Kansas City was the unlikeliest candidate to be sitting atop a division as the NFL season nears its midway point.
And with perhaps the most favorable remaining schedule in the league, it would no longer be a surprise to see the Chiefs wind up the regular season as the AFC West champions.
Upstart Kansas City (4-2) will look to remain perfect at home this season when it hosts the winless Buffalo Bills (0-6) on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.
Of the final 10 games left on the Chiefs’ schedule, only two teams – Seattle (4-2) and Tennessee (5-2) own winning records, so Kansas City has a great chance to pad its lead in the division.
The Chiefs rebounded from back-to-back road losses at Indianapolis and Houston with a 42-20 thumping of Jacksonville last week. Kansas City scored the final 21 points to turn the game into a rout and move 1 1/2 games ahead of the Oakland Raiders in the AFC West.
A punishing ground game that churned out 236 yards proved to be decisive for the Chiefs, who have the league's top-ranked rushing attack at 176.5 yards per game.
Thomas Jones had 125 yards and a touchdown and Jamaal Charles added 71 yards and a score as Kansas City controlled the ball for 34 minutes against the Jaguars.
The game plan probably won't vary much against the Bills, who are the NFL's worst team against the run, allowing a total of 174.5 yards per game.
Jones rushed for 319 yards in two games against Buffalo last year while a member of the New York Jets. Charles rambled for 143 yards and a touchdown in a 16-10 loss to the Bills at Arrowhead on Dec. 13, 2009.
Buffalo running back Fred Jackson rushed for 99 yards in last season’s win over the Chiefs, helping to overcome a poor performance by quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who threw for just 86 yards in the victory.
Fitzpatrick, though, is coming off a career-best performance, throwing for 374 yards and four touchdown passes in last week’s 37-34 overtime loss at Baltimore.
The former Harvard quarterback has injected some life into the Bills’ offense after taking over for the since-released Trent Edwards in Week 3. He connected with Lee Evans for three TDs last week, but Buffalo was unable to hold a 10-point lead entering the final quarter.
Fitzpatrick has 11 touchdowns against just four interceptions in his last four games, helping the Bills put up an average of 26 points during that span. But the defense hasn’t been able to stop anyone, giving up 37, 36, 38 and 38 points.
Kansas City, which won a total of 10 games the previous three seasons, will be looking to improve to 4-0 this year after dropping its first four games at Arrowhead in 2009.