The New York Jets face their toughest challenge of the season on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Gang Green opened as a 9.5-point underdog on the road. That line has now jumped up to 10 points, per Vegas Insider. The 10-person Sports Illustrated panel all picked the Chiefs to beat the Jets.
Starting quarterback Geno Smith was told that everyone expects the Chiefs to win and then asked if he relishes going into that type of situation where no one believes in you.
“For me, again, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. It’s about what we think and what we believe. We believe we can get it done, so again, we know it’s in a tough environment, they’re a historically great team, and they’ve done it at a high level for a long time, so we know we got our work cut out for us, but I believe in the guys in this locker room, I believe in our coaches, and I think right now we’re developing and putting together a plan to go out there and get it done,” Smith responded.
Since Andy Reid took over the team in 2013, the Chiefs have had 12 winning seasons. They have won double-digit games 11 times. Kansas City has won the division nine times since 2013. Reid has led them to three Super Bowl championships and five Super Bowl appearances overall.
Smith Comments on Historic Season
The Jets’ 2026 season isn’t going according to plan. Gang Green is 2-6 on the year, and a 16th straight year of missing the playoffs feels inevitable barring a wild comeback in the second half of the season.
Despite that brutal reality, the Jets have gotten some of the best quarterback play they have experienced in franchise history.
Through the first eight games of the season, Smith has completed 69% of his passes, has thrown for 1,913 passing yards, and has a 12 touchdown to three interception ratio.
He is on pace to break the all-time single-season records in Jets history for completion percentage and passing yards:
- 4,007 passing yards (1967, Joe Namath)
- 68.9% completion percentage (2002, Chad Pennington)
During a media scrum, Smith was asked if potentially breaking those records matters to him.
“I just want to win the game. As of right now, my focus is on the Chiefs and what we can do to give ourselves the best chance to go out there and win this game in a tough environment on the road,” Smith responded.
A media member followed up by reminding Smith that he was drafted here and he knows what Namath and Pennington mean to this organization. He then asked Smith if he would have told him before the year he’d be on pace for this type of great individual season, wouldn’t he have thought that the Jets’ record would be better?
“You know my focus is on the Chiefs and anything else is outside of the realm of what I’m thinking about. I’m just thinking about how can we put together a plan to go out there on the road and get ready for the Chiefs,” Smith added.
Jets Chiefs History
The Jets and Chiefs have squared off 41 times in history. Kansas City leads the series 21-19-1. The Chiefs have won four of the last five matchups. Only two of those recent five games have been decided by one score.
The Chiefs are 5-2 and are 3-0 at home. According to ESPN’s matchup predictor, Kansas City has an 80.3% chance of winning this game.
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