Chiefs: Milestones, Millstones, and Broomsticks

While the Kansas City Chief are on pace to set some records of their own this season, there are also some stumbling blocks that could be holding them back. Then of course, there’s the real possibility that the Chiefs will sweep through the second half of the season without a loss. That’s why I’ll be addressing the Chiefs, milestones, millstones, and broomsticks.

The Chiefs Milestones

Matt McMullen, over at the center of the Chiefs universe, kcchiefs.com, has a piece called, “A Look At Some Historical Milestones The Chiefs Might Reach This Season” in which he says the Chiefs may be able to set some records in he the following categories:

• Most Points in a Season
• Most Net Yards in a Season
• Multiple 1,000 Yard Receivers in a Season
• Highest Passer Rating in a Season (with over 200 attempts)
• Most Rushing Yards in a Rookie Season
• Most Field Goals Made in a Rookie Season
• Most Consecutive Field Goals Made
• Most Consecutive Games Played (Career)
• Most Game Started in a Career (since 1968)
• Most Sacks in a Career

Let’s take those one at a time:

1. Most Points in a Season– the current Chiefs team is on pace to score 449 points this year, which would place them 4th overall. Only the Vermeil teams of 2002, 2003, and 2004 had more. 
2. Most Net Yards in a Season– the Chiefs are on pace to score 5,948 net yards. Only three teams have been better and all 3 reached the 6,000 net yards level: 2002, 2004*, and 2005 (*2004 = most).
3. Multiple 1,000 Yard Receivers in a Season– Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce are likely to hit that plateau. Tony Gonzales accomplished that with three different receivers. Riddle: guess who those WRs were (↣ answers at the bottom of this article)?
4. Highest Passer Rating in a Season (200+ attempts)– at 113.9, if Alex Smith keeps up his current performance level, he’ll finish 12 points higher than the Chiefs all-time passer rating leader (Len Dawson at 101.9 in 1966)
5. Most Rushing Yards in a Rookie Season– I think that Matt McMullen has this one wrong: he lists Hunt as coming in 5th all-time in Chiefs history with Joe Delaney having the most with 1,121 yards. Since Hunt already has 800 yards (right where McMullen ranks him) Kareem actually projects to 1,422 rushing yards this year… the most rushing yards for a Chief rook ever.
6. Most Field Goals Made in a Rookie Season– Harrison Butker has 19 made FGs this years and is presently 6 behind the Chiefs all-time leader, Ryan Succop, at 25. I’d be shocked if Butker doesn’t kick that record in the fanny.
7. Most Consecutive Field Goals Made– after Butker missed his first FG this year, he’s made 19 straight. The record is held by the Chiefs all-time great Pete Stoyanovich, at 22. I wouldn’t bet against The Buttkicker. 
8. Most Consecutive Games Played (Career)– Dustin Colquitt (199 games) is in 4th place right now but getting ready to surpass Jerrel Wilson (203 games) and could pass up Nick Lowery (212 games) who is #2 if he sticks around next season. However, I doubt Colquitt will be around long enough to take the record away from Will Shields who has 224 consecutive games to his name.
9. Most Game Started in a Career (since 1968)– ILB Derrick Johnson has started 163 games in his illustrious Chiefs career. He’s only one game behind Tim Grunhard and 8 behind Jack Rudnay and 11 behind Tony Gonzales. I don’t know how many games DJ will be able to start over the rest of his career — because it seems to be winding down faster than any of us could have projected — but he will always be one of my favorite Chiefs (in fact, I hope there’s a place on the team for him as a coach, once he turns in his helmet). 
10. Most Sacks in a Career– as seen in the chart below, Tamba Hali has lightyears to go to reach Derrick Thomas’ record. Can you say, “impossible.” Justin Houston has gone from 60 to 67.5 this season. He started off the season with 2.0 sacks against the Patriots and duplicated that performance against the much despised Denver team. Other than those two games, he’s had all of 3.5 sacks. I hope he can turn up the heat for the playoffs when the Chiefs get there but he’ll need 6 sacks in the last 7 games to take over 4th place from Art Still on the Chiefs all-time sacks list.

The Chiefs Millstones

1. It’s not a comfort to hear that CB Kenneth Acker is being “tried out” while Terrance Mitchell sits. Acker hasn’t looked good and although there are a few performers who can step up their game when the bright lights come on, Acker doesn’t seem to be one of those guys. Chiefs need to play-to-win — like Herman Edwards says, “You play to win the game…Hello. You play to win the game” — at all times. I’m not encouraged to hear that they are “trying-out” anyone.  

2. While it’s no secret that the Kansas City Chiefs run defense is in a shambles, it can’t be emphasized enough: the run defense must receive a fix during the Bye Week. I’m not getting into numbers here — they’re horrifying enough — but the optics tell a story and anyone with the ability to pick up a remote and turn the game on each Sunday can tell you, if the run defense isn’t fixed by the time the playoffs arrive, the Chiefs will be doing what they’ve done since January of 1971: going home empty handed. It’s also highly unlikely that if the run defense doesn’t begin to look better this Sunday, then waiting for the playoffs to arrive, may not happen.

3. These are confusing times for the Chiefs pass rush. That collection of players leads to a host of questions. Will Justin Houston ever become the same players he was 4 years ago? Will Dee Ford ever be more than a mirage? Are the Chiefs going to continue to march Frank Zombo out there? Can Tamba Hali be a presence again… at all? Can Dadi Nicolas be more than a spark plug? The Chiefs need answers at OLB but there don’t appear to be any good answers forthcoming.

The Chiefs Broomstick

The Andy Reid led Chiefs are a streaky bunch. In the past five and a half years they’ve had winning streaks of:

• 2013- W9
• 2014- W5
• 2015- W11
• 2016- W5
• 2017- W5

Of course, there have also been losing streaks of 5 and 3 (a couple of times in that span) but, this team is capable of going on a winning streak in their last 7 games and with an easy schedule, they are set-up like never in the past five seasons to do so. The New York Giants are a team heading in the wrong direction and with Andy Reid getting his Bye Week groove on… in which he rarely loses following the Bye… then this kicks off a stretch of games that are winnable like never in the Andy Reid era. This week’s game will be followed up by a game against the QB Nathan Peterman-led Buffalo Bills. If the Chiefs can tuck these two games under their win-belt, they could be off to the races as title contenders. Let’s hope they’re ready to rumble come Sunday. That’s when this streak could kick off big time. Go Chiefs!

Riddle Answer:

↣The three 1,000 yards receivers who teamed with Gonzo to make duo 1,000 receivers in a season: Derrick Alexander (2000), Eddie Kennison (2004), and Dwayne Bowe (2008).

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