Winners and Losers from the KC Chiefs' Week 5 Victory Over the NO Saints

In the Kansas City Chiefs' Week 5 win over the New Orleans Saints, multiple players stood out for good and bad reasons alike.

Oct 7, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs running back Carson Steele (42) returns a kick against the New Orleans Saints during the second half at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

The Kansas City Chiefs are back in the win column for yet another week, as Andy Reid's squad picked up a fifth-straight victory on Monday night.

With a 26-13 triumph over the New Orleans Saints, the back-to-back Super Bowl champs head into their bye week with a 5-0 record. A good handful of players had strong performances on the big stage, whereas some others struggled to remain effective and have some work to do during their time off. In all, though, it was a good team win for Kansas City against a feisty NFC opponent.

With that in mind, let's point out some of the Chiefs' biggest winners and losers from the fifth week of the regular season.

WINNER: JuJu Smith-Schuster*

The massive caveat to including JuJu Smith-Schuster as a winner is taking into account the pass he dropped near the end zone that got intercepted by Khalen Saunders. Despite his good game, it'd be unfair not to mention that. Aside from the drop, however, Smith-Schuster was nothing short of brilliant. Hauling in seven passes on eight targets, the veteran wideout totaled 130 yards and even had a 50-yard catch that helped put the game away late. Smith-Schuster waited patiently for his time and resembled the 2022 version of himself when asked by the Chiefs to answer the call, which is exactly what he did in Week 5.

LOSER: Jawaan Taylor

A week after giving up a sack to Bud Dupree of the Los Angeles Chargers and committing multiple penalties, Jawaan Taylor failed to play a clean game on Monday. The high-priced right tackle had a false start in the first quarter and later saw a holding penalty nullify what would've been a touchdown to tight end Noah Gray. Taylor remains an effective piece in run blocking and pass protection so it's hard to nitpick too much here, but the penalties have to get cleaned up. Reid was adamant about that before Week 5, and he'll surely hammer that point home once again.

WINNER: Kareem Hunt

For the second week in a row, Kareem Hunt led the Kansas City running back room and looked like someone who earned that duty fair and square. Just two games removed from not even playing at all, he had 27 carries and a reception on Monday night. Hunt topped the 100-yard rushing mark for the first time since 2020, and his first Chiefs touchdown since 2018 was a feel-good moment for both the player and the team. Hunt's 3.8 average yards per carry won't blow anyone away but if he keeps doing a steady job, Kansas City won't miss Isiah Pacheco as much as originally expected.

LOSER: Carson Steele

If Hunt is dominating carries in the backfield, that naturally means someone else is getting the short end of the stick. Once again, that proved to be Carson Steele. The undrafted rookie free agent mustered just 12 yards on five carries and while he did help pick up a nice first down on a third-and-1 in the second half, he just wasn't very effective overall. Add in a fumble that set one of the Chiefs' drives back temporarily, and it's easy to see that Steele isn't doing himself any favors these days.

WINNER: Nick Bolton

After getting off to a very slow start to the year, linebacker Nick Bolton is building some momentum heading into the bye. This was his second solid effort in a row, and Monday saw him record 11 tackles against the Saints. Of those plays, seven of them were for stops within three yards of the line of scrimmage. Bolton played the run quite well in Week 5, shooting gaps with aggression and making the right plays consistently. It wasn't a standard Bolton game that features one splash play and not a ton else. It was a legitimately promising outing for the brain of the Chiefs' defense.

LOSER: Justin Watson

In the days leading up to Week 5's contest, Mahomes seemed to have a ton of confidence in Smith-Schuster and Justin Watson to step up as veterans at the wideout spot. Despite leading the wide receiver room with 59 snaps on Monday (70% Of those available), Watson didn't record a single statistic. Not a catch, not a target, not a drop. That's far from the end of the world – Watson can impact the game in other ways – but for someone who's coming off a career year, has the trust of Mahomes and had an increased opportunity, this was an underwhelming performance.

Read More: Four Takeaways from the Chiefs' 26-13 Win Over the Saints