Chiefs are watching their longest offseason in a decade — and it may very well be simply the reset they want

[ad_1] The Kansas Metropolis Chiefs dropped one other recreation, dropping 20-10 to the red-hot Houston Texans and placing their postseason hopes in legit peril for the primary time within the Patrick Mahomes period. At 6-7, they’re presently the tenth seed within the AFC playoff race with the Ravens, Colts and Texans of their speedy neighborhood as competitors for the seventh and closing postseason spot. The Chiefs haven’t missed the playoffs in over a decade, and have by no means failed to achieve a minimum of the AFC championship recreation with Mahomes as their beginning quarterback.

Despite the fact that they do nonetheless have one of many elite offenses within the NFL this season, it’s simple that the Chiefs have many flaws that should be corrected with a view to get again to sustaining their normal degree of dominance.

Commercial

Houston’s protection has made many offenses look utterly incompetent this season, however their strengths exacerbated some important points that the Chiefs have. There’s solely a lot they might have performed with their backup offensive tackles within the recreation, however their huge receivers continued to indicate an lack of ability to complete performs on the catch level. The Texans have one of the crucial proficient secondaries within the league, however Mahomes gave his receivers probabilities on the ball, and generally these drops and failed contested catches was turnovers.

The Chiefs already know this, however to win extra titles they’re going to must get gamers that may truly go to battle with the perfect defenses within the league. On nights like final night time, it actually does present how heavy Mahomes’ workload is on this offense — particularly when Rashee Rice has an off night time.

The makeshift huge receiver room is one downside, however their full and complete complacency at working again the previous few seasons has been an issue as nicely. Once more, the Chiefs had a number of offensive linemen out towards an elite entrance, however they solely managed 67 yards and a landing on 22 carries. Kareem Hunt and Isaiah Pacheco are simply not dynamic sufficient to offer a lift when the offense is in want of a spark. They're runners who're utterly reliant on what the offensive line can afford them, which wasn’t a lot on this recreation. In accordance with TruMedia, their 31.8% success fee on non-scramble speeding performs was their third-lowest mark of the season.

Commercial

[Get more Chiefs news: Kansas City team feed]

It simply doesn’t make sense for all times to be this tough when THAT GUY is your quarterback. The ground of their operation is principally on the ceiling. There was some poor luck concerned with dropping so many shut video games throughout one season, however the losses do make it more durable to disregard the apparent flaws on this workforce, in contrast to final yr when the one-score recreation luck was flipped.

They want firepower. Actual deal, gamebreaking expertise. The Chiefs’ braintrust has struggled immensely looking for supporting expertise and depth for Mahomes, as a result of in reality sufficient is all you actually need to compete with a participant like that. Nonetheless, that may’t be the objective. Maybe lacking the playoffs is the medication this workforce wants as a result of they’ve been coasting on the again of Mahomes and the game-planning of Steve Spagnuolo for a bit too lengthy.

The truth that they’re nonetheless high 5 in lots of offensive effectivity classes reveals simply how essential Mahomes is to the whole operation, as a result of they have been largely outmatched going towards the Texans’ supercharged protection. Kansas Metropolis’s personal protection isn’t innocent right here both, because it’s been up and down, however the focus has change into precisely how sloppy this workforce seems on offense. In spite of everything, the Chiefs did sufficient to carry the Texans to twenty factors, together with a discipline objective on their final drive of the sport.

Commercial

It’s not possible to rely the Chiefs completely out of the playoff hunt (they rank tenth in level differential this season with +63!), however the reality is that they’re yet one more loss away from basically being eradicated, and they should run the desk to also have a likelihood at slipping into the playoffs. It’ll be entertaining to see if they will do it, however this could by no means be their actuality in a world the place Mahomes is wholesome. And in the event that they get an extended offseason than ordinary, they higher be certain it isn’t going ahead.