Lisa Foxx
The Kansas City Chiefs had a miserable outing Monday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium. The team lost 14-20 in what was arguably the worst game of Patrick Mahomes’ NFL career. What’s worse is, the game was on Christmas Day and the Chiefs lost to their bitter division rivals the Las Vegas Raiders.
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Questions have been swirling about the Chiefs offense since the season began. The Chiefs have never had a lower than a top six offense since head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes teamed up. With the loss on Monday the Chiefs are now 9-6 on the season with two games remaining. They are still in first place in the AFC West and can win the division with a win on Sunday or a loss and/or tie by the Denver Broncos and the Las Vegas Raiders. If the Chiefs win the AFCW it will be the 8th consecutive division title for Kansas City and the 16th overall.
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“I do believe that things can get much better and be more productive — not having 21 third and fourth downs in the games. Being better on first and second down, so how do you get to that point?”
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Sweeney went on to say:
“Well, we know what we think we can do between the players, the coaches. Everyone gets together, and there’s no pointing fingers to anybody but ourselves, and that’s where it starts. Bad teams, they do that. They point fingers at everybody but themselves. We actually do the opposite, and it starts with Coach (Andy) Reid, and it just goes to the leaders on the team. And when you do that, then you get another opportunity, it makes it that much sweeter when you do win, and you do get to that point — that you saw in the end, you stuck together.”
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Sweeney then asked: “… if Monday was 2023’s low point?“
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“It was. You can’t run from that. That was not a good performance by any of us on offense — coaches and players. We have to accept that. I think we have, and you got to use that. Now, what are you going to do about it?”
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The Chiefs have never lost six games in a season under Mahomes’ tutelage, and fans and pundits alike are searching for answers. Fans are not satisfied with the answers they’ve been receiving from K.C.’s coaches and players. The “we just have to work harder and put it all together” answer has gotten stale for Chiefs Kingdom. Fans want answers but are frustrated that none seem forthcoming. Everyone outside of the organization seems to have the solution to the team’s offensive problems and they’re not afraid to share them.
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The Team Misses Eric Bieniemy
The most common refrain being shared is that the Chiefs miss former offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. The argument is that the team misses Bieniemy’s leadership and since his departure there is a lack of accountability. It’s hard to dispute this argument. Bieniemy is known for his no-nonsense, no holds barred style of coaching. In fact, players from his current team, the Washington Commanders, had concerns about Bieniemy’s demanding style of coaching after he arrived.
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It’s true that the Chiefs look disjointed on offense. The problems and the mistakes have not been fixed 15 weeks into a 17-week season. It’s true that Bieniemy demands hard work and expects perfection from his players. It’s also true that Coach Reid was a highly successful head coach before coming to Kansas City, and in K.C. before Bieniemy joined the team. So, it’s difficult to believe that Reid is unable to function properly as a head coach, for whatever reason, without Bieniemy by his side.
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Fire the Wide Receiver Coordinator
Another popular narrative is that Conner Embry needs to be fired. The WR coach is a rookie NFL coach and has been tasked with preparing the young Chiefs WR corps for games. To be fair, the Chiefs WRs have been a disaster this season. They have been running the wrong routes and have been unable to create separation. When they do manage to separate from defenders, they have a tendency to drop passes. Kansas City leads the league in dropped passes and the inability to catch the ball has directly led to losses for the Chiefs, and frustration for both players and fans.
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Rookies in the NFL are almost always going to have a rough go of it, and coaches are no different. The league is always looking for the next young brilliant talent. Who’s to say Embry isn’t that talent? He comes from a long line of coaches and he knows the game. Success takes time. Embry is working with a young group of players and Reid’s system is not an easy one.
It’s unfair to blame a rookie coach for all the offensive woes when it’s not just the WRs that are the problem on offense. Granted, the WR room is a problem, but it’s also up to the players to execute plays correctly. It’s up to them and all receivers to run the correct routes and get the timing right and to block their assigned players. Embry is an easy scapegoat, but Reid believes in his talents, so he deserves a chance to prove himself.
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Travis Kelce is Too Old
Twitter, or X, is abuzz with tweets about the downfall of Travis Kelce. Some say that the 34-year-old tight end hasn’t performed well all season because he is getting old and has lost a step. Others say they expect Kelce to retire at the end of the season. Then there are those who have cited Kelce’s growing celebrity from the hit podcast with his brother “New Heights.”
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People say he’s not focused on football because he’s hosted and made guest appearances on SNL and is in several ads and TV commercials. And, then there’s the Taylor Swift effect. The narrative that Kelce is distracted because he is dating Swift, one of the most popular entertainers on the planet, is one that has caught traction.
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The couple has been photographed and their love life detailed in every medium available. The pop star and the football star have their every move scrutinized and it’s understandable that all the attention could be distracting.
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Kelce has stated in the past that he plans to play “until the wheels fall off”. Kelce was injured the day before the first game of the season and wasn’t unable to play in the season opener. He did play in the second game, but he was not completely healed. Kelce also injured his ankle early in the season but continued to play through the injury.
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The All-Pro TE is known for finding ways to get open on the field, so he’s often bumped at the line and mauled in coverage to prevent receptions. He’s been banged up and this season hasn’t been easy for him or anyone on K.C.’s offense. Despite all that, Kelce is closing in on his 8th consecutive 1,000-yard season. That’s the most by any TE in NFL history. H is older and needs some time to recover but Kelce has more goals to reach before he calls it quits. The reports of his retirement are greatly exaggerated.
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The Wide Receivers Are Trash
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The wide receivers themselves have been dragged through the mud by pretty much everyone who watches Chiefs football. Kansas City has a young WR room with a couple of free agent veterans thrown in for good measure. The room isn’t much different from the one that Kansas City had when it won the Super Bowl last season, but the players are executing at a much lower level. Their issues have been outlined above and there’s no need to rehash their poor performance this season.
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Rashee Rice, 23, is a rookie WR who had a slow start but has come on as the season has progressed. Rice still has a problem dropping passes but has also proven that he can be relied upon when Mahomes needs a receiver to step up. He now has 7 touchdowns on the season, a rookie franchise record, and 811 receiving yards (1:28).
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Coach Reid has never had a rookie WR reach 1000-yards in a season. Chiefs Kingdom is expecting great things from this rookie, both this season and in the future.
Despite being in the league for three years, Kadarius Toney has limited NFL experience. He was injured early in his first season in the league and sat out the first part of his second season. He was traded to the Chiefs midway through his second season but played limited snaps due to injury. Toney has also been injured this season and hasn’t seen the field much.
When he is on the field there are two Toneys: the dynamic playmaking Toney and the mistake riddled Toney. His mistakes are like the mistakes other WRs on the team make; the difference is his mistakes have come at critical moments in games, which have amplified his errors and led to calls for him to be cut from the team. The 24-year-old is insanely talented, he just hasn’t been able to put it all together on the field yet this season.
The two veterans in the room, Marquez Valdez-Scantling and Justin Watson, aren’t WR1 or WR2 and are rarely WR3. MVS is supposed to be the team’s deep threat, but he has proven to be unreliable and Mahomes doesn’t seem to trust him, either. Watson does come through in the clutch for the team at times, but he is not consistent and isn’t always able to get open.
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Close to Getting it Right
The Chiefs have problems they need to fix quickly if they plan to repeat as Super Bowl Champions. The coaches and players are right: the team is close to getting it right. The turnovers and penalties can be corrected. Even with the errors the Chiefs are almost always in the game and have a chance to win.
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Kansas City is already behind the ball since their chance of earning the number one seed in the conference has dwindled. That means an on-the-road playoff game. The Chiefs have never played a road playoff game in the Mahomes’ era. This season will probably be the first time, and if so, the team will need their WRs to step up because with Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes running the ship, this team is and will always be a pass first team.
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Lisa Foxx — ArrowheadOne
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