Which team was more vulnerable
 

More vulnerable team

Don't know. They both had their own set of weaknesses.

This team is way worse.

Right now I think this team is more vulnerable. OL is a disaster at the moment. Secondary is really really bad.

Neither side of the ball is an elite top 3 unit like the defense was last year.

would you be saying that at 4pm on christmas 2023

I’d say 2024 currently because 2023’s defense was legitimately elite. We had two shutdown corners and the pass rush combined with Spag’s blitzes created a ton of pressure. On the other side of the ball, the WR room was really the only glaring weakness.

This year our defense is clearly not elite. I’m not sure where they’ll fall when all’s said and done but this past month they’ve looked like a #15-20 type of unit. And the OL is a huge, huge mess. That, more than anything, is affecting Mahomes’ play.

this team lost the exact same game last year so

Prob 24.

We had an elite d last year. We just needed to dial the offense back and play more conservative.

I’m not sure what our makeup is this year. Hard to tell until we get some stability at LT

Don't need to go that deep into the season... Chiefs dropped to 8-4 against the Packers and people were calling the defense a complete fraud, much less the season long WR sucks thread.

I think this team is more vulnerable for reasons already stated. However, we have legitimate reasons for optimism. We got Pacheco and Omenihu back today. Omenihu made a difference in the pass rush but its his first game back. Hollywood Brown is going to be back by Christmas, maybe earlier. We have Humphries coming in to LT. SOme of our weak spots, then, should get a boost between now and the end of the pre-season/start of the real season. So while I think this team is more vulnerable, there are more fixes on the horizon for this team that there was for last year’s team. We might still get HFA.

Last year's team had just as much "wtf?!" in them as this one.

People forget. We were 8-5 last year.

Very well said. Help is back and on the way.

https://static1.cbrimages.com/wordpr...rtal-scene.jpg

2023 had a great defense and an okay offense.

2024 is wtf, but extremely lucky .

Defense gave up 24,21, 27, 20, 20 in losses mid-season last year with some AWFUL offenses included in those loses.

I don't know if Chiefs will turn it around again, but it looked similar to this last season.

Your odds are probably better with an elite D and top 5 QB than whatever it is we are right now.

But our DL will be better with Omenihu back and we didn't have anything close to Deandre Hopkins at WR last year either. Those are weapons that could make a big splash in the playoffs.

Difference with 2023 is hat they had an elite unit. All our teams had something elite they could rely on

2018 had historic offense

2019 had explosive offense

2020 had a great offense

2021 had issues but the offense wound up being top tier overall

2022 had an elite offense

2023 had an elite defense

2024 has…the defense just isn’t elite as of now. The offense obviously isn’t elite either. I feel like you need something elite to win a SB. Our pass rush isn’t as good and it’s hurting us

The defense was better last year. Gotta vote for 2024 as more vulnerable.

Which team was more vulnerable
 

2023 because they had a lower offensive ceiling. This team can score more with a bit better line and QB play. All of these games (outside maybe Panthers) would look WAY different, comfortable wins even, if Mahomes just makes one or two more plays he should be making. Last year’s team just didn’t have that room for offensive improvement. Last year games were sloppy and close almost by necessity. This season it’s a lot more about what we are doing (and doing wrong) not what we aren’t capable of doing.

I’m losing confidence in the secondary gelling and unlike the OL there’s no calvary coming. We might need vintage “13 seconds” Mahomes and I’m not sure we’ve seen the offense operate at that level since Super Bowl 57.

Yeah, it's just a different set of problems... has been every season.

also this team was decimated by injuries and has the upside of slowly adding all those guys back for the stretch run. this team fully healthy absolutely has a better roster than last year. watson in for sneed is a downgrade but hopkins, worthy, and brown all in for moore, toney, and whatever other butt**** receiver we had last year more than makes up for it. lets hope brown is in playoff shape when the time comes.

Everyone has mentioned it already, but 2023 had an elite defense to offset the offense. This team currently is winning, but it’s always close. Mahomes has the yips and the LT position is bad at the moment.

I'm going to say 2024; last year a lot of the Chiefs problems were caused by dropped passes and tipped passes for interceptions. This year, the defense isn't looking near the same and both lines are struggling bigly.

It's pretty much an impossible question right now... new LT on the way, defensive line help, Pacheco just got back this week, will still see Hollywood Brown.

Maybe this team right now is worse, but I feel like we're comparing the SB winning 2023 team with where we're at right no, which isn't exactly fair on both ends... that team didn't look amazing mid-season and this one will change significantly in terms of personnel.

RT isn't very good either. And the "elite" guys up the middle aren't doing a very good job in the run game at the moment. Need the OL to play at a much higher level in both run-blocking and pass-blocking.

Nailed it.

i think this team looked much worse mid season last year. we lose half of these one score games last season

RT isn't going to be the problem it was today most games, and if you can just get some steady play at LT, it will be fine.

I think Taylor is being made to look worst because Mahomes is drifting his way all the time due to the LT.

Should know more if we get to see Humphries next week. Feels like the season hinges on whether they just get decent LT play. Mahomes will be better than he was today.

2024 Chiefs can’t block anyone so 2024 Chiefs by a long shot. And Mahomes seems downright scared at this point.

It’s this year’s team because there is no side of the ball playing elite currently… last year the defense could be relied on to play elite.

And the tackle situation is worse than last year… unless Humphries can secure the LT position.

2024 Chiefs have a Tampa Bay SB loss vibe because of the O-Line.

Hopefully the new guy fixes that because I don't see us winning any SB with what we have now on that line.

I'm watching the Steelers game for the real test. That will prob Confirm/Deny where the o line is this year.

This. And anyone objectively analyzing things sees this. Including every ****ing former pro now paid to talk about pro football on tv. But I put my faith in the ****ing try hard fools on this site who think they know better. As of right now, this Chiefs team seems vulnerable to losing their first playoff game. They can’t block anyone.

Games are won and lost at the line of scrimmage. We're really weak there on both sides of the ball right now. The defensive line is good at times but they weren't today. The Raiders ran all over us and O'Connell had tons of time on most snaps. It was frustrating. They have to be better.

You just prefer the talking heads because they confirm your bias. You genuinely seem to be negative and miserable every week.

The narrative that last year’s defense was elite and this year’s is average suffers from recency bias based on poor performances the last few weeks. This is still a top 10 defense. Last year’s was better against the pass. This year’s is better against the run. The two teams are similar in pressuring the QB, but last year’s was better at converting pressure into sacks. There is legitimate concern about the secondary, but we should know by now that Spags has an established track record of pulling a defense together late in the season.

As others have mentioned, we have help on the way in key positions.

At this point in the season, both teams had/have legitimate concerns. We have a better record this season and are still in the drivers seat for the 1 seed. Empirically, if we blind ourselves to the outcome of 2023, this team is in better shape than the 2023 team.

"Pat has the yips" with 13 td's in in his last 6 games? ROFL

2023

I think saying the 2023 team was better at this point is recency bias

E: shit beaten, shoulda read the whole thread

It’s easy to say 2023 was better, because we know how that season ended. Hard to not take that into account.

We were pretty frustrated with the OTs about this time each of the last two years. Hopefully, Humphries can perform.

this thread has GAY AIDS

A whole 13? WOW!!!! He would have 14 had he not badly overthrow Worthy today.

They are going to need it. If he can step in and not be awful that would be a huge boost.

Seems like he should be better than Wanya at least.

Really hard to take too much away from these games offensively, when Wanya kills entire drives by losing so quick at times.

Oh without a doubt.

This year's team seems to have major issues with 1-2 spots for each unit.

Last year is was 90% about drops.

We also have more major injuries this year.

OT play was a regular season issue each of the last two years.

People hated OBJ and Wylie.

Same shit with Smith/Wanya and Taylor last year.

KC has lacked truly outstanding tackles for many years now. Basically since Fisher and Schwartz.

2023 Chiefs were in a far worse spot at this time last year although we need DJ to be better than Wanya for me to have confidence that this team is better than that one

Both of their KC careers ending unexpectedly in the same season was a bad deal. Replacing one is tough enough.

Would’ve been nice for those two to have slow declines to help groom their replacements.

I think we also don’t give enough credit to the importance of having a vet in the room with the young guys.

I’d bet Karlaftis learned a ton from Clark and Dunlap.

Some folks seem to have revisionist memories because last years offense was so bad they had to change the playbook IN DECEMBER!!. The defense this year has kept teams under 20 points six times and below 21 eight times out of 12 matches. The last two games before today haven't been great and today was up and down but the defense has often played well through three and a half quarters then let up a dumb TD late to make the score worser than it should've been (Raiders away, San Fran, Panthers etc)

The offense this year could be elite if DJ and Brown come in and make a positive impact. I felt way worse about the team last year but ultimately it's all about what happens when all the chips are on the table.

I’ll agree.

I think the weapons are good already and will only get better with Hollywood. The total package should be quite a bit better than last year.

I don’t worry about the defense. This staff just figures it out. I remember the Titans regular season game in 2019. We’ve seen and overcome worse.

If Morris is the best we have at LT, expect a few drives per game to be wasted entirely. Chiefs can still win, but the margin for error is much more narrow.

Very true. It’s sad to see, but replacing them has been much harder than anticipated.

It's like people think it's better to lose a bunch of games than to win close games. Go figure.

LT will be fixed as soon as the next game. Hollywood will bring more explosiveness soon. Omenihu will boost the pass defense. Pacheco will boost the run game. Help may even be on the way in the secondary. Watson could be back for the postseason.

Last years team

They went on a really unlikely run that whitewashed a lot

Watson is the X-Factor for me.

If we’re otherwise healthy, have the bye, Humphries, Hollywood, and Watson at 90%, then a third straight Super Bowl birth is ours to lose.

No, I just prefer their expertise and experience in pro football over the people on any message board who think they know better. Is that unreasonable?

This one, and I don’t think it’s particularly close. But hopefully Humphries starts in place of Morris soon, and hopefully he’s a significant upgrade immediately. That happens in a week or two, and I think the offense will un**** itself soon after.

Where do you get that from? There were a couple of decent shows years ago, and then they slowly got moved to like 1am on Sunday mornings to make room for all the reeruns who only exist for clickbait arguments and hot takes like "run the ball and stop the run".