Laddie Morse
The Kansas City Chiefs are 3-and-5 in their last 8 games. True. However, the Defense can’t be blamed for those losses. In those 5 losses, K.C. has averaged giving up 22.4 points per game. In other words, if the Offense had average 24 points per game — or even jsut 23 — K.C. would have won them all. Instead, the Offense averaged 15.2 points per game over those 5 losses. However, we all know K.C. has a broken offense and it’s not getting fixed anytime soon. So, let’s focus on what is good, and that’s the Defense.
Here’s a look at the Chiefs last 8 games:
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We all know the Chiefs were 6-and-1 in their first 7 games, but that’s not what concerns us now. If we’re looking at concerns, they are all offensive concerns. So let’s stay focused on the D. Let’s take a look at the rankings for the Chiefs. Each and every one of these links show the K.C. Defense is in the top ten and in some cases, the top two:
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• NFL.com Overall Defense – #10
• SportsNaut.com Overall Defense – #7
• ProFootballReference Team Defense – #2
• Covers.com Team Defense – #8
• Lineups.com Total Team Rankings, Defense – #2
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So, the Chiefs defense is a top ten Defense any way you look at it and they’d have to suffer a couple of tremendous blowouts in thier last tow game — which is highly unlikely — to not finish right there this year.
You may be thinking I’m about to make the case that “Defense Wins Championship” but you’d be wrong. Is this Defense good enough to win a championsip? Of course it is. Last year is the proof when they finished right in the middle of the pack — Profootballrefernce.com had them at #16 in 2022 — and that team ended up winning it all… but of course the offense was much better a year ago… and why is a matter of speculation.
The problem with the idea that “Defense Wins Championships” this season is a team like the Baltimore Ravens. They have a much superior run defense at about 51 yards per game to the Kansas City Defense who allows 110 rushing yards per game. On Christmas Day the Chiefs allowed RB Zamir White to rush for 145 yards with a long of 43 close to the end of the game. In fact, that run iced game for the Raiders and they could just kneel down to maintain the win, which, they did.
It takes both a very good Offense and a top half Defense to win a championship and last year’s team proved that theory.
In an article for ArrowheadPride, John Dixon wrote a piece called, “5 things we learned in the Chiefs’ Christmas Day loss to the Raiders” and his number one “Thing” was: “The Chiefs’ defense remains spectacular.” While the Offense gave up two back to back TDs on a fumble recovery and an INT, the Defense held the Raiders to two Field Goals. That’s it. Six (6) points is all. Dixon also pointed out:
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“Those who didn’t watch the game carefully might conclude that Kansas City’s defense had a below-average day against Las Vegas. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Raiders scored two touchdowns and two field goals. Both touchdowns were scored while the Chiefs’ defense was watching from the sidelines. So the defense allowed just six points — while the Kansas City offense scored 14.”
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Dixon goes on to say the Offense wasn’t good in that game and was the reason for the Defense looking like they played a worse game than they actually did and that they (the Offense) was the “biggest part of that failure.” I couldn’t agree more, but as for the Defense, they’ve not played this good since the days of Marty Schottenheimer back in the 1990s.
With the Defense playing as well as it has been — and the Offense having a down year — it makes the Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo a prime candidate for a head coaching job in 2024 with some other franchise. Spags has said he’d like to take on another Head Coaching position — Spags was the HC for the Rams from 2009-to-2011 and the Interim HC for the Giants (1-3) in 2017 — at some point, and with his Defense playing such an outstanding level of play, this just might be that opportunity. My hope is that Spags comes back again next season and that the Chiefs (and GM Brett Veach) are able to re-sign most all of their Defensive Free Agents.
That may seem like an impossible task, but the main issues with this team in the offseason will be their Offensive Line and the Wideout positions. In a conversation with David Bell, he posited that K.C. has such issues with the WR’s — aside from Rashee Rice — that the Chiefs will have to draft multiple WRs in the upcoming draft(s). I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I said the Chiefs have been focusing a lot of attention on the defensive backfield in recent drafts and now it’s time to focus that kind of attention on the WRs.
What do you think? Has this Defense reached their highest ceiling possible? Or, is their another level? Do we need to focus more attention on the WR position in the draft or should K.C. look to Free Agency for a fix there?
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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