchdown, the chances of knocking off the defending Super Bowl champions will be that much better.
LAST TIME THEY MET
