KC Chiefs’ New Reality Finds Them in the Mix Instead of Leading the Pack
Remember when the Kansas City Chiefs would lay an egg and have it be followed by classic football clichés, only for no one to put stock into them? Growing parity in the NFL, needing to take care of the football, not being able to make mistakes and still beat good teams, the little things mattering? At the end of the day, they didn't seem to be that important. Andy Reid's team could overcome all obstacles.
If there's one thing that a Week 13 loss to the Green Bay Packers reiterated, it's that this year's Chiefs team isn't cut from that same cloth.
Think about the four losses Kansas City has had this season. Against the Detroit Lions in the season opener, dropped passes and absences (Travis Kelce and Chris Jones) led to a one-point loss. In Week 8, going 0-for-3 in the red zone and turning the ball over five times sealed their fate on the road versus the Denver Broncos. Just a few weeks ago, the Chiefs lost the turnover battle to the Philadelphia Eagles and flopped on 50% of their red zone possessions. On Sunday night, the same thing happened.
That goes without mentioning things like untimely penalties, run blocking, pass protection, poor execution in route running and more. The list goes on, and it goes to show that a team with Reid, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce still can't get out of its own way some 13 weeks into the 2023-24 season.
Notice how the defense wasn't brought up? That's because until Sunday's 382-yard, 27-point allowance, it was still performing as a consistently elite unit. Despite its struggles in run support, Steve Spagnuolo's group leaves Week 13 ranked fourth in dropback EPA allowed and third in points surrendered per game. Barring this new reality becoming a trend, the defense isn't the problem or even a problem.
Speaking of new reality, it's time to face one for this version of the Chiefs. Instead of leading the pack and being rightful odds-on favorites to win the Super Bowl, they're merely one of the good teams in the mix. They've been trying to show the world that ever since the season began.
Don't get it twisted: Kansas City, as always with Mahomes under center, is capable of winning it all. Wins over the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins displayed that the team can hang with some of the AFC's better clubs. There's no perfect team in the conference. There may not be one in the league. The Philadelphia Eagles aren't fielding the same product as last year, and they just got blown out by a San Francisco 49ers squad that had a three-game losing streak to close out the month of October. Other playoff-caliber opponents — Detroit, the Baltimore Ravens, the Dallas Cowboys — either haven't been there recently or have shown that they can't be trusted. Of all the years the Chiefs picked to be severely flawed, this seems to be the best one.
It's entirely possible that a franchise with an all-time great talent at quarterback sees its season end in major disappointment. For example, consider the Chiefs' Sunday night opponent and look back over the last decade. Despite having Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay had multiple campaigns with solid regular-season success but their flaws getting exposed come playoff time. Even the Tom Brady-era New England Patriots had "down" years where they made the playoffs but couldn't accomplish their end goal. Not every year can or will result in a championship; failure is inevitable.
This isn't a premature obituary for the 2023 Chiefs, but rather a friendly reminder of what's possible. Less than a calendar year ago, the buzz was centered around Mahomes winning an AFC Championship Game on a high-ankle sprain while throwing to players like Marcus Kemp. It was centered around him powering the Chiefs through a double-digit-point comeback in Super Bowl LVII. Just because Kansas City overcame adversity in the past, however, doesn't mean they should be locks to do so again. This isn't the same team.
Mahomes isn't playing at the level he did in 2022 or even in January and February of this year. Kelce is a year older, and it's showing. The offensive tackle situation is murky at best. The wide receivers are objectively worse now. While the Chiefs' defensive improvement is an amazing storyline that could carry the team come playoff time, the offense is what it is: a sloppy, inconsistently consistent group. That isn't changing. Take this, something Reid said entering Week 3 of this season, into consideration:
"There are small margins between winning and losing in this league."
Would you have believed that in 2019-2022? I bet not. It's time, though, to embrace it. This Kansas City squad isn't the powerhouse it once was, and it does rely on health, detailed execution, elite game-planning and even luck to get the job done. There's no button to push that saves the day. The weaknesses must be minimized. This is how the other half lives. Have championship teams followed similar paths? Absolutely, but not necessarily with everyone counting on it beforehand.
