The narrative has been around for a while that playing at Arrowhead Stadium is superbly difficult for an opposing team. The Chiefs' fans don't hold back, and the team has traditionally done well there, so there's definitely some merit to this line of thought.
The Chiefs have just taken it to a whole new level in 2017.
Take a look at how quarterbacks fared against the Chiefs this year based on the location. It's worth noting that the only game they played with Eric Berry this year was on the road, so we can't even use that as an explainer. They just sucked outside of Kansas City.
| Against Chiefs in 2017 | TDs | INTs | Passing NEP per Drop Back | Success Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In Kansas City | 10 | 10 | -0.03 | 43.84% |
| Elsewhere | 15 | 6 | 0.25 | 45.51% |
A Passing NEP per drop back of -0.03 is in line with what Drew Stanton did this year. A mark of 0.25 is the equivalent of Carson Wentz. How is that even possible?
Thankfully for the Chiefs, this isn't of importance this week. They're at home to face the Titans, who -- as mentioned -- have had struggles of their own this year. But if the Chiefs win, they'd go on the road to face either Ben Roethlisberger or Tom Brady. Ruh roh.
These splits are why we can't take the Cheifs' 20th-place ranking against the pass at face value. They're going to perform better than that at home while being radically worse on the road. That puts them in a bad spot if they get past the wild card round.