Stephen A. Smith Makes Super Bowl Case For Chiefs, Should Fans Buy In?

Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs will be without Tyreek Hill for the 2022-23 NFL season after trading away the wide receiver to the Miami Dolphins, and this has some thinking Kansas City will take a step down.

Stephen A. Smith wasn’t ready to jump on that bandwagon, though.

Former NFL linebacker Bart Scott joined the “First Take” panel Thursday, and he offered up a bold take saying the Chiefs will miss the playoffs, claiming they are one-sided on the football field. Scott made the case the other teams in the AFC West have caught up to Kansas City, and the loss of Hill will make Mahomes and the offense easier to stop.

Those who agree with that opinion would probably take the +170 odds on DraftKings Sportsbook for the Chiefs to miss the playoffs. A $100 wager would pay out $270. But it doesn’t sound like Smith will be taking that bet.

“Patrick Mahomes — my brother from another mother — Travis Kelce, I wouldn’t blame them if they never spoke to people like you again,” Smith told Scott on Thursday. “I mean, the disrespect. I mean, you’re gonna sit there with a straight face, in one breath, you’re talking about the importance of the quarterback position. You’re talking about the importance of coaching, you’re talking about the importance of play-calling. Obviously, the importance of personnel. I know Mecole Hardman ain’t Tyreek Hill, but he ain’t no scrub. The brother can ball. JuJu Smith-Schuster, what’s our issue with him? We got to get him off TikTok. … You’re a grown (expletive) man in the National Football League, get the hell off TikTok and get back to playing some damn football the way we know you can play JuJu because you ain’t no scrub.

“He can ball. Mecole Hardman can ball. Clyde Edwards-Helaire can ball. Travis Kelce is that dude. … And Patrick Mahomes is a superstar from the quarterback position, and we’re gonna sit up here with a straight face — the (Los Angeles) Chargers ain’t made the playoffs last year. Denver hasn’t been relevant since (Peyton) Manning retired. The (Las Vegas) Raiders had to leave Oakland for us to even think about them. … Where are these people that have done something? I understand when you look at them and say, ‘From a talent perspective, they could do this, they could that.’ But we’re talking about dudes who’ve already done it, and you are just going to summarily dismiss — you and other people talking about Kansas City like they ain’t going to make the playoffs.”

Smith and Scott continued their back-and-forth debate, where at one point, Scott criticized Chargers coach Brandon Staley for his aggressiveness on fourth down, which he believed to be the cause of Los Angeles’ two losses to Kansas City, even though the Chargers led the league in fourth-down conversions, according to Stat Muse.

While Smith did make cases for other teams to win Super Bowl, he didn’t rule out a trip to the big game for the Chiefs. For those who believe in Smith’s argument — or aggressively fade Scott’s pessimistic stance — Kansas City has +550 odds to win the AFC, so a $100 bet would pay out $660, and they have 10-to-1 odds to win the Super Bowl. This means a $100 bet would pay out $1,010.

Along with a Super Bowl of conference wager, a bet on Mahomes to win MVP could be viable, as well. The 26-year-old quarterback has 9-to-1 odds to win his second MVP award. This means a $100 bet would pay out $1,000.

Despite making it to four straight AFC title games, there is still doubt Mahomes and the Chiefs can continue their success, but obviously, there are those like Smith who aren’t ready to write off Kansas City.