Chiefs: Moving On To Next Season
by Paul Pulley | January 24, 2019
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Well, I had to scrap one article and start new, bummer… then Bob Sutton was fired.
After a close heartbreaking loss to the New England Patriots, the Kansas City Chiefs begin their 2019 off-season two weeks sooner than we had hoped. Am I upset that the Chiefs lost the AFC Championship game? No, I can’t say that I am. Am I disappointed that they lost? Of course, but maybe no more than any other loss. Moving on to next season!
The parody of “You’ll never win it all with Andy”, may or may not be prophetic, but I am absolutely convinced, and have been for some time, that Andy will never win it all with Bob Sutton, but he’s gone now.
Even with the added 2018 free agent talent, plus an entire 2018 draft class and the cohesiveness of maintaining the same coaches and same system, the Chiefs defense continues to regress season after season under its current leadership. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a huge problem.
On Sunday evening, we witnessed a group of mostly no name players (the Patriots have one defensive player selected to the Pro Bowl), shut down the NFL’s number one offense for the entire first half. Granted, the Chiefs offense helped them a little with some bad plays of their own. This was accomplished by a defensive coordinator in his first and probably only season in New England. Conversely, the Chiefs defense took the field to start the game, and had absolutely no idea of how to slow down the Patriots offense. The only explanation is coaching, and I don’t think it stops at the DC, but the changes need to start there.
Defense Wins Championships……. Maybe.
The old saying in the NFL is “defense wins championships”. I don’t believe that is necessarily true any longer, but you certainly need a defense that is better than terrible. The final four teams in the NFL playoffs all finished the regular season ranked in the top 8 in offensive production. None of them had a top 10 defense. The two teams that will be competing in this years Super Bowl have offenses ranked 2nd and 5th with defenses ranked 19th and 21st.
With HC Andy Reid formulating and calling offensive plays and with the Chiefs offense, led by QB Patrick Mahomes, orchestrating those plays, I have little doubt that the offense will remain one of the best in the league. On the opposite side of the ball, the Chiefs need improvements. They can no longer continue their cellar dwelling ways on defense if they want to win a championship.
Moving on to Next Season
Barring trades, the Chiefs will draft 29th in the upcoming draft. I keep thinking we need defense, defense and defense, but then I think, if Bob Sutton was still the DC, why waste draft capital on defense. However, he’s gone now. As has been pointed out, the Chiefs will have 4 picks in the first three rounds of the draft. Picks 29, 61 and 93 overall with the addition of pick 63 or 64, depending on the outcome of the Super Bowl.
Which player or what position the Chiefs select will be debated tirelessly for the next few months. Of course, moves that are made, if any, during free agency will dictate the needs come draft weekend. For the Chiefs current needs, I’m looking at defensive line, tight end, safety and cornerback, mostly in that order. Once again, any player additions Brett Veach makes in free agency will probably alter those needs.
Of a Few Things I am Certain
First… and foremost, we have a quarterback, all our own, that is quite possibly the most limitless QB to ever play the game. One pass hardly mentioned in the Championship game was the no look pass that hit Kelce right in his hands, but he dropped. Second… is we will never get to the Super Bowl if we don’t get into the playoffs, and that requires at least 10 wins during the regular season. Third… the best chance to win in the playoffs is playing at home, and yes, that includes Arrowhead, history notwithstanding. Playing at home means winning the division, something the Chiefs have done for the past three years and hopefully will continue to do. Not only the division, but playing for the conference champs is a huge advantage.
Lastly, although it seems cloudy now, I believe the future to be exceedingly bright for Chiefs Kingdom. We know there will be player turnover and hopefully those turn out to be upgrades. Most importantly, let’s hope the coaching turnover will be upgrades.
Paul Pulley — ArrowheadOne
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