5 things we learned as the Chiefs collapsed in the AFC Championship

[LongSufferingToady]

1. Patrick Mahomes can come up short in a big moment

Prior to Sunday, the Mahomes-led Chiefs have only lost twice in the postseason: once in a 37-31 shootout against the New England Patriots — and last season’s 31-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl. You can point to the nine points scored in last year’s championship game and put it on Mahomes — but having no help from his reserve offensive line and his pass catchers prevented his high level of effort from mattering.

In this epic collapse, however, blame can be placed on Mahomes.

At the end of the first half, a risky decision to throw short of the end zone without any timeouts cost his team the chance at scoring at least a field goal; after the play, Mahomes also signaled for a timeout the team didn’t have.

All four of the sacks he took came in the second half — three of them on third down — including two plays in a row at the end of regulation that nearly ruined Kansas City’s chance to tie.

It really was remarkable to see Mahomes play that uncomfortably in a big moment — especially one week after the calm demeanor he displayed as he came back to win against the Buffalo Bills.

2. The Chiefs can’t win by relying on the defense

It’s hard to ask much more from the Chiefs’ defense, which didn’t make anything easy for the Bengals’ offense. It held Cincinnati to field goals on two red-zone trips, created a turnover in the fourth quarter and held quarterback Joe Burrow to 250 passing yards and an 86.5 passer rating.

But the defense couldn’t hold down the Bengals all day. It allowed them to creep back from a 21-3 deficit to eventually take a 24-21 lead. Ideally, the defense would have swarmed the Bengals and dominated them all game — but that’s just unrealistic. This unit wasn’t meant to perform that way; they need to create a turnover or two and get some stops. That’s what they did.

It shows you that in terms of how this team succeeds, the defense can only be a complement to the offense. After the second half of the regular season might have convinced some people that the defense could carry the Chiefs to a Super Bowl, this performance confirms that it will always depend more on the offense’s output.

3. The 2021 Chiefs did not want to lean on the running game

Between running backs Jerick McKinnon and Clyde Edwards-Helaire, there were 101 rushing yards on 18 attempts on Sunday — an average of 5.6 yards per carry.

Yet even as it was performing so efficiently, it never felt like the Chiefs trusted the offense to rely on a rushing attack. Starting the second half with the ball (and up two possessions), you’d think the ground game would be a great way to safely maintain that lead — especially if it was manufacturing 5-7 yards on what seemed like every carry.


With how the Chiefs’ offensive line is now constructed, the running game could be a bigger part of the offense. No... you don’t want to take the ball out of Mahomes’ hands. But when there’s a two-score lead to protect, trusting an efficient running game can make things easier on the rest of the offense.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Chiefs make their ground attack a bigger part of the offense in 2022.

4. The Chiefs’ pass rush isn’t as dominant as we perceived

Last week, the Tennessee Titans played the Bengals in front of their home crowd; they managed to sack quarterback Joe Burrow nine times.

This week, the Chiefs were in a similar situation — but they mustered only one sack all afternoon. There was some pressure — three quarterback hits outside of the sack — but Burrow escaped pass rushers’ grasp multiple times, leading to some of the game’s most important plays.

Chris Jones, Frank Clark and Melvin Ingram really heated up during the regular season — but in the playoffs, only Ingram made plays of any importance. Jones has flashed and is always tightening the pocket — but his postseason resume is not what you’d expect from an All-Pro.

The Chiefs have invested a lot of capital in the defensive line — and in past playoff runs, it worked — but this year, its impact didn’t match its talent.

5. It’s extremely hard to be an NFL dynasty — and the Chiefs missed a great shot at becoming one

Sunday’s loss means the Chiefs have won a single Super Bowl in four of Mahomes’ seasons as a starter. No one’s saying that’s a failure, but the team has loved to talk about the potential of a dynasty — and deservedly so.

Kansas City hosted four straight AFC Championships. That puts a team in a favorable position to play in four Super Bowls — which opens the opportunity to win multiple rings. The team was on the doorstep of creating a legitimate dynasty — but it’s about the end results. The Chiefs are just an ordinarily elite team, rather than a team on a historic stretch of NFL domination.

Yes... in the coming years, the team could change that narrative by winning multiple titles — but it’s not easy to get to this point every season; the Chiefs’ streak of postseason home-field advantage is bound to run out. The team blew one of their best opportunities to add a title in the Mahomes era — and there’s no guarantee it will ever again be set up as well as it was in 2021.

https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2022/...city-collapsed

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by comochiefsfan

That's just so much pressure to put on one human being.

Being an NFL Quarterback takes a special kind of mental fortitude.

While that's true, the guy grew up in professional sports and has been playing sports his whole life.

There was nothing new under the sun for him.

[straycash]

floor is 2 , roof is 3 , basement is 1 , but at least I can bitch about it on a message board like a grown adult from the man cave

[straycash]

Originally Posted by stevieray

While that's true, the guy grew up in professional sports and has been playing sports his whole life.

There was nothing new under the sun for him.

13 seconds even I would feel pressured to beat that, this guy has the joe cool instinct, love him

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by LongSufferingToady

Andy and his coaches need to be kindly shown the door. Their inability to adjust the game plan and manage the clock has always been a problem and will always be a problem. We're not going to show Andy the door, of course, so we shall continue to have entertaining and competitive seasons with ludicrously stupid and embarrassing games. I wouldn't count on SBs in the next couple of years though.

We just won a Super Bowl LIV and went back to another Super Bowl and then competed in our fourth home game AFCC Clark Hunt is not getting rid of the HC that turned our franchise around from shit.

I think they can make adjustments yes Coach Reid needed make adjustments to put Patrick in better position to win he said so himself. Stupid to fire a HC that just gave us a Super Bowl championship in 50 years not going to happen. Andy Reid has keys to Arrowhead until the day he retires.

[CatfishBob2]

1 happened because of 2 and 3. I think Pat had more faith in putting the team on his back and ended up looking like a jackass. Id bet money that Pat deviated from what the coaches wanted As far as the Dline.....I don't think they're athletic enough. Chris Jones was getting home but it's a tough ask to have him chase Burrow around time after time with no help and expect him have a full tank at the end of the game

[Wallcrawler]

Originally Posted by LongSufferingToady

Andy and his coaches need to be kindly shown the door. Their inability to adjust the game plan and manage the clock has always been a problem and will always be a problem. We're not going to show Andy the door, of course, so we shall continue to have entertaining and competitive seasons with ludicrously stupid and embarrassing games. I wouldn't count on SBs in the next couple of years though.

Yes. Fire the coach that hosted 4 straight AFC title games.

You're a very special kind of stupid, aren't you?

While we're at it, let's trade Mahomes for draft capital. He's damaged goods right?

How you aren't miserable usered by this point is a credit to the mods tolerance for pure stupidity.

[Easy 6]

Barely skimmed over it, but I mean no offense by that... just ready to stop rehashing this Jeckyl & Hyde bizarro ass year, and start focusing on 2022

[Chris Meck]

This OP has become one of my least favorite posters on this board.

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by TomBarndtsTwin

Seemed to work pretty well for the Bucs in the post season last year. It wasn't Tom Brady that carried them to that Super Bowl title. In fact he tried to blow it against the Pack in the NFC Title game throwing 3 INT's. Luckily for him, the defense bailed him out.

And the Pats two years before that completely shut down the Rams in the Super Bowl, despite Brady's subpar play.


It's harder with today's rules, but it clearly can be done.

that Superbowl absolutely was the Brady effect. Their defense got one set of rules in the playoffs, opponents had another. It was obvious in the Superbowl. Travis Kelce could have literally carried a bucs defender down the field on his back and nary a flag would have flown our dB's breathed in the general direction of any bucs player and it was a free first down





Maybe it changes over time, but neither Mahomes nor the Chiefs get the kind of beneficial/preferential treatment that other star quarterbacks get. He routinely gets hit while sliding, and often suffers hits in the pocket that result in flags when it's other guys behind center.

And I'm saying this as a fan of Brady, but I don't think anyone else in history has enjoyed the kind of game changing treatment from officials that he and his teams have.

[MarkDavis'Haircut]

Originally Posted by Wallcrawler

Yes. Fire the coach that hosted 4 straight AFC title games.

You're a very special kind of stupid, aren't you?

While we're at it, let's trade Mahomes for draft capital. He's damaged goods right?

How you aren't miserable usered by this point is a credit to the mods tolerance for pure stupidity.

Andy and Mahomes for McDaniels and PeterMan. Deal?

Yeah, I don't understand why any fan would want Andy gone.

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by Wallcrawler

Yes. Fire the coach that hosted 4 straight AFC title games

How you aren't miserable usered by this point is a credit to the mods tolerance for pure stupidity.

yeah it's not like he has a long history of this, getting to conference championships and then losing

I mean, I guess we should be eternally grateful we got one super bowl title with him on the sidelines. It's more than he ever delivered in Philadelphia.

So he's what now, 1-1 in Superbowls after 9 conference championship games appearances.

I guess it's more than the long string of losers like Marty Schottenheimer, but does anyone really think after Sunday we have any real shot at winning one? We got outcoached by the frikkin Bengals and blew a Superbowl shot for what was arguably the most talented team we"ve had, and it boiled down to the same bullshit that happened with the eagles: year in and year out failures in clock management and what almost seems like a stubborn refusal to run the ball

But hey it's all good. Maybe we'll all be alive in 50 years when we maybe win another one!

[Bump]

it's really really hard to go to 3 straight Superbowls

It hasn't been done thaaaat many times in NFL history.

the important thing is being a contender always and we will be. Sometimes it takes a little luck. Ya Mahomes didn't play good in the 2nd half and it cost us. But some of these people are so quick to forget the great things he's done to get us to that point. We'll always be a contender with him and we'll get to more Superbowls with him.

I also like how people act like only winning 1 Superbowl is a complete failure for a QB's career. It's really not.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

yeah it's not like he has a long history of this, getting to conference championships and then losing

I mean, I guess we should be eternally grateful we got one super bowl title with him on the sidelines. It's more than he ever delivered in Philadelphia.

So he's what now, 1-1 in Superbowls after 9 conference championship games appearances.

I guess it's more than the long string of losers like Marty Schottenheimer, but does anyone really think after Sunday we have any real shot at winning one? We got outcoached by the frikkin Bengals and blew a Superbowl shot for what was arguably the most talented team we"ve had, and it boiled down to the same bullshit that happened with the eagles: year in and year out failures in clock management and what almost seems like a stubborn refusal to run the ball

But hey it's all good. Maybe we'll all be alive in 50 years when we maybe win another one!

Yes I do. Maybe it's just hope and red colored glasses but Andy called out himself that he needed to put Patrick and the team in better position to win and play calling. He won back to back AFC Championships and we have Patrick ****ing Mahomes that will come back more humbled and more hungry for a shot at redemption and I think he likes winning better than losing because losing ****ing sucks. So i think it's going be more on Brute Vloch in the offseason to make the moves he needs to make but this offensive line is going be intact and improved upon we may get a new WR and I'm sure he is going work on getting some pass rushers and Frank Clark wont be here. VLoch will get rid of dead weight. So here we go. Maybe we don't win it all next year but I do believe in Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes to lead us back to the promise land.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by Bump

it's really really hard to go to 3 straight Superbowls

It hasn't been done thaaaat many times in NFL history.

the important thing is being a contender always and we will be. Sometimes it takes a little luck. Ya Mahomes didn't play good in the 2nd half and it cost us. But some of these people are so quick to forget the great things he's done to get us to that point. We'll always be a contender with him and we'll get to more Superbowls with him.

I also like how people act like only winning 1 Superbowl is a complete failure for a QB's career. It's really not.

Winning a Super Bowl "Bragging rights for life" / Len Dawson


You are right we will always be contenders with Patrick Mahomes II

[Wallcrawler]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

yeah it's not like he has a long history of this, getting to conference championships and then losing

I mean, I guess we should be eternally grateful we got one super bowl title with him on the sidelines. It's more than he ever delivered in Philadelphia.

So he's what now, 1-1 in Superbowls after 9 conference championship games appearances.

I guess it's more than the long string of losers like Marty Schottenheimer, but does anyone really think after Sunday we have any real shot at winning one? We got outcoached by the frikkin Bengals and blew a Superbowl shot for what was arguably the most talented team we"ve had, and it boiled down to the same bullshit that happened with the eagles: year in and year out failures in clock management and what almost seems like a stubborn refusal to run the ball

But hey it's all good. Maybe we'll all be alive in 50 years when we maybe win another one!

Getting to the CCG is important. You get your shot. With Mahomes, thats all I want . Didnt work out this time, so you want to toss the whole staff. Thats not knee jerk at all.

Chris Jones makes any of his 3 whiffed sacks, different outcome.

We dont let a scrub go 41 virtually untouched on a screen, different outcome.

Offense is our strength, but its team sport. Lot went wrong in that game that couldve been better.

With as impatient as you whiners are, how are you going to stomach wasting 2 years of prime Mahomes while a new regime is installed? Youd lose your shit.

Im highly critical of Reid. Yes, his legacy is heavily tarnished by big game gaffes,(wasted a badly needed timeout, failed to kick 3, sent in terrible play design with 5 secs) but at this point, this team is a lock for postseason with him. He gets you a shot with Mahomes. Thats all any Chiefs fan can ask for.

Love to see the gaffes reigned in, but we have the players good enough to overcome his warts if they execute.

Won 1 SB, been to another, now we want to fire staff for not getting to 3 in a row.

Entitlement is an ugly thing.