Chiefs: Making a Difference Between a Win and a Loss

Laddie Morse

When WR Tyreek Hill left two offseasons ago, many thought that the Chiefs fate was doomed, but what did they do? They turned right around and won back-to-back Super Bowls: LVII and LVIII. Now that is leading up to the possibility of a three-peat, but let’s re-examine the true reason… reasons… for the Chiefs wins and lack of losses.

This season the Chiefs have relied upon their defense for their first four wins and holding the Saints offense to 13 points was a big reason for the win in that game. Although… the most recent reason for the Chiefs win was the play of Patrick Mahomes (29 of 39 for 331 passing yards). Plus, RB Kareem Hunt… and WR JuJu Smith-Schuster… and the playcalling of Andy Reid.

.

Across the League

There appears to be several necessary features to becoming the best team in the NFL. A great QB, and head coach, is at the top of the list and we can checkmark the Chiefs on that one. Next, in line appears ot be a great defense. Let’s take a look at where some NFL analysts currently ranks the Chiefs D.

.

ProFootballNetwork.com

.

I don’t know how Pro Football Network gets off ranking the Chiefs Defense as low as #7 especially with K.C having a perfect record. So, let’s take a look and some other rankings. Here’s Nate Tice and Charles McDonald of Yahoo Sports:

.

YahooSports.com

.

PFF.com says that Penei Sewell and Frank Ragnow have powered the Lions OL to the top of the charts. The top ten OLs accding to PFF look like this:

..

.

In the process of making this chart I had to move the OL over one column to the left in front of the “Weapons” section, or column, because it seems that it has become more important than the Weapons.

.

.

.

This site ranks all weapons: WRs, TEs and RBs and it came out this way, see below (which I pretty much agree with). All teams are not shown in this ranking, but the one’s that matter do:

.

Ranking Every NFL Team Weapon Groups

.

While the weapons group is a need for the Chiefs (ranked as #4, “Needs a Piece or Two”), this reveals that it is are not the most important feature of a team, while the QB is.

Yu may have noticed I placed the Head Coach in a column one pace in front of the QB. While the biggest reason that the Chiefs keep on winning is apparently the presence of Patrick Mahomes on the field, it;s hard to say he’s the #1 reason for the Chiefs consistent winning streak. Andy Reid has become known for his play calling and there no way to know for sure if Mahomes had ended up with another team if he’d have done as well. I guess what I’ trying to say is it may be a lot closer to a tie between a grea Head Coach and a great Quarterback.

After all, the Head Coach also is responsible for hiring all the other coaches and we know K.C. is one of the hot spots for great coaches. Best Defensive Coordinator in the NFL? May well be Steve Spagnuolo. Who was responsible for bringing him to the team? Best Defensive Line coach in the NFL? May well be Joe Cullen. Who was responsible for bringing him to the team? Best General Manager in the NFL? May well be Brett Veach. Who was responsible for bringing him to the team?

We could go on and on. The truth is, the Chiefs lucked out a bit to get QB Patrick Mahomes in place. Sam McDowell wrote a piece for the Kansas City Star called, “How the Chiefs recognized Patrick Mahomes’ ‘magical ability’ before anyone else” in which McDowell said:

.

“Brett Veach… was introduced to Patrick Mahomes

through a video screen, and their most important early

meeting came by accident. Veach began one day

scouting a Texas Tech offensive lineman, but concluded

it by telling KC head coach Andy Reid he’d found the Chiefs’

next franchise quarterback… If you knew Veach, you

knew he was serious… but with Mahomes, he exaggerated

his persistence to the point that Reid eventually felt

it necessary to tell him enough already.“

.

So, while Patick Mahomes may be the #1 reason the Chiefs succeed… so is Andy Reid. After all, Redi gave into Brett Veach’s howling at the moon for Mahomes plus… who was responsible for bringing Veach to the team?

.

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

.