Why the Chiefs face a new reality in the Patrick Mahomes Era after this loss to Bills
 

Von Miller walked behind the lectern inside the tight quarters of a room reserved for a Bills news conference, less than half an hour after his team beat the Chiefs here at Arrowhead Stadium. He began with an opening statement, of sorts. “Howdy,” he said, and then he offered a grin. “I came in this stadium a whole bunch of times, and I’ve been at this same podium, and I ain’t have no smile. So it’s good to come in here and smile.”

For years, the Denver Broncos could not beat the Patrick Mahomes-led Chiefs with Von Miller at this stadium, but on Sunday, the Bills would not have won without him. The marriage has helped form the team that is intentionally and blatantly built to beat the Chiefs, future ramifications be damned. But with a payoff. The Chiefs are no longer the best team in the NFL — a home defeat did not produce that statement, but rather cemented it. That title belongs to the Bills now, and for evidence, don’t look at the fact they won, but rather how they won.

Josh Allen was nails on the game-winning two-minute drill, which absorbed the kind of inevitability Patrick Mahomes has so often delivered others. But Allen was nails last time the Bills visited Kansas City. The difference this time? Their defense got the stop it could not get here in January. That was Miller’s doing, and it’s the reason the Bills felt comfortable paying a 33-year-old edge rusher $45 million guaranteed this summer, even if it means he will still be eating up cap space at age 37.

The final impact play reads as a Mahomes interception into the arms of Bills cornerback Taron Johnson, but Miller wrecked the play with pressure inside the edge of right tackle Andrew Wylie, forcing Mahomes into a throwing window he did not plan.

One drive earlier, Miller sacked Mahomes to end a drive the Chiefs would also like back. He is a difference-maker on a team that spent an offseason knowing it was 13 seconds shy of beating the Chiefs in January — heck, knowing it has spent the last two summers with a lot of time to dwell on the Kansas City Chiefs.

That’s the way it works now. The title of best-team-in-football will change course over the next decade, with the Chiefs glued to that mix, but the Patrick Mahomes Era will always include a general manager out there somewhere, constructing the blueprint of a roster to take him out, even if it means sacrificing part of his future to do it. The Bills are this year’s version, and maybe next year’s version, and maybe the version over the next few years.

But for the duration of Mahomes’ 10-year contract, there will be others. This is a new norm, a new reality confronting the Chiefs that is more complimentary than it appears on the face of it. The Bills do not care if Miller’s contract puts them in cap hell in two years, when he’s 35 and earns $22 million — he is the over-the-top addition to win games like the one they won Sunday. Or to win the exact game they won Sunday. And it worked. But barely.

It’s a weird spin to put a moral victory on a Mahomes loss — the Chiefs are not some sort of lovable underdogs, even if they were underdogs on this field Sunday for the first time in Mahomes’ career. While that’s not the intention, not all losses are created equally.

Three weeks ago in Indianapolis, the Chiefs looked capable of losing to just about anybody. On Sunday, the team that has eyed them for two offseasons with all resources on deck needed a lot of things to go right in the fourth quarter. This felt like a coin-toss game — though not quite as literally as last time.

The Chiefs are certainly not miles away, even after implementing an inverse offseason strategy, extending their championship window at the expense of a short-term hit. The gap between the Bills and Chiefs appears more razor-thin than I anticipated, and if you don’t expect they’ll get another shot, I’d like to see which team you think will get that shot at the Bills in the postseason.

“I think you just want to win, just because you’re a competitor and you know you’re playing the best of the best — and you feel like you’re the best of the best,” Mahomes said. “You wanna win those games. “At the end of the day, that’s something you gotta reiterate to the guys in the locker room — it’s one game in the regular season that you wanted to win, felt like you could win and you didn’t. So how are you going to respond?” The broader point is this: If you felt like the Chiefs could win the Super Bowl before Sunday, and count me on that list, why would a late interception do anything to change that?

The reverberation of the outcome is not that the Chiefs can no longer accomplish everything on their preseason goals list — rather, it’s that for the first time since Mahomes became the franchise quarterback, he might need to go on the road to accomplish them. The Bills have a leg up on the race for homefield.

But otherwise, nobody needs a reminder that the Chiefs lost this same game, which arrived in similar timing on the schedule, just a year ago. In a much worse fashion, to boot. And then they won the rematch. A lot can happen between now and the time the playoffs arrive — three months can resemble a lifetime in football — so a rematch is not guaranteed. But there’s not another team in the AFC that belonged on the field with either of these teams. There is, however, a key difference if they do meet again — a difference that could become more convention, less abnormal.

They’ll be the underdogs.

Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/sports/sp...#storylink=cpy

TL;DR

Don't know how you guys will take this article, but Wylie was pushed all over the field. Von Miller made a huge difference for the Bills.

Then you're really an imbecile. It's a good article.

So my question is this. I’m not exactly happy with the work Veach has done, but at the end of the day I do understand the Chiefs are in the midst of a reload. My question is, Mahomes’ contract is here to stay. They no longer have a QB on a rookie contract, and soon neither will the Bills. That being said, do we think KC will take the slow and steady approach and be content with having a chance nearly every year, or do we see KC going “all in” from time to time and capitalizing with a Von Miller-esque addition or two to put them over the top?

It's just one game. Not sure it's the 'turning point' of the Chiefs trajectory. At all.

I'm reminded of when the Pats got gangraped by a Alex Smith led Chiefs team a few years ago, the Pats were stumbling out of the gate and all the talking heads went nuts talking about how the Patriots dynasty was certainly over. And of course, everyone bought that shit. And Bill came out with what is now a gif: "we're on to CLE," or whatever team he said.

We lost a game to a great team.

With a Chiefs team that literally rebuilt the entire WR room excepting Hardman, had to replace a pair of All-Pro OTs, and replaced about half the starting defense. Never mind the injuries and the lack of Willie Gay due to suspension that hobbled the defense for this particular game.

It's really going to be okay. We lost by four points to the number 1 scoring offense in the league, so obviously the defense is better than just average, because BUF regularly puts 30+ on the 'average' NFL defense this season. And the offense is coming together as well, seeing as how the Chiefs are a top-5 offense through six weeks.

I've said over and over, and others have as well, that it was always going to take some time for the team to become everything they could be. I said about 9-11 weeks. Others thought whatever they thought about the exact timing. Whatever.

The point is that this team today is not the same team that will be taking the field in two months. According to the Chiefs' own recent history in the Andy Reid/Brett Veach era, the team will steadily improve and be significantly better on both sides of the ball by December. And go to the AFCCG for the fifth consecutive time.

Until that changes, I just don't believe anything has really changed, much less the trajectory of the Chiefs.

Effing stupid ass article. There are ton of games to go and it's anybody's guess as to who will win it all. Bills won the game but so what? They did last year and then we bounced their ass for the second time. Bills have a lot of pressure on them because this might be it with their current roster before they have to hand Allen the bag. Their cap is horrible next year already and ours won't be and we have 12 picks. We will have money and picks to load up on some vets to help us out. If we meet again and bounce them for a 3rd straight time don't ever tell me they are better ever again.

back to back regular season champs

I didn't read all of that

Blah Blah Blah.... KC won't have home field advantage

Miller was a good signing.

Allen is on his second contract too

Allen is already under long-term contract until end of 2028. They are still benefiting from his rookie deal at the moment, but the new money on his deal is $43 million per year. That’s a bargain compared to the likes of Kyler Murray at $46 million per year or an aging Russell Wilson at $49 million per year or an aging Aaron Rodgers at $50 million per year.

However, he is still pretty cheap this year. Bills will join the club with the Chiefs next year.

This

I think the Chiefs largely are trying the soft rebuild approach and will continue that. We don't have a LT for the future, don't have much at WR past this year, don't have much at DE, Aging at the TE position quickly. We have to hit on draft picks and that is hard to do when drafting at the bottom every year. That being said, hard to go all in on a few pieces when you have so many holes to fill. Again you hit on draft picks at a few places then maybe you free up the resources to do so. Stagger your contracts on good players that are worth it. That is likely the way it goes forward, we will remain competitive and hope we can gradually fill holes and then make some acquisitions when the time is right. With the most important position filled, QB, and one as good as mahomes you can do that.

ready for the jets to wake these clowns up

there is no new reality we lost one game. we will be fine.

Injuries can change everything in an instant. Teams evolve over the season and of course there are still trades and FA moves. It ain’t won until it’s won

I didn't read that whole nonsense shit. The Chiefs lost a regular season game. Big ****ing deal. The Bills can have there regular season best team in the NFL title. Lots of season left to play and both teams will probably lose more than 1 game.

I hate stupid ****ing articles like this that make big deals out of games that don't have much meaning.

Exactly why Veach needs to allocate some funds and bring Suh in. We’re getting shit for pressure, and Suh next to Jones would be a very big problem for most teams to deal with.

Von Miller had 2 sacks on 5 total pressures. He is a hall of famer, but it wasn't as bad as many think...

Last year at this time the defense looked like hot garbage and our offense kept shooting itself in the foot. There was just an odd awful feeling of letdown going on. Even I, as much of a homer as ever was, thought that was finally going to be our off year and the playoffs looked like a pipe dream. But the light came on for both sides of the ball and we once again improbably made it to the AFC championship game. After that season I'm a lot calmer about this squad because I think we are better than last year's team overall.

As somebody somewhere once said..."We'll be fine"

Oh look a KC Star hit piece surprise surprise. Neg for posting that rag-ass fish paper.

But his cap hit hasn’t quite jumped yet, that will happen next year

Blah, Blah, Blah… Its the 6th week of a 17 week season..

It's not really a good article at all. It was from the KC Star which automatically makes it trash. It talks about how we lost to the Bills last year, but guess who won when it mattered. We lost on crap playcalling. If everyone is going to adjust to Mahomes, aren't they going to adjust to Allen, just like Brady, Manning, Rogers, et al? The Chiefs lost against a great corner playing multiple first year secondary players. Whoever wrote this article has no clue. If the BS push off on Kelce isn't called, what is the article then?

The new reality is we no longer have "the guy" at QB in the NFL.

Buffalo does.

For the first time in the Mahomes Era, we will have to find a way to beat a team in the playoffs that has an advantage over us at the QB position.

It's going to be a tall task for Reid, and I'm afraid we are lacking the personnel around Mahomes to help push him above Allen.

There's a long way to go until January though.

Not sure why anyone is knocking the article? It's basically saying what all the level headed members of CP (the minority, I know) are saying. The Chiefs lost the game but the Bills needed a lot to go right. The Bills and Chiefs are far and away the best teams in at least the AFC. The Chiefs might have to go to Buffalo for a rematch. There is a long way to go so a lot can happen. The Bills and other teams will go all in for as long as Mahomes is around.

Good, solid article. Anyone hating on it either just doesn't like the KC Star (understandable) or doesn't like the OP (I have no opinion on that one). The article itself is good.

Who is “the guy” at QB?

The QB who just won back to back MVPs and maintained a touchdown to interception ratio of 85-9 in two seasons? That guy didn’t even make a SB

There’s alot of great QBs in the NFL. What makes someone “the guy?”

You are such a pussy it's incredible. Kill your dumb self

Can’t say I agree with everything in here TBH

You'll have to follow up in another thread.... I grew tired of reading what I have to assume is trolly bullshit in every ****ing thread.

Both the Chiefs and Bills will improve and add injured players back as the year goes on but the Buffalo team last night is closer to their final form than we are.

Will we be able to pass them before the playoffs? No guarantees but it is possible. I also hope this lights a fire under Veach not to write this year off as a rebuild but to add a piece or two if they make sense.

Buffalo's team has way more veterans and consistency from last few years. Chiefs reloaded for youth and we are changing a lot on both sides of the ball.

Bills will beat the Jets into oblivion.


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This is what happens when a mutt watches football. They're just conditioned to think and accept that they deserve the worst. Kinda sad. Mostly stupid.

Thx

How is this different or worse than last year’s Buffalo regular season win… when the Chiefs were 2-3 and Buffalo was 4-1?

This was the toughest game on the schedule and they played it very close. 3 defensive starters missing, a few questionable penalties, 7th and 4th round rookie starting corners and a couple of WTF throws from Mahomes. It's easy to see that they'll get some of those things cleaned up and frankly the schedule gets much softer for the Chiefs (based on the first 6 weeks results) than it does for the Bills going forward. No one reasonable looked at the 1st 6 weeks and felt much better than 4-2 if they were being honest.

Who reads that wall of text and who cares anyways? It's a football game and both teams had chances. The Chiefs need some help on both lines. Even with everything that went wrong, the Chiefs had three chances to either put the game way or win it in the end. It doesn't happen every time.

We get it, the Bills have an exceptional team and a good quarterback. To say that this is a 'passing of the torch' moment seems a bit soon.

I'll take my chances with Patrick and the Chiefs on any given Sunday...

Ten bucks says KC hosts the Arrowhead Invitational again this year

1. Shove shotgun barrel up your ass
2. Pull the trigger
3. Profit

It’s actually better.


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The Chiefs are not in a rebuild. They got blindsighted by Tyreek leaving at the very last minute. They would've been incredible otherwise. They're still really damn good and did fine against an elite defense. The LT situation isn't ideal, but they'll get way better at RB and WR by season's end. And I'd hope they're not even close to done yet and am not ruling out Veach pulling something off by mid-season. But at the very least CEH and Hardman will hopfeully have a lesser role when we play them again.

The Bills are at their peak. They're loading up for this to be their year, and we still barely lost to them in a regular season contest.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs did an admirable job building a young pipeline of talent. No guarantee Buffalo can once Allen's contract kicks in. Mahomes is learning right now the skills to play QB for the next decade whereas Josh Allen will eventually have to adjust his style to take less hits. Still incredibly thrilled with where our team is.

I am still reading this

Thx

There's a lot of good points here. Here in these posts.

I don't think KC will "pass" BUF this season in terms of overall talent/player on the field. We have no one on Diggs' level. He's elite, and we don't have that. We don't have anything quite like Gabe Davis either. We don't have Tre White or Von Miller.

But if there's one thing the St. Louis Blues taught me back in 2019, it's that you don't necessarily have to have a pile of elite players to win a championship. You do need a pile of complementary players, great coaching, and at least a couple 'near' elite players to compete.

But you really need a great team that's 100% bought in to the team and the system. I think KC does have enough firepower, if all the key guys stay healthy, and certain players start growing into their roles, and they all buy into the Chiefs 'way.' i know, there's a lot of "ifs" in there, but we weren't supposed to win in 2019 either. But we did.

And BUF could run into injury issues, or just a couple bad bounces or whatever. It can happen to any team. Anyway, I doubt BUF goes 16-1. It's just really hard. They'll drop a few more games. The Chiefs just need to take care of business. They're one back of the AFC leader for the 1-seed, two weeks from the bye, and a bit easier schedule for the back half of the season.

And Veach almost always finds some piece to help the team out. He probably will again.

I'm good with just standing pat and seeing where we are in six weeks.

Stupid ****ing ending to a stupid ****ing article. The Chiefs were already the underdogs at home. Multiple players on d out.

We need to be looking at this loss the same way Buffalo is looking at their loss to Miami. We had guys out. They took advantage. Good job doing what an NFL team is supposed to do, capitalize.

They very nearly didn't, and with all the talk of the Bills being a juggernaut, they sure did struggle to get to 24 on an injury riddled, rookie laden defense.

**** this article, and ANYONE who buys into this pussy ass bullshit.

A meh backup got pushed around and beaten some by a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Astonishing.

I seem to recall the bills beating the chiefs last year too. Which team ended up hosting the AFC championship again?

Jesus Christ. LMAO

"and I ain’t have no smile"

Sounds like an inbred dumbass. **** this guy.

If the Chiefs and Bills are going to go back and forth on their wins, I'd much rather lose the season matchup and win the post season matchup.








just sayin'...

:doh!:

Put Mahomes on that loaded Bills team and he would have put up 50.

You've been a Chiefs fan for 5 years. You're absolutely clueless.

The good thing about fans like you is that it makes me feel better when the Chiefs lose because you deserve all the sorrow in the world and a loss clearly decimates your ability to function. A very bright silver lining.

Not sure how any Chiefs fan can hate Von Miller. The guy reveres Derrick Thomas and probably would've signed with KC over anyone else if offered the same contract. He's an absolutely legendary pass rusher and there's no part of me that roots against him individually.

The media has been trying to declare our demise ever since we won the superbowl. More of the same here. A 4 point win on the road is not the passing of the torch just like the thrashing last season proved not to be.

When the dust all settles, mahomes will still be the most talented and impressive quarterback to ever play the game and the chiefs will be competing for the title every damn year. Deal with it coastal media (and kc star...what a junk news company).

If the article is too long for anybody to read, I took the liberty of bolding only the important parts. Here ya go:

This is such a bad comment I went out of my way to hunt it down and neg rep it...seriously dude....you don't deserve mahomes as your team's qb.

Thank u

GTFO; it's 1 game.

Epically bad take.

So here's what Buffalo is up against next year. Not hard to see what they're doing. They went all in on winning next year knowing that next year their cap is going to blow the hell up. The below players alone will jack up the cap by ~$75M in new cap next year with the majority of these guys VERY difficult to restructure because of all the dead cap. Seems like most major players' salary is going to WAY more than double next season. The salary cap will likely rise in 2023 which does Buffalo a huge favor. But these hikes are nothing to sneeze at.

Josh Allen - $16M --> $39M ($94M dead cap)
Stephon Diggs - $11M cap hit --> $20M ($45M dead cap)
Von Miller - $5M --> $18M ($40M dead cap)
Matt Milano - $5M --> $13M
Dion Dawkins - $7M --> $15M
Daquon Jones - $3.5M --> $8.5M
Taron Johnson - $4.5M --> $9M
Dawson Knock - $2.6M --> $6.4M
Micah Hyde - $5.6M --> $10.8M

Devin Singletary - Free agent after 2022
Jordan Poyer - Free agent after 2022
Gabriel Davis - Free agent after 2023 (we really think he's going to play for $2M next year?)
Ed Oliver - Free agent after 2023

GMAFB

Won't read. WTF is Miller going to do in Buffalo with time off(kill more hookers, just uglier ones)

what an immense amount of pressure on them to get it done this year ROFL

they are going to bust

one injury to von or stefon or tre or poyer and they are going to bust hard like frozen pipes

and they have to deal with an afc east that is surprisingly good and will be hungry for them...no easy games....

let's see how they like the hot seat

You can always hop off the KC bandwagon and join the Bills Mafia. Then you can cheer for you LT self proclaimed “the guy”.

They will be fine as long as Allen is healthy. If he goes down their season is toast. He can overcome the loss of any other player you named.

Real Bills fans make their fingernail jagged before shoving up their buddy's butt

Another Commie Star hit article. **** them!

allen was dogshit before stefon came to town

if they lose him they'll be far less potent on offense

I didn’t say they wouldn’t be worse, just he could overcome it. KC would be less potent if Kelce went down. Doesn’t mean Mahomes couldn’t overcome it though.

First, he was a Bronco- and now he is a Bill. Both teams I despise and anyone who plays for them.

He wanted to be like DT. That doesn’t mean he wants to be a Chief though.

The KC Star is a rag of a paper that needs to go out of business and sell their glass building downtown to someone who does something worthwhile for kansas city in it.

KC Star article, right? Let me guess, Mahomes era is over?

As long as Andy Reid is still the HC and as long as Patrick Mahomes is still the QB, I see no reason nor excuse to push the panic button after a regular season loss, especially when it is against a Super Bowl contender like the Bills.

This thread reads like a chain letter.

I remember last year getting absolutely obliterated by Tennessee and Buffalo, losing two flukey games to LA and Baltimore, being 3-4, and everyone was certain our reign was over.

I don’t care what the author of that article says—Buffalo is no closer to dethroning us for a fifth-straight AFCCG than they were after whooping us at home last year.