That noise you heard following the Kansas City Chiefs’ overtime victory over the Indianapolis Colts was the rest of the AFC sighing heavily. That’s because even though it looked as though the Chiefs were about to be buried for the 2025 season, they found a way to come back despite being down 11 points to tie the game and ultimately win in overtime.

One player who wasn’t surprised to see this play out the way it did was actually on the field for a chunk of the game as a member of the Colts defense. Not only that but he used to play for Kansas City. I’m talking, of course, about cornerback Charvarius Ward, who spent four years in K.C. and was on the team that won Super Bowl LIV during the 2019 season.

Following the game, Ward told reporters something that every team in the AFC is already well-aware of. It’s a message not just for Ward’s Colts but the rest of the teams in the conference as well.

“[The Chiefs] have been Super Bowl contenders for the past seven, eight years. So we got to kind of get over that hump to be a great team. We gotta beat the best teams and I feel like we this close but we not there yet.”

Charvarius Ward acknowledges what separates Chiefs from everyone

Had the Colts hung on and eked out a win over K.C., the Chiefs would have been sitting at 5-6 and their path to the playoffs would have been quite difficult. While it’s still not going to be a cakewalk for the Chiefs to get into the postseason, a 54% chance to get into the postseason is better than what it would have sat at had they not come through here.

Ward’s comments following the Colts’ collapse, however, is just a reminder to the rest of the AFC that until the Chiefs are eliminated from playoff contention, they shouldn’t be counted out. There’s a reason they hold the third-best odds of winning the Super Bowl even when they’re not currenly in the playoff picture.

The Chiefs are going to serve as that hump to get over for the other teams and until someone does it, Kansas City is still the team to beat.