Vahe Gregorian: For all the Chiefs' star power, this underappreciated trend is crucial, too

Vahe Gregorian, The Kansas City Star on Oct 31, 2025

Published in Football

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Before every game, Chiefs defensive lineman Mike Danna immerses himself in a visualization regimen to get into what he calls “a comfortable state of mind.”

“No negative things. No self-doubting,” he told me a couple years ago. “I’m picturing myself making plays, picturing myself making moves.”

Plays like a sack or shedding a blocker to shut down a run. Or forcing a fumble. Maybe even a scoop-and-score.

“Usually,” he said with a smile on Wednesday, “it’s not an interception.”

At least not until an opportunity beyond a dream, the sort of play the 27-year-old never recalled making before, presented itself Monday against Washington with the Commanders deep in Chiefs territory on the first drive of the game.

The combination of a freak carom off Deebo Samuel’s facemask and Danna’s hardwired hustle — both by intuition and emphasis of the coaching staff — left the ball hovering his way.

He felt both like a kid and as if he were suspended in slow motion.

“You see the ball, you see the lights,” he said, “and you’re just like, ‘Man, don’t let this fall through my hands.’ ”

Instead, he hauled it in and returned it 10 yards — a pivotal early play in what became a 28-7 Chiefs victory.

It was a nice moment for Danna, who found the ball waiting for him in his locker Wednesday and reckoned he would present it to his parents.

But it also made for a telling snapshot of something more about these Chiefs (5-3) as they prepare to play Sunday at Buffalo (5-2) in a possible AFC championship game preview.

It’s something at times obscured amid the attention rightly lavished on Patrick Mahomes, the betting favorite for NFL MVP, and the mania over Travis Kelce as multiplied by the Taylor Swift factor.

Something in some ways shrouded by the accolades bestowed on Chris Jones, and the exhilaration over Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown finally playing at the same time. Etc.

Yet something that has been vital in this dynastic run of playing in seven straight AFC title games, emerging into five of the last six Super Bowls and winning three of them.

The very trait was punctuated the last time the Chiefs played the Bills: the 32-29 victory in last season’s AFC championship game.

The win was all the more gratifying because it was about more than the sum of the parts.

“It’s because,” Mahomes said then, “it’s everybody.”

Or as long-snapper James Winchester put it in the locker room that day: “The strength of our team is the team, right?”

You could think of that now in the context of complementary football the Chiefs are playing for the first time with such dynamism on both sides of the ball since 2021 — the last time the team was in the top 10 in both scoring offense and scoring defense. Entering the game against the Bills, the Chiefs are seventh in the league in scoring and second in points allowed.

But there’s another element to the point, an element the Chiefs will need to have more of going forward, even as it’s been sustaining yet again.

While Mahomes has exerted his considerable influence on every victory, and the aforementioned group and other stars like Trent McDuffie typically are most conspicuous, this surge also has been about a lot of less glamorous parts and pieces.

Such as the revitalized offensive line, Mahomes will remind you about every chance he gets. And in the huge little things like the resurgence of Kareem Hunt as a formidable short-yardage factor.

And the contributions of less high-profile players in key moments every game.

Like receiver Tyquan Thornton in the Chiefs’ 22-9 victory over the New York Giants in New Jersey. Seizing an opportunity he never got in New England, Thornton scored one touchdown and made the signature play of the game with a 33-yard reception from Mahomes that set up the cushion 1-yard TD by Hunt in the fourth quarter.

Then there was linebacker Leo Chenal changing the trajectory of the game against the Ravens with a (one-handed) downfield interception of Lamar Jackson early in a tight contest that turned into a 37-20 blowout.

And Jaylon Moore abruptly entering the starting lineup at left tackle against Detroit in the wake of the sudden — and ongoing — mysterious absence of Josh Simmons. He wasn’t flawless then or since.

But he’s certainly been more stable than any of the four options the Chiefs turned to last season; they’ve scored 30, 31 and 28 points in his three starts with Mahomes looking more comfortable than he has in years.

As for the 31-0 clampdown of the Raiders, well, that spoke to “the strength of the team being the team” in a whole new way. After the game, Reid waived his typically comprehensive rundown of individual good deeds since it was essentially everybody.

In a sense, that’s true overall about a team that since a clunky 0-2 start seems to have found itself … albeit with severe challenges ahead.

While plenty of what has made this go is the obvious, it’s also been enabled by players like Danna meeting the moment. Sometimes beyond anything they might have pictured before.