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

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by TwistedChief

This board is in the midst of a holy war between those who think Mahomes has flipped the script on our playoff hopes and those trauma victims who are letting past seasons' PTSD overwhelm them.

I'm a part of the former but I understand the latter. Either way, this season isn't going to settle the debate. So just enjoy the ride for the time being and understand that this season isn't an all-or-none proposition.

I didn't have an issue losing to NE or LA. We went down swinging. Just as I didn't mind our playoff losses to Pitt or NE... it frustrated the hell out of me, but we were simply outmatched. I hope Mahomes can take us deep into the playoffs but if we lose this way... there's always next year.

The Indy, Tenn, SD loss will always sting me in a different way because I will never like when we play not to lose instead of playing to win. We had no business losing any of those games.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I didn't have an issue losing to NE or LA. We went down swinging. Just as I didn't mind our playoff losses to Pitt or NE... it frustrated the hell out of me, but we were simply outmatched. I hope Mahomes can take us deep into the playoffs but if we lose this way... there's always next year.

The Indy, Tenn, SD loss will always sting me in a different way because I will never like when we play not to lose instead of playing to win. We had no business losing any of those games.

They literally lost the Indy game because they played to aggressive in the 2nd half.

Had they not played the LA game like that, they probably win.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by O.city

They literally lost the Indy game because they played to aggressive in the 2nd half.

Had they not played the LA game like that, they probably win.

Indy is unusual bc of bad clock management. It doesn't explain Tennessee, SF, Arizona, Denver. It doesn't explain the stalls vs Pitt & SD week 1 & 2.
People wanted to blame the Tenn loss on not running enough. But most on CP at least could see that Alex Smith was not taking the chances he was taking in the first half. He went back to managing the game.

Not running the ball doesn't mean we're aggressive. Our offense falls in to sideways passes and dink and dunk. It did with Alex Smith. It's continuing that with Mahomes, a QB capable of much more than that.

My hot take, but if you have an alternate explanation, have at it. Other than Jacksonville where Mahomes was ultra aggressive, it feels to me like he's trying to manage the game home instead of relying on his instincts as an aggressive passer. Let him loose. Tell Mahomes a 10 point lead is basically a 0-0 game. Anything other than what we've already been doing, which hasn't worked.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Indy is unusual bc of bad clock management. It doesn't explain Tennessee, SF, Arizona, Denver. It doesn't explain the stalls vs Pitt & SD week 1 & 2.
People wanted to blame the Tenn loss on not running enough. But most on CP at least could see that Alex Smith was not taking the chances he was taking in the first half. He went back to managing the game.

Not running the ball doesn't mean we're aggressive. Our offense falls in to sideways passes and dink and dunk. It did with Alex Smith. It's continuing that with Mahomes, a QB capable of much more than that.

My hot take, but if you have an alternate explanation, have at it. Other than Jacksonville where Mahomes was ultra aggressive, it feels to me like he's trying to manage the game home instead of relying on his instincts as an aggressive passer. Let him loose. Tell Mahomes a 10 point lead is basically a 0-0 game. Anything other than what we've already been doing, which hasn't worked.

It doesn't explain it because teams aren't going to come out and score on every possession or move the ball up and down the field every possession.

They scored on like 5 straight possessions against the 9ers, same with the Broncos.

He played like that against the Rams. We saw what happened.

You can't always do that.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by O.city

It doesn't explain it because teams aren't going to come out and score on every possession or move the ball up and down the field every possession.

They scored on like 5 straight possessions against the 9ers, same with the Broncos.

He played like that against the Rams. We saw what happened.

You can't always do that.

And again, it's not about scoring on every possession. It's the repeated pattern of 3 and out drives when we have a big lead. It's the pattern of the exact moment when our offense predictably stalls... not just a little... a lot.

SF - 6-and-out, 3-and-out, before Kareem basically took over the last drive
Denver - Three 3 and outs, one 2-play INT drive, 1 weak 5-play 13 yard drive
Arizona - 3 out of 5 drives were three and outs
Jacksonville - total slop of a 4th quarter
SD - 2 of the last 3 drives were 3 and outs (if not for a 3rd and 10 holding call, that Chiefs TD could easily have been a 3 and out)

[O.city]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

And again, it's not about scoring on every possession. It's the repeated pattern of 3 and out drives when we have a big lead. It's the pattern of the exact moment when our offense predictably stalls... not just a little... a lot.

SF - 6-and-out, 3-and-out, before Kareem basically took over the last drive
Denver - Three 3 and outs, one 2-play INT drive, 1 weak 5-play 13 yard drive
Arizona - 3 out of 5 drives were three and outs
Jacksonville - total slop of a 4th quarter
SD - 2 of the last 3 drives were 3 and outs (if not for a 3rd and 10 holding call, that Chiefs TD could easily have been a 3 and out)

Ok, so

Against SF when it's 35 10 at the half, you're wanting them to come out in the 2nd half and what? Throw it aggressively around?

Look at the teams you are upset with. Look at the defenses. You are expecting the Chiefs to just mow teams down possession after possession? Against those defenses, every time?

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by O.city

Ok, so

Against SF when it's 35 10 at the half, you're wanting them to come out in the 2nd half and what? Throw it aggressively around?

Look at the teams you are upset with. Look at the defenses. You are expecting the Chiefs to just mow teams down possession after possession? Against those defenses, every time?

Again, we don't have to mow teams down. But vs SD, Den, AZ, SF we had 10 out of 16 three-and-outs. 12-out-of 16 six-and-outs or less. That's 63-75%. And again the common theme is this level of ineffectiveness happens as soon as we start pumping the brakes. Surely you don't think our offense is that incapable of moving the ball.

I don't know the exact answer. I'm just asking you to acknowledge the problem exists. The majority of the games, as soon as we're up 10 we become a 3-and-out machine. I personally believe we should play leads like they're 0-0 games instead of trying not to lose.

We're not talking failure to score. We can't even get first downs in these situations. If we're good enough to build a commanding lead in the first half, why are failing to convert a first down on 2/3 of those drives?