Every team in the National Football League has at least one win after five weeks of regular season play. The Jacksonville Jaguars were the last team to notch a season triumph yesterday in their victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
Two teams are currently undefeated. The Minnesota Vikings won their fifth straight game yesterday in London, downing Aaron Rodgers and his Jets, and the other unbeaten team is in action tonight. The Kansas City Chiefs have won their first four games without a blowout on their resume. Close wins for the defending champs and tonight they are favored at home over the New Orleans Saints.
The Vikings and Chiefs being the lone undefeated squads brings up history between these two teams. When there still was an American Football League the first four Super Bowls were games between the AFL and the longer established National Football League. The Green Bay Packers showed superiority over the AFL with dominating victories over the Chiefs and Oakland Raiders in the first two Super Bowls.
Then came the upset of all time when Joe Namath led the New York Jets over a Baltimore Colts team that was favored by as many as 20 points. That game went down in history as an upset, but achieving true parity between the two leagues began to take shape the next year when the double-digit underdog Chiefs upset the Vikings in Super Bowl IV. That was the last Super Bowl played before the AFL dissolved into the NFL and the league formed the two conferences, the National and American.
To balance the two new conferences, three established NFL teams moved to the AFC. They were the Baltimore Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns. In Super Bowl V, the first one played after the merger was completed, two original NFL teams met, the Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Colts. So, one can see that the AFL still had a ways to go to be considered on a par with the NFL.
The next year, the Miami Dolphins represented the AFC and they got throttled in Super Bowl VI by the Dallas Cowboys. In 1972, Don Shula and his Dolphins won a second straight AFC title with a perfect record during regular season play. Postseason wins over the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers, two original NFL teams, led to Miami looking to complete their perfect season in Super Bowl VII against the Washington Redskins.
While the Dolphins had not lost a game that year, they were underdogs to George Allen’s “over the hill” gang in that Super Bowl. Miami won, completing the only perfect season in modern football history, and the AFC was finally respected on a par with the long-established NFL. The following season, the Dolphins won a second straight Super Bowl, 24-7, while both being favored and looking far superior to their NFC competition, the Minnesota Vikings.
So, beginning with the Jets upset over the Colts to complete the 1968 season and the Chiefs win over the Vikings in the last game before the two leagues merged, the new AFC still needed three seasons to be fully recognized on a par with the NFC.
How about now?
Well, the Chiefs are two-time defending champions and the Vikings, while winning their first five games, are not yet considered the best team in the NFC. The AFC is loaded with quality squads that include the Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills, a pair of squads that would likely be ranked higher than any current NFC team.
So, how do the Chiefs do tonight? Do they come out of their encounter with the New Orleans Saints matching their 5-0 won/loss mark?
Why yes, yes they do.
The bigger question is whether they cover the point spread and if there's a bright wager opportunity banking on that?
Well, yes again.
Qoxhi Picks: Kansas City Chiefs (-5½) over New Orleans Saints