Belief In Chiefs As Super Bowl Contenders Was Something We All Got Wrong

In hindsight, we all look like fools. We all believed that the Kansas City Chiefs were Super Bowl contenders, even as they continued to struggle in one-score games. We even kept believing as the Chiefs dropped to and then under .500, based on the history and some offensive metrics that told us they were ready to bounce back.

Now the Chiefs are 6-10, and they’re about to finish the season with a meaningless road game against the Las Vegas Raiders, who even more broken and fractured at 2-14. It’s a shocking development in a division that was considered one of the NFL’s strongest, with three teams predicted to be in the playoffs.

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What we learned this year is what we already knew: The Chiefs are all about quarterback Patrick Mahomes. They were last year when Mahomes worked his magic with late heroics to lead Kansas City all the way to the Super Bowl, where the Chiefs got stomped by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Which leads into the other thing we learned this year: The Chiefs have issues on both sides of the line of scrimmage that were thoroughly exploited and exposed by the Eagles. Once injuries struck the offensive line, Mahomes was left unprotected and running for his life, until finally the inevitable happened against the Houston Texans when the quarterback suffered the ACL/LCL tear that ended his season.

It took longer to expose the issues on the defensive side, but they were there. The Chiefs defense actually played well for most of the year, but there were signs, starting when star defensive tackle Chris Jones loafed against the Jacksonville Jaguars, allowing quarterback Trevor Lawrence to score a key late-game touchdown after stumbling near the goal line.

Jones lack of production was a problem all season long, and eventually it proved costly. It left defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo defenseless, as he was unable to dial up the exotic blitz packages that have been a staple of success in Kansas City for the last few years.

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Now the Chiefs are about to get a roster makeover, and it’s long overdue. Mahomes is 30, and he’ll be coming off knee surgery, so the Chiefs need to protect him better. They also need to develop a real running game to help do that, and it’s become painfully obvious that running back Isiah Pacheco isn’t the answer there.

The defensive issues will be almost as tough to fix. Half the Chiefs secondary is up for free agency, so put that problem on the to-do list for GM Brett Veach and coach Andy Reid. This isn’t a total rebuild, but big changes are coming in Kansas City.