Waiting Game: Chiefs’ Fans Least Favorite Pastime – Kansas City Chiefs fans have become all too familiar with waiting. They’ve been waiting for a second Super Bowl win since 1969. Waiting for the offense and defense to be simultaneously good since, well, maybe the dawn of time. Will the wait finally be over this year? Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll still just have to wait and see.
Waiting On The General Manager
In John Dorsey, it seemed that Chiefs had finally found a quality general manager to get the team where it needed to go. Unfortunately, his reckless disregard for cap and character, left the Chiefs with little choice but to move on. Brett Veach has been a notable improvement in the cap area, and his 2019 draft class has been excellent. However, questions remain about his competence. WR Sammy Watkins and LB Anthony Hitchens look to be supremely overpaid, while big contracts for DT Chris Jones and QB Patrick Mahomes, loom on the horizon.
The 2018 draft class remains incomplete, with Breeland Speaks on IR for the remainder of the season, and DT Derrick Nnadi representing the lone impact player, thus far. There’s plenty of positive signs, but the jury is, certainly, still out, on whether Brett Veach is a great General Manager.
Waiting On The Offense
The Chiefs offense this year has been like a teaser trailer for a Star Wars movie. You know, the kind that gives you 30 seconds of material and the revelation that you won’t get to see the real thing for a whole year. Mahomes finally looked healthy last Monday, but the offense looked awful.
Have Mahomes and Reid lost faith in the wide receivers after a few drop-heavy weeks? Maybe, but it’s quite likely that the field in Mexico City was simply in way worse shape than they expected and the early loss of Hill likely impacted their game plan quite a bit than expected. By all rights, they should be ready to roll, after the Bye Week, but only time will tell. So, we wait.
Waiting On The Wounded
Are we watching the Chargers or the Chiefs? The number of injuries, this year, have been far above what fans are accustomed to. Whether it’s bad luck, a late Bye Week, or the strain of taking every team’s best shot… the Chiefs bench is full, and the Injured Reserve list is filling up.
LT Eric Fisher was technically back, on Monday, but Chiefs are waiting for him to get up to speed, as he was pretty bad against the Chargers. DE Alex Okafor has been out quite a while, but should be back after the bye week. That’s important, because Chiefs will be waiting much longer to see DE Emmanuel Ogbah… till next year, if then. RBs Damien Williams and LeSean McCoy as well as WR Tyreek Hill, all left the Chargers game with injuries. TE Blake Bell didn’t even play in it.
The Bye Week offers some very needed rest, but fans and trainers are still waiting to see whether that’s enough to get this roster back to halfway decent.
Conclusions You Don’t Have to Wait For
I’d love to tell you that everything is going to be better after the Bye Week, but no reasonable person could assert that… with confidence. Improvement is likely, but injury remains a possibility. There’s no guarantee that Chiefs will get fully healthy by the playoffs. There’s a solid chance that Reid tweaks the offense, and they don’t have another loss, this season. It’s also entirely possible that they drop a game or two, that they should win, and open the door to, ugh, the Raiders. Until we see some kind of consistency, Chiefs fans will always be waiting for the other shoe to drop, and, frankly, given the circumstances, it makes a lot of sense.
Will cynics or optimists prove the more prescient? We’ll just have to wait and see. Go Chiefs.
Ransom Hawthorne — ArrowheadOne
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