http://www.espn.com/blog/kansas-city...cularly-points
Nothing adding up for Chiefs on offense, particularly points
PITTSBURGH -- Nothing is adding up these days for the Kansas City Chiefs, at least when it comes to their offense. They have a bright offensive mind in coach Andy Reid, a couple of good receivers in Jeremy Maclin and Travis Kelce, a quarterback they’re paying a lot of money to in Alex Smith and some decent complementary parts.
Still, they’re getting next to nothing from their offense. The Chiefs broke a streak of six quarters without an offensive touchdown in Sunday night’s 43-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, a game so non-competitive it looked a lot like what happens when Alabama plays an FCS opponent.
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But it took the 2-2 Chiefs until the final period to achieve even that meager accomplishment. Even with two final-period touchdowns, the Chiefs have just three offensive TDs in their past 12 quarters. If that doesn’t change, and soon, their season will be headed nowhere. The Chiefs put up little resistance against Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who threw five touchdown passes.
After this week’s bye, the Chiefs face two more high-scoring teams in the Oakland Raiders and New Orleans Saints. Judging from Sunday night’s game, the Chiefs aren’t solid enough defensively to control a game on that side of the ball against a high-quality opponent.
Quick solutions might not be so easy for Reid and the Chiefs to find. Other than in the previous week’s game against the New York Jets, the defense hasn’t been generating turnovers and favorable field position for the offense.
The Chiefs have found it extremely difficult to go down what is almost always a long field for a touchdown. Their longest play against the Steelers was 20 yards until Spencer Ware busted loose on a long run late in the fourth quarter. They had one play of more than 20 yards the previous week against the Jets.
One possible source of offensive production after the bye is Jamaal Charles. He played for the first time against the Steelers but got in for only a handful of snaps. He got the ball just twice and rushed for 7 yards.
But it’s a start and the Chiefs are in no position to turn down possible contributions from any player, much less one of Charles’ ability.