Chiefs Lack of Adjustments Gets Them the Two Seed

Laddie Morse

I completely understand why a coach might feel that he’s going to go with what got him there – almost to the promised land – but when you see that this approach is not working, something must change. However, on Sunday afternoon in Cincinnati, it didn’t. Consequently, the Chiefs find themselves in the unenviable position of having to play a first round Wild Card game and not being able to sit their starters this week. That means, no rest for he weary, for two weeks in a row, at a time of year when they’ve played the longest regular season schedule ever.

The Chiefs scored 28 points in the first half against the Cincinnati Bengals, but could only muster 3 points in the second half. That means, the right adjustments were not made to make sure TDs could be created with a full menu of weapons. Moreover, the Defense allowed the same number of points in the second half, as they allowed in the first, 17 each. That means, no adjustments were made there either. A hard blow to take when the Bengals were beating man coverage and the Chiefs CBs were getting virtually no help over the top from their Safeties in the first half, which included a long TD by Ja’Marr Chase… who ended the game with 11 catches for 266 receiving yards.

266 receiving yards allowed! In one game! Gigantic Yikes!

How in the world do you allow an opposing WR go go off for 266 receiving yards when many of those yards came in the second half? If the Chiefs are playing a two deep Safety coverage scheme, in reality, those kinds of plays that Ja’Marr Chase was making, would never have happened, and I don’t care how far outside of the hashmarks those balls were thrown. It simply just would not, should not, happen.

The Chiefs needed to play zone coverage in this situation, especially since they already knew what the Bengals receivers could do based on the first three quarters of that game. Remember, that was with 3:19 left in the 4th quarter! In zone, they could watch the flight of the ball and act accordingly.

It’s been suggested that Reid, Spagnuolo and company are saving their best for the playoffs, but this was essentially a playoff game with the Bye Week and #1 seed on the line. Also, by later in their game, the Tennessee Titans were already smashing the Miami Dolphins 34-to-3, so the Chiefs knew exactly what they were playing for and what was on the line.

With Tennessee playing the 4-and-12 Texans this coming weekend, the chances that the Chiefs will regain the #1 seed are slim to none. Here’s the way the current first weekend of the playoffs look:

This assumes all of the below will happen in week 18:

· The Titans beat the Texans in Houston,

· The Chiefs beat the Broncos in Denver,

· The Bengals beat the Browns in Cleveland,

· The Colts beat the Jags in Jacksonville,

· The Bills beat the Jets at Home, and

· The Chargers beat the Raiders in Vegas

If anyone wants the see the Chiefs play the Chargers again — for the third time this season — raise your hand… now ask someone big to slap you.

The Chiefs lost the first time they played, 30-to-24, in which Mahomes threw a late interception and the Chargers capitalized driving 59 yards for a winning score. That was at Arrowhead. Then three weeks ago, with the score tied in overtime, Travis Kelce caught that memorable 34-yard catch and run TD.

While those were exciting games, they were also very close games and the Chargers may be that one team I’d least like the Chiefs to meet in the playoffs. I’ve never been a fan — in any sport — of seeing two team face each other for a third time in the playoffs. Even when the higher seeded team has already beaten the lower seeded team twice in the regular season, which is certainly not the case here. Hosting the Chargers, who have already beaten the Chiefs in Kansas City this year, is not my idea of party time.

The only advantage the Chiefs have now that they’re playing this coming Saturday in Denver is, if they do have to play the next weekend, Wild Card Weekend (instead of getting the BYE, a highly probability), they’ll get an extra day off. Oh, thank you so much Roger Goodell.

Someone on Twitter named Kylie Manning captured my thoughts about this game:

• 1. The officiating sucked but not why we lost the game.
• 2. The Bengals should have never been able to convert on a 3rd and 27.
• 3. Defense made no adjustments to defend Chase.
• 4. The Chiefs are still a good team with good coaches.

Here’s Daniel Harms from RGR Football and what he said in his post game remarks about the Chiefs game plan and their lack of adjustments:

Here’s what Charles Goldman of ChiefsWire.com had to say about the loss and the reason the Chiefs folded:

“[Ja’Marr] Chase managed to put up 266-yards and three touchdowns against Kansas City, which totally altered the course of the matchup and was the single most important factor in the Chiefs’ loss. They either didn’t take the threat he poses seriously, or decided they didn’t need to game plan for him, but either way it was a terrible look for defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and his unit.

Goldman went on to say that, “It took total and gross incompetence by the Chiefs’ defense to let Ja’Marr Chase run as wild as he did….” which is an indictment on the Chiefs coaches as much as anyone.

I understand why many coaches don’t make certain adjustments during a game, they want to rely more upon their pre-game analysis and trust the belief they have in their own players. Such as: that Charvarius Ward can cover Ja’Marr Chase one-on-one. We’ll, they also need trust their eyes and know when a player is in trouble on the field… right in front of them. If you asked a thousand Chiefs fans at halftime if Ward (or any Chiefs DB) could cover Chase all by themselves, I’d garner a guess and say you’d get 1,000% of them to say –> NO!

That’s exactly what they’re counting on from other team’s defenses when they attempt to cover Tyreek Hill, or Travis Kelce. Once their defense breaks down and begin to cover those players with multiple DBs, then they know what to do next: IOW, they adjust their attack. It’s not like K.C. coaches are unfamiliar with the concepts, in fact, they count on them when drawing up their own game plans. Maybe that’s part of the reason Goldman called it “gross incompetence.” It was gross, that’s for sure.

These Chiefs have had issues with in-game adjustments before, so it looks like this is a problem that’s not going away any time soon.

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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