NFL Insider Discusses Sense of Urgency and ‘Fear’ for KC Chiefs Offense

With the regular season winding down, the Chiefs are recognizing the importance of their games but might have an obstacle popping up when it matters the most.

This season, reliable solutions for the Kansas City Chiefs' offense have been relatively hard to come by. Problems, on the other hand, are pretty easy to point out. 

The 2023 version of an Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce-led unit is still a top-half group in the entire NFL, but it's also far from its league-leading or top-three rankings in years past. This year's Kansas City offense doesn't have a ton of trouble moving the ball up and down the field when things are going well. That's obvious. It's when things fall apart, though, that the offense struggles. Through 13 games, elements like drops, penalties, turnovers and more are factoring into the picture.

In other campaigns with Mahomes at the helm, the Chiefs have had familiar experiences on the other side of the ball. Steve Spagnuolo's defense oftentimes took weeks or months to show progress and improve in time for the postseason, so folks waited for Mahomes and Co. to do the same. The only issue is that as Week 15 arrives, things still aren't fixed. 

With all of that said, Kansas City is well aware that things need to get fixed as soon as possible. Speaking on NFL Network's The Insiders program on NFL+, James Palmer detailed what he's heard lately regarding the Chiefs' offensive progression path. According to Palmer, the sense of urgency is now there but there's still work to do: 

"I really was told this over the last week. It was, 'Not to say we were coasting, but we've been able to fix a lot of our issues and get better as a team on both sides of the ball.' Obviously, really Mike (Garafolo), each of the last several seasons. We've seen it specifically on the defensive side of the ball, getting better and fixing mistakes as the year went on. That hasn't happened.

"But the sense of urgency didn't really come, I was told, until this last week of practice heading into the Bills game and then once again, what happens is they don't correct these mistakes. And the three major mistakes are these: it's penalties, which they lead the NFL in holding calls offensively. It's turnovers — they're 28th in turnover differential. A good defense [but] they do not force turnovers on defense and they're turning it over a lot on defense. And then red zone. They were arguably the best red zone offense in football a season ago; they're middle-of-the-pack now."

Some of the mistakes Palmer mentioned managed to rear their ugly heads in a tough Week 14 loss to the Buffalo Bills. The Chiefs were penalized seven times for 45 yards, including an offensive offsides flag on wide receiver Kadarius Toney that took away a touchdown that would've put the home team up late. The Chiefs lost the turnover battle as well, committing two to Buffalo's one. A 2-for-3 outing in the red zone was nice, although there's certainly some room for improvement there too. 

Before this season, there didn't truly seem to be a deficit that the Chiefs couldn't overcome. While this year's team has battled back in multiple games, it's struggled to finish the job and lock down wins. In critical moments, mistakes have tended to plague Kansas City. Reid's team doesn't have the same clutch gene it used to possess, or at least it hasn't displayed it thus far. Palmer explains that while the Chiefs are attempting to avoid letting "panic" set in with their wideouts, it's something that is allegedly feared: 

"And then the late-game heroics, which we're used to seeing from Patrick Mahomes. The fear that they have in that building, Mike, is that they start to panic. They start to have a sense of negative thoughts in their mind, then you play what? You play tighter. That's what they're trying to avoid, but that's kind of what we're seeing a little bit with this offense." 

Kansas City's schedule gets notably easier for the club's final four games. On the other hand, having to go up against the New England Patriots' defense on Sunday doesn't exactly provide an easy matchup. Bill Belichick's team fights and competes hard and possesses enough talent on that side of the ball to hold most opponents in check. That isn't stopping betting markets from favoring the visiting Chiefs by more than a touchdown, however. A cleaner and more efficient offensive performance would likely hit that mark, as well as calm some of the nerves Palmer hinted at. Confidence is key entering the postseason, and it's becoming abundantly clear that some momentum is needed.

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