Every season there are teams we look at on paper and think hey, these guys have the talent to make a serious Super Bowl run.

However, more often than not, talent alone isn’t enough to get you to the promise land. It takes a healthy combination of experience, leadership and a little luck mixed in with that talent.

With that being said, let’s see how things can go either way for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2015.

The Chiefs haven’t won the Super Bowl since 1969, yes 46 years ago, which happens to be the franchise’s lone Super Bowl victory. While that drought is pretty drastic, there are still some franchises who’ve never even won a Super Bowl.  With that said, Kansas City hasn’t won a playoff game in 23 years.

So, how do the Chiefs turn the corner?

Kansas City’s defense ranked amongst the league’s best in almost every statistical category, despite being without former Pro Bowler’s Derrick Johnson and Eric Berry. The unit was led by linebacker Justin Houston, who was the NFL’s sack leader in 2014 with 22.

Houston’s ability to get after the quarterback made the Chiefs secondary look a lot better than it probably really is, as the unit only allowed 203.3 passing yards a game, which ranked second in the league.

For as impressive as Houston’s sack numbers were, defensive coordinator Bob Sutton wants you to know that he’s much more than just a pass rusher.

“If you want to be an outstanding player in our league, you really have to be good at a lot of things. If you look at all the jobs [Houston] does for us, he does a lot of things. He’s not just a pass-rusher. The nature of the beast would say sack, sack, sack, but this guy played really good football in a lot of areas.”

Let’s face it, Kansas City’s defense can be tops in the league this upcoming season, but the difference between them potentially reaching the Super Bowl lies on the arm of Alex Smith. The 31-year-old quarterback hasn’t lived up to the hype that comes with being selected as the No. 1 overall pick.

To be fair, Smith hasn’t been a terrible quarterback either, as he has a touchdown to interception ratio of 122 to 76 for his career.

Before Smith played his first game under center in a Chiefs uniform, star running back Jamaal Charles stated that Smith was a “Super Bowl” quarterback. Two years later, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt took it a step further.

“We’ve got a coach and a quarterback who can take us to the Super Bowl. And if we keep building the team the right way — and I will go back and mention again, I feel a big part of that is drafting right, [because] you have to do that every year — we’ve got a real shot of getting to the game we all want to get in.”

It’s also important to note that Smith has never had a game changer at receiver until now.

“We watched a lot of Eagles film a few years ago when coach Reid and company first came over from Philadelphia,” Smith said. “Obviously, (Maclin) was all over that film. Certainly you could see what a playmaker he was, how explosive he was. But it’s the competitiveness that really jumps out at you when you’re around him.”

It’s easy to sense Smith’s excitement about Jeremy Maclin.

“He’s a guy that can do everything. At this level, that’s so rare. A guy that has the speed and quickness to be a threat downfield, but also has the size to move inside. He wants it coming his direction. As a quarterback, you want that. You want those guys on the outside to kind of have that confidence about them—that no matter what, they’re going to win.”

If Smith and Maclin are able to connect more often than not, Kansas City’s offense may be able to finally catch up with their vaunted defense. Based on the following comment, there’s no excuse as to why the two shouldn’t be able to click right away.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been off to a better start with a particular quarterback in my life,” Maclin stated.

Could you imagine Kansas City with a legit aerial attack to go along with the running ability of Jamaal Charles?

The thought alone has to be getting Chiefs fans antsy and here’s something else to chew on from Charles himself.

“I want to be offensive player of the year. That’s always my goal, every year my goal. I want to come back to 101 Banquet for the Chiefs award. I want to come back as AFC player of the year. That’s what I’ve been wanting to do. I think I almost got there. Peyton Manning had an awesome season (in 2013), and he beat me out.”

If things were to go wrong, a couple of areas to look at would be Kansas City’s offensive line and the lack of a legitimate second receiving threat.

There’s been a ton of shuffling upfront for Kansas City, but head coach Andy Reid is on a mission to find the right guys.

“We’re kind of playing everybody in all different spots,” Reid said. “We’re going to find the best five guys. That’s what we’re trying to get to. I really don’t care where they play. I just want to find the best five guys and then we line up and we go play.”

Fortunately, Smith is an athletic quarterback, but with a weapon like Maclin you don’t want him worrying about avoiding sacks when he should be keeping his head downfield.

And while Maclin should help tremendously, who will be the second option for Smith when teams shade their secondary to Maclin’s side?

The answer may not even be a receiver, instead how about tight end Travis Kelce?

The 25-year-old bursted onto the scene last year, as he caught 67 passes for 862 yards to go along with five touchdowns. In spite of Kelce’s lack of experience, he’s showing tremendous confidence heading into the 2015 campaign.

“In practice, I can hear him make calls at the line of scrimmage because he wants the football,” Smith said. “It’s encouraging because he’s obviously a tremendous player, but it’s so great to see that confidence there on the field. You want a bunch of guys out there that are feeling good about their matchup.”

At the end of the day, maybe a Super Bowl run for the Chiefs needs to start with earning a bye and home field advantage. The Denver Broncos have won the AFC West for the past four seasons, but with Peyton Manning seemingly on the decline, this is a prime opportunity for Kansas City to take control.

While all of that sounds nice on the surface, until it happens folks in Kansas City will continue to wonder if they can win a Super Bowl with Alex Smith under center.