The year was 1939, and the movie was, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (nominated for 11 Academy awards) was the story of a naive young man, played by James Stewart, who is tasked with going to Washington to help, but is faced with nothing but complications. Sound familiar? Stewart starred in 5 movies in 1939 and although this one was filmed in 1938, Stewart had just turned 30. In 1938 his breakout role was in “You Can’t Take It With You” and it was also 8 or 9 years ahead of his most enduring role as George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life” in 1946.
Note: Contrary to what you may have heard, these movies took place before my time.
Now, another young man — Patrick Mahomes — goes to Washington hoping to making his mark but instead of in politics… on the National Football League. Hopefully, it won’t be quite as completed as it was for James Stewart’s character.
The biggest questions come about the Chiefs defense and not Patrick Mahomes. Sure, we all want to see that Mahomes is the same ole wonderful QB who has taken the league by storm in his first three season as a starter, but this season he’s already thrown 6 INTs, to go along with his 16 TDs.
The first question the defense must answer this weekend in Washington is, can they be better than epically bad? How “epically” bad have they been is pointed out in a Tweet by Paul Hembekides:
This game in Washington may give the Chiefs defense the chance it needs to take a breath because the WFT passing attack ranks 20th in the NFL in Yard Per Game (239.4), and only a little bit better on the ground where they rank 16th best in Yard Per Game (108.8).
The Chiefs offense ranks 5th in Passing Yards Per Game (292.2) and 7th in Rushing Yards Per Game (128.2), they’ll be facing a WFT defense that is second only to the Chiefs defense (32.6) in Points Allowed Per Game (31.0). Consequently, he Chiefs offense should have a terrific day… unless they continue to turn the ball over at their current rate. On the other hand, while K.C. ranks 31st in the Turnover Differential battle, the WFT ranks 28th.
What Could Be Wrong with the Chiefs?
While this question may be assuming some thing IS wrong with the Chiefs, let’s not forget that they lost to the Baltimore Ravens by only one point — 36-to-35 — and then fumbled he ball away on the last drive vs the Chargers which we all expected to be a game winning drive. If those games go differently, the Chiefs are sitting at 4-and-1 right now and we’re not dealing with this question. At all.
That being said, the Kansas City Chiefs do have a losing record right now and sit at 2-and-3 before the gameless team faces the nameless team.
In a conversation with David Bell just yesterday he suggested there was:
“A disturbance in the Force” as far as the Chiefs were concerned.
I wanted to see more of what he meant by this so I asked:
“Are you saying, something is rotten in Denmark?” to which he replied,
“No, not that bad, but a disturbance nonetheless.”
Maybe we as Chiefs fans get those “funny feelings” that something is wrong because we’ve been through it all before, like in 2012 when the Chiefs were coming off of a 2-and-14 season and paying thousands of dollars out of pocket to fly banners behind planes circling Arrowhead Stadium during games which read: “Save Our Chiefs!”
When I talk to David Bell, which I have been doing for years now, he’s usually upbeat and positive about the direction the Chiefs ae going. You may think that’s easy to say since the Chiefs have been on a Super Bowl trajectory over that same span of time but I can say without a doubt that Mr. Bell has always been an optimistic Chiefs backer, to a fault. So, when he says he has an idea that there’s a disturbance in the force surrounding the Chiefs… I listen.
The worst possible scenario is that DC Steve Spagnuolo has lost the by-in of some of his players or coaches. While Spags still sticks up for even his poorest performing players — which on one level is a positive because he refuses to throw them under the bus — it’s a disturbing prospect on its own. Spags should know by now, there is no defending the defense he’s putting on the field.
Shook, Not Stirred, Therapy
Yes, I might be shook. A little. If I am shaken, it’s because I projected that the Chiefs would go 17-and-0, and no, that’s not about me. Not completely. It’s more about the impact that three losses in the first five games has had on Chiefs Kingdom. All of a sudden fans are jumping ship, so to speak, and finding a Chiefs fan who still believes that a deep playoff run is a possibility, well, they’re few and far between. However, if you do need an injection of CHIEFS positivity, please read Josh Kingsley’s article called, “Chiefs: Rain or Shine.” We all knew the first five games were going to be the toughest part of the Chiefs schedule. There’s just no way now, it seems, to put the genie back in the Super Bowl hopes bottle. Not as fans anyway.
A Change Gonna Came
That could all change tomorrow, and I think it will. We’ve been waiting for these Chiefs to break out and explode with a huge victory and I see nothing stopping them tomorrow versus Washington. The WFT may have two of the best DEs in the game, but their defense has nearly been as bad as the Chiefs D this year. The flip side? David Bell says, “If the Chiefs don’t beat Washington, it’s going to be nearly impossible to make it to the playoffs.” Maybe it’s time for Patrick to invoke the magic of ZuZu’s petals and win one for his own ZuZu: Sterling Skye Mahomes!
Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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