MELLINGER: Dear Chiefs fans: C'mon, it's not that bad ...

[pugsnotdrugs19]

LINK: https://www.kansascity.com/sports/sp...223324950.html

ARTICLE:

Spoiler!

BY SAM MELLINGER
December 19th, 2018

This will be hard for some of you to understand. That’s not said negatively. Just factually. Because some of you came to follow the Chiefs because of Patrick Mahomes. Which is fine. Kansas City is not accustomed to rooting for trendy teams. These are strange times we live in.

But here’s a quick primer for those who started rooting for the Chiefs once they began playing a wizard at quarterback: Your new team is a habitual heartbreaker. The darkness in the stories you hear from your new brothers and sisters is real. They are not whining. They are speaking their truth.

And, you know, while we’re on the topic, here’s something for those of you who fell in love with this team long ago — you’ve never cheered for a team like this.

More specifically, you’ve never cheered for a quarterback like this.

You know that, of course. That’s been obvious since Week 17 of last year, if not earlier. But if last week’s loss shook your confidence, it’s worth pointing something out.

If this same Chiefs team — flaws and strengths, studs and duds — wore different uniforms and played in a different city, you would be jealous.

If this Chiefs team wore Colts uniforms, for instance, you would be terrified with all the scenarios of Mahomes driving a figurative knife through your metaphorical heart with a game-winning drive capped by a Tarkenton scramble with a sack-avoiding cartwheel and left-handed no-look pass threading four defenders.

This is, basically, what Kansas City has waited decades to see.

The Chiefs have the best quarterback in a league that’s never been more dominated by quarterbacks. They have the best offense in a league teaching fans who can’t remember the 2000 Baltimore Ravens that, actually, Offense Wins Championships.

These Chiefs have lost three games, by a total of seven points, each literally or essentially coming down to the final play. They are 3-2 against teams currently holding an AFC playoff spot, with two of those wins on the road.

The losses came against the New England Patriots, who have lost three of five, and the Los Angeles Chargers, who lost to the Chiefs at home and have led the Chiefs for just 4 of 7,200 seconds this season.

The Chiefs have flaws. Oh brother, they’ve got flaws. They have a defense fronted by Chris Jones and Dee Ford and Justin Houston with a solid group of cornerbacks and they’re still somehow terrible.

They have averaged 39.7 points in their losses. The defense scored or set up three touchdowns and the offense gave up two touchdowns in those losses, but still. If you can’t relax with 40 points, you can’t ever relax.

This team has problems keeping its quarterback clean, and has consistently amplified its problems tackling (worst among projected AFC playoff teams, according to Pro Football Focus) by being the NFL’s most penalized team.

So even without a playoff collapse presented in regular season form last week, you wouldn’t have to think too hard to come up with ugly scenarios.

But the AFC lacks a singularly dominant team. Usually, when that happens, the fallback logic is that the hottest team wins. Well, the Chiefs are well-positioned to be that team with a win this weekend in Seattle.

The Seahawks are a terrible matchup for the Chiefs, the league’s best rushing team against the worst rush defense. But they are also beatable, and a home underdog against the team so many here in Kansas City are freaking out about.

Win this weekend and no matter what the Chargers do the Chiefs can clinch another AFC West title and first-round bye with a win over the Raiders in week 17 (the NFL’s version of a layup).

Do all of that and they will be going into the playoffs with the league’s best quarterback and offense, and a defense that is at least getting healthier and presumably a little better with the return of safety Eric Berry.

That’s enough to fight with.

Look, the Chiefs might ruin your January. That is in play. Berry could be injured at any moment, a two-score lead disintegrated in 5 minutes, and a badly timed penalty or missed kick will stir up a lot of ghosts. The new fans will be quick learners on that. Welcome to the heartbreak, suckers.

But the longtime fans can learn something here. Meet in the middle. Open your eyes, and see a quarterback and team capable of scoring an average of 37.7 points against six projected playoff teams.

Unless you are old enough to remember 1969, this is the closest the team you root for has ever resembled the team you’ve wanted it to be.

If you’re giving up hope because of one loss in a year without a dominant team, well, nobody can fault you for protecting your heart. But they might also ask a simple question.

What are you waiting for?

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Uhh the Rams still have just a shot as any..

[O.city]

Originally Posted by Pasta Giant Meatball

Uhh the Rams still have just a shot as any..

The team built around an injured RB? Nah.

[In58men]

Originally Posted by notorious

Not that bad? These Chiefs will create a new way to make it even worse.

MOAR PANIC!!!!!!!!

[Marcellus]

https://twitter.com/tomkctv5/status/...533745152?s=21

Can someone imbed this? I’m on my phone.

[RunKC]

Originally Posted by O.city

That was supposed to be the Rams this year, and look how that's played out. You're always one injury away from a lost year or a failed run.

Having Mahomes should give the Chiefs a chance every year, but as we've seen with Rodgers and the Pack, that alone isn't enough.

I don't have much confidence that the Chiefs will put enough around him for the next decade.

Jared Goff is not Patrick Mahomes.

Interesting stat they talked about last night was that Goff statistically has passed far more and struggled badly the last 2 weeks bc Gurley has been taken away.

Just goes to show how good Pat is.

[bowener]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

https://twitter.com/tomkctv5/status/...533745152?s=21

Can someone imbed this? I’m on my phone.

Here is why some anonymous executives believe Drew Brees should win MVP: pic.twitter.com/4hthB70pCv

— Tom Martin (@TomKCTV5) December 20, 2018

[MahiMike]

What a difference a month makes. Some of you have gone full pre-Pat.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by MahiMike

What a difference a month makes. Some of you have gone full pre-Pat.

Yeah, the ****ing Chiefs will do that to you.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by O.city

Well, I mean, the other team is going to eventually make a change no?

So what you're saying, is they need to go on long time consuming drives when they get up by multiple scores and not go 3 and out?

Like they just did last Thursday?

No, I don't think the solution is to game manage drives. The solution for me is to continue doing the things you did that led to the 2-score lead in the first place. I find it really hard to believe that every game like clockwork there's a point in every lead where Reid clearly pivots into a "run out the clock" situation. And in those situations, we don't just become less effective... we become terrible.

And no, 1 time-consuming drive (generous penalty-aided) does not change a pattern we've seen all season long.

The defense has warts. I can accept that. What I can't accept is a good offense that consistently stops being themselves consistently and repeatedly in the same situation.

[pugsnotdrugs19]

I say if you want to be negative, or doubt, that’s perfectly fine. The Chiefs have done enough to deserve that.

But if we’re being honest, this is still their best chance to finally put it all together and that’s the approach I’m going to take. Especially with Berry back, who could very well take this defense from shit to average in a blink.

[Rain Man]

I've got 48 years of conditioning of having things go inexplicably wrong at the exact worst time. It's hard to cleanse that out of my system. Franchise quarterback or not, it's going to take a Super Bowl win to do it, and it's going to take an AFC championship to even start the process.

[loochy]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I find it really hard to believe that every game like clockwork there's a point in every lead where Reid clearly pivots into a "run out the clock" situation. And in those situations, we don't just become less effective... we become terrible.

How do you find that hard to believe? It happens every game.
Posted via Mobile Device

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by RunKC

I think that besides the lack of playoff wins, the frustration comes from having the same exact problems on this team last year, the Chiefs telling us that they are fixing it and then it being even worse.

The fear is having this amazing QB and never winning anything with him. That would totally be a Chiefs thing to do.

The nervousness for me is shades of Marty Schottenheimer. His team in San Diego was outrageously good from top to bottom. Unlike his teams in KC, he Marty had an elite offense in SD. Unlike playoff games in KC, there wasn't this obvious Marty Ball approach - he was aggressive in his SD playoff losses.

How Marty kept losing playoff games in SD is really really hard to explain. Even with Philip Rivers who was miles better than most QBs Schottenheimer worked with, they found ways to lose in devastating fashion.

So yeah, when Andy Reid, a guy with a history of not just bad, but devastating playoff losses, loses in a fashion familiar with even with a huge improvement at QB... it's going to get people really anxious.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by loochy

How do you find that hard to believe? It happens every game.
Posted via Mobile Device

Yeah, I find it really easy to believe because I watch it every week. And I watch it with major psychological trauma in every playoff game.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by loochy

How do you find that hard to believe? It happens every game.
Posted via Mobile Device

Yeah, I didn't word that correctly. I see it happening. I meant it's hard to believe that it's a coincidence that we struggle in the same exact situation every single time. There's obviously a pattern, not a series of coincidences.