Coming off of their bye week, the Kansas City Chiefs are still trending in the right direction. Thanks to help around the AFC and within the AFC West division, the belief continues to grow that Kansas City is one of the more dangerous teams in the conference. Other worthy competitors that felt like they had turned a page a month or so ago have decompressed significantly, on the other hand.

Kansas City has a great chance to run the table. Four of their last six games are at home. To boot, with the defense improving and the home crowd behind them, most opposing offenses do not seem to stack up right now on paper. Lastly, this has generally been the time of year where Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid begin to close any lingering seams and hide weaknesses.

At the same time, Kansas City has to continue to build off of what we saw in the four game winning streak before the bye week. There are a few things from that stretch and recent seasons that the Chiefs have started to build. If these following items continue, the Chiefs could finish as one of the AFC's top two playoff seeds, if not the top one overall.

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Division Dominance

They say rivalries are not supposed to be one sided. Yet since the start of 2015, the Chiefs have been on an unprecedented run against their own division foes. Kansas City has gone a combined 32-6 in that timeframe against the rest of the AFC West. The NFL has begun to stick much more division matchups at the end of the schedule for every team recently. Thus, the Chiefs will have a chance to continue their domination over the rest of the AFC West in this final stretch.

Four of the final six games will be division matchups. Additionally, the first three games after the bye week will allow the Chiefs to see each of the other division opponents consecutively. Kansas City still has not played the Denver Broncos this season. This Sunday night will be the first meeting of the year between the two. Entering that contest, the Chiefs currently hold an 11 game winning streak over the Broncos.

The Raiders surprised many with a win on Thanksgiving at the Dallas Cowboys. That ended a three game losing streak. In the meantime, can the Vegas offense continue to show consistency? Other than their trip to Arrowhead Stadium last year, Derek Carr and his offense have gifted more points to the Chiefs defense than scoring points themselves. A late season December trip to Kansas City has usually been dreadful for the veteran signal caller. What will happen this time in Week Fourteen?

On the flip side, the Chargers have the lone division win over Kansas City so far. They have the benefit of hosting the Chiefs still. Kansas City will have to travel to Los Angeles on a short week and play the Bolts on Thursday night in Week Fifteen. If there are any positives, the Chargers of old have started to come to light, at least to a degree. The offense has sputtered for the better part of the last five weeks. Meanwhile, head scratching and bizarre mistakes are starting to resonate from some of LA's better players.

Surging Run Defense

The overall resurgence of the Chiefs defense is pretty remarkable. It may not be new to see them start slow and finish strong. Nonetheless, the early mistakes looked too drastic this time around. Points allowed per game and per drive were too heavy for Kansas City to withstand. Or, so we thought.

It has been a breath of fresh air to see turnovers go in the favor of Kansas City recently. Meanwhile, the Chiefs are getting much more natural pressure on the quarterback. There is one thing that seems to get lost in the defensive turnaround, though.

The Chiefs are finally standing tall against the opposing rushing attack. It starts up front with the gap control and patience of guys like Chris Jones, Derrick Nnadi, Jarran Reed, Melvin Ingram and Frank Clark. Elsewhere, the linebacker trio of Anthony Hitchens, Willie Gay and Nick Bolton are all being put in positions to succeed. Hitchens looks reenergized after returning from an injury a few weeks ago. Gay and Bolton simply continue to improve week after week, on top of that. Overall, there are better pursuit angles, better tackling form and quicker reactions to play flow.

This final stretch will truly put the Chiefs run defense to the test. Is this recent improvement all for naught? Or, can Kansas City finally rely on this to put opponents in longer downs and distances? Over the last six games, the Chiefs will face the combination of Melvin Gordon and Javonte Williams twice, as well as a refreshed Josh Jacobs and workhorses like Austin Ekeler, Joe Mixon and Najee Harris. All of these backs except for Jacobs currently rank in the top 19 in rushing yards around the league. Simply put, these runners can single handedly wear opponents down, take over games by themselves and put games out of reach. Kansas City must answer the bell.

Secondary Receivers Build Confidence, Trust

This is one that may still be a little questionable based on the recent stretch of play. It is more of a sense that Mahomes and the passing attack will begin to click on all cylinders as a complete unit when needed. There are some signs that we could point to, in order to make that assumption.

First, Coach Reid has begun to mention how he believes Josh Gordon is starting to come into his own. The addition of Gordon was never meant to be a volume-based move. Moreso, it was a chance for the Chiefs to add a physically dominant threat that could push the field vertically. The early expectations for Gordon by some were likely a bit foolish. However, you can see he is starting to get his timing and spacing down when allowed to run routes. It feels like his impact could come soon.

On the other hand, the coaching staff has finally begun to use other secondary receivers in clearer roles. Byron Pringle has been a sneaky good go to guy on crucial downs in both the intermediate and deep parts of the field. Demarcus Robinson is back to being used on crossing, over or deep in cut routes. This allows him to give opposing defensive backs multiple things to watch for when guarding him. Will he work the outside or inside areas of the field? Plus, choosing whether to allow Robinson a free release or not off the line of scrimmage can greatly affect defenses.

Lastly, Mecole Hardman has seen his snaps decrease. This is not to say that Hardman cannot provide an impact on a quick pass or a gadget play. But, the Chiefs have finally realized that using him in spurts makes him more dangerous, while also allowing the passing attack to stay at a steady pace.

Overall, Mahomes and Reid have begun to figure out where certain guys can win and what their strengths are. This helps to take at least enough pressure off of Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce throughout the duration of a game.

Balanced Attack

Teams that can run the ball effectively give their team a boost at this time of the season. Certainly, Kansas City may not boast a backfield like the ones they will face down the stretch, or other top ones like the Patriots, Colts, Ravens or Browns for example. There is a good amount of comfort that the Chiefs coaching staff has in this group, however.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire returned to the lineup right before the bye week. His performance may not have been his career best so far. Yet, it provided many things that the team was hoping to see from Edwards-Helaire. He made people miss in space, he provided patience in the open field and also helped to churn out long drives.

While he was out, Darrel Williams wore down opponents with a tough, hard nosed style of play. He wastes no time in space and is always moving upfield. Furthermore, teams should not sleep at his chance to be commanding as a pass catcher. Just ask Johnathan Abram.

Most of all, this offensive line that Kansas City has constructed is genuinely more stable as run blockers. Rookies Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith have wasted no time in making their presence felt. Moreover, Joe Thuney and Orlando Brown Jr. do a stellar job of pairing overpowering upper body strength and lower body strength to blow defenders back. This blocking unit has no issues when Coach Reid dials up more run play calls.

Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles throughout this week. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.

– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js //platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.