Chiefs Offense and Defense Snuff Out the Bengals, 45-to-10

Chiefs: Offense and Defense

Snuff Out the Bengals, 45-to-10

by Laddie Morse

That quote has become this year’s storyline of the season in the NFL. The Kansas City Chiefs offense has become a Magical Mystery Tour worth following. Before we get into that, let’s talk about the story of this game.

This game had everything if you are a Chiefs fan:

• defense opened with a 3-and-out-punt,
• offense opened with a 95-yard drive & a 6-yard TD pass to Kareem Hunt,
• a defensive 8-and-out-punt,
• a rare missed FG by Harrison Butker after a 7 play drive,
• a defensive stop taking over on downs,
• a 4-play (no jokes please) drive & another TD pass to Hunt,
• a Bengals 77-yard TD drive… followed by a Chiefs 77-yard TD drive,
• a defensive 3-and-out-punt — again — by the Chiefs D,
• a FG right before the half for the good guys,
• Half time: Chiefs 24, Bengals 7.

Anytime your defense can stay fresh, it’s a very good sign. For the Kansas City Chiefs, that hasn’t happened a lot this year. On Sunday evening, the Chiefs offense and defense snuffed out the Bengals of Cincinnati by using… a control style offense that used a lot of clock to score while keeping their defense resting on the sidelines. That defense had four stops in the first half alone, enough to take a 17 point lead into the half.

What happened next, right after the half? QB Patrick Mahomes led the offense down the field in 3:41 for a TD and a point after. Chiefs 31, Bengals 7. Then, Safety Ron Parker had a pick-six and just that fast the score was 38-to-7 Chiefs. At that point in the game, the Chiefs had outdistanced the Bengals 394 yards to 139.

Some will pan the defense and make a big deal out of how many yards they’ve given up when the reality is, that following 4 first half stops and an INT to open the 2nd half, the game was essentially over. On the Bengals next drive they marched down the field and ate up lots of yardage and clock but only netted a field goal out if it… and that was “it” for the Bengals, when it comes to scoring.

So what does the offense do next? Patrick goes out and throws an INT. He tries to hit speedster Tyreek Hill down the middle of the field but, under-throws him by 7 yards. Not to worry. The defense to the rescue: another 3-and-out! This defense is getting better and better as the weeks go by and whenever they get Justin Houston, Eric Berry, and Daniel Sorensen back, whenever that may be, they will be ready to make a run in the playoffs.

We have to talk about the talent of RB Kareem Hunt. Mr. Hunt is amazing and he had the kind of game that… seeing is believing. This is where some of that magic quote comes in. You’ve seen the old magic trick — Now You See Him, Now You Don’t — well, take a look at this play.

Unbelievable. Hunt finished the game with 141 all purpose yards and 768 total yards for the season, after 7 games. It’s hard to remember watching a RB who made me think of Priest Holmes and/or Marshall Faulk… that’s how good Kareem Hunt was in this game.

Andy Reid said after the game: “My hat goes off to Kareem. He’s playing great football right now. Tough football. So, he’s punishing right now and that, uh, is something to watch.” Kareem Hunt scored 3 TDs on Sunday and by so doing, became the youngest player in Chiefs history to reach 20 TDs. Here’s another Houdini worthy play by Hunt:

It’s a great time to be a Chiefs fan. Not so much for opposing team’s defenses. Pick your poison. Even TE Demetrius Harris had a TD catch in this game. The Chiefs “other” TE, Travis Kelce, had 5 receptions for 95 yards. WR Sammy Watkins had 4 for 74. The Fastest Football Player Alive, Tyreek Hill, had 7 catches for 68 yards, even though he dropped a long one in the end zone, one that hit him in the hands, which is highly unusual for him. Plus, Spencer Ware, Demarcus Robinson, and Chris Conley all had catches. Patrick Mahomes hit 8 different receivers in this game.

Since you mentioned Patrick Mahomes… let’s talk a little Mahomes Magic shall we. Mr. Mahomes, with his 4 TDs in this game… is now on pace to reach 50 TDs in his first year as a starter. FYI, Peyton Manning (55) and Tom Brady (50), are the only QBs to ever throw for 50 TDs in a single season. Each did it once and for Manning, he accomplished that in his 15th season. For Brady, he did it in his 8th year in the league. Only 11 other times has an NFL QB thrown for “40” or more TDs in a single season. The so-called GOAT, Tom Brady, hit 50 once (2007) but has never reached 40 in any other season.

Allow me to preface the following comments with a statement about my being an Alex Smith fan: I’m an Alex Smith fan. In the 5 seasons that Smith was QB for the Chiefs, from 2013 through 2017, he averaged 20.4 TD passes per year. So, with Patrick Mahomes throwing 22 TDs after 7 games in his first season as a starter… this is making Chiefs fans feel spoiled, including me, and we should be.

The Chiefs 2018 offense is something special but it wouldn’t be fair to talk about this game with also mentioning that the defense played exceptionally well, yes, “exceptionally well.” Any time you can hold an NFL team’s offense to 10 points, you are doing a great job. This year’s Cincinnati offense was ranked 7th in the league (29.0 points per game) prior to Sunday’s game, in points scored. So, holding them to 10 points was another amazing performance. WR A.J. Green is a premiere talent and RB Joe Mixon, WR Tyler Boyd and QB Andy Dalton are all excellent. The defense deserves kudos for their performance on Sunday!

Both Dee Ford and Chris Jones had a sack giving Ford 5 sacks for the year and Chris Jones now has 3.

The Bengals had the ball 11 times in this game but only scored twice: a TD and a FG. That’s the kind of production as a defense that the team used to enjoy prior to 2016. The last couple of seasons the defense has finished near the bottom of the league in key stats so this game came at a great time. A time when the offense looks like it’s Super Bowl worthy. With the defense holding the Bengals to 65 total rushing yards and 174 total passing yards, the future looks bright in K.C.. Many defensive players had their “moment” in this game, including rookie LB Dorian O’Daniel.

Last week vs the Patriots, the Chiefs lost the clock battle badly. This week, the Chiefs held the ball for 33:43 while the Bengals had it for 26:17. Both teams had 8 penalties each so that didn’t appear to be an issue in this game.

By the end of the game, you could tell that Andy Reid was not trying to score any more and our ArrowheadOne resident sage, Merlin, said, “Reid is calling off the dogs.” Wise of Reid to do so and… astute of Merlin to notice. What was apparent in this game was, the Chiefs were having fun and winning. I guess they go hand in hand. For Andy Reid it marked a milestone: his 200th NFL win. There were loads of TDs and TD dances in this game and Reid was asked in his post game media session: “Was this one of your most fun games to watch?” to which he replied, “It was up there.”

If you are viewing this in Apple News and would like to join the Discussion, [GO HERE.](http://arrowheadone.com/chiefs-offense-and-defense-snuff-out-the-bengals-45-to-10/#disqus_thread)