By who? They were second in the NFL in total defense and PPG allowed. They've been getting props for it too.
I don’t think the defense got a lot of respect from the average pundit. The narrative for most of the year was “this team isn’t nearly as good as past KC teams.” The focus always seemed to be on what the offense wasn’t doing rather than what the defense was doing.
And a lot of them were picking the 49ers, Ravens, and Bills to drop 30+ on KC. Something that didn’t happen once all year.