KC Chiefs Must Ensure That Denver Broncos Loss Was a One-Time Reality Check
"It's a good reality check for us."
Several members of the Kansas City Chiefs had unfortunate truths to share following the team's Week 8 loss to the Denver Broncos. Off the top, head coach Andy Reid took responsibility for not putting his players in the right positions to succeed. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes hammered home the need to execute better. Safety Justin Reid brought up the aforementioned reality check. All three are fair points, especially after a very ugly loss to a division rival.
The Chiefs need to ensure that this reality check was a one-time thing. There's a case to be made that it will be, although there are also some underlying elements that suggest this could be yet another warning sign.
On one hand, it's pretty easy to do a blind stat lookup from Sunday and assume a winner from there. If Team A averaged 1.1 more yards per play than the opposition, outgained them by 35 net yards, averaged nearly two yards more per pass, was nearly dead even in first downs, was just as effective on a per-rush basis, punted only two times and had the same number of possessions, would it be reasonable to expect a win? Sure. There's also this:
The Kansas City defense, even with giving up 153 yards on the ground (on 40 carries), did a good enough job to secure a win. The Kansas City offense moved the ball just enough to put the team in positions to score. For a team to do the things outlined and still lose by 15 points is quite impressive, but in the worst of ways.
What was left out? What was the real contributing factor behind such a bad game? A lack of focus, preparation and execution. If you need any signs pointing to that, look for five turnovers and three swings and misses in the red zone.
In the Reid-Mahomes era, the Chiefs have never been the cleanest team. Careless penalties and some turnovers have been commonplace, but the level of ineptitude in Denver was second to none. Every time there seemed to be an opportunity for Kansas City to gain any semblance of control in the game, the team promptly shot itself in the foot by putting the ball on the ground or gift-wrapping it to the other side. Heck, the Chiefs even got caught with too many men on the field twice in the same game. If this isn't the sloppiest afternoon a Mahomes-led team has had in his entire career, it's on a very short list.
On one side of the coin, expecting an outing like this to creep back up the rest of the way in 2023 (and into early 2024) wouldn't be wise. This kind of embarrassment can surely prevent another five-turnover game featuring shameful penalties and so many concentration lapses. Mahomes won't always force an interception, Marquez Valdes-Scantling won't always fumble after picking up a first down and Mecole Hardman won't always muff a punt. What this game could be forcing Kansas City to do, though, is look in the mirror and accept one thing.
The margin for error isn't as wide as it once was.
Yes, Steve Spagnuolo's defense is playing better than it ever has to begin a season. That has bought the offense some time to figure things out and elevate back to the heights it reached in 2022. Not even the Tyreek Hill Chiefs offenses, just the JuJu Smith-Schuster-and-some-other-guys one. Yet after a game that saw Kansas City drop 31 points on the Los Angeles Chargers and look like a very competent offense, the team took a step back against an inferior opponent. When the Broncos dared the Chiefs' pass catchers not named Travis Kelce to make a play, they simply couldn't do so with any regularity.
After Week 1's loss to the Detroit Lions, I wrote that the underwhelming wide receiver performance could be viewed as a "warning in retrospect." This game carries the same vibes as that one, except Kelce was actually on the field for the latter contest. There are very, very few particles of sand left in the hourglass of waiting for Valdes-Scantling, Skyy Moore or Kadarius Toney to come forward and emerge as a legitimate weapon on offense. More sand is left for Mahomes, Reid and Kelce — three Hall of Fame talents in their respective areas — to self-scout and subsequently help make up for what's around them, but even that hourglass is also running relatively low.
If the Broncos game is played back 10 times, Sunday's outcome might happen just once. A few of those simulations could even be big-time wins by Kansas City. A new reality in 2023, however, is that there's a growing likelihood that the "somewhere in the middle" range is becoming a new normal of sorts. The 100th percentile outcome isn't happening and when it does, it simply isn't as impressive as it used to be. This year's Chiefs squad is susceptible to a lack of separation, a quarterback not being on the same page as his receivers, an offensive line being asked to protect for too long or a mental mistake crashing down. It just is.
When someone shows you who they are, you're supposed to believe them. Outside of Week 3 and half of Week 7, the Chiefs have left everyone wondering where the next gear is on offense and when things are going to click. The other side of the ball is holding up its end of the bargain. The next three weeks — a Germany matchup against the Miami Dolphins, a bye week and a home game against the Philadelphia Eagles on prime time — present a massive opportunity to change the narrative and show that this was truly a one-time collapse. If not, perhaps it's time to fully reevaluate that median and ceiling.
