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

[Flying High D]

Pretty obvious on the Bungholes last timeout, Zac Taylor told his D, “when it’s grim, be the grim reaper destroyer. Go get him.”

[jerryaldini]

In this game, despite the pass rush weakness, the defense outperformed the offense. They gave up one touchdown and three field goals in regulation, 16 points. Is that not good enough? The other TD gifted by the Mahomes interception. The offense wins that game every time except last Sunday.

[Bugeater]

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!

If you're counting Philly as well he's 1-2 in Super Bowls.

[stevieray]

Originally Posted by Wallcrawler

Entitlement is an ugly thing.

This wasn't the Bills game.

That game was a war. No shame in losing that game.

This game was there for the taking. Even after all the blunders, all that mattered at that point is they were first and goal.

The right played was called, the WR's were open, and he froze. He had room to scramble outside of the pocket and yet, he made two turns back inside and fumbled the ball upon getting the sack.

It was like taking candy from a baby, something he has done effortlessly.

He deserves a big slice of humble pie.

I hope it serves him well.

[Tribal Warfare]

The only way I can make sense out of Mahomes' 2nd half play is Andy told him to **** around like that to burn the clock and sit on the lead. Chris Jones ****ing up and missing 3 sacks is the most troubling issue

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by Bugeater

If you're counting Philly as well he's 1-2 in Super Bowls.

yeah, you are correct.

3 Superbowls in 9 opportunities.

So I guess his winning percentage is 33% in championship games in general, then

Better than Marty then, in that he at least gets there, but the results kind of speak for themselves.

Hopefully weget to more of them. It isn't easy and we really choked a great chance away.

We of all fanbases should know how difficult it is, going oh for the playoffs for so long. Can't undervalue it. You have to take advantage of the chance when you can


And it'll really burn if we have all this generational qb and dynasty talk with and by mahomes, and then he falls flat on his face and Burrow and the Bengals end up doing and being what we thought we were...

But hey, that would be very Chiefs.

[DRM08]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

It will really burn if we have all this generational qb and dynasty talk with and by mahomes, and then he falls flat on his face and Burrow and the Bengals end up doing and being what we thought we were...

But hey, that would be very Chiefs.

It's very possible. Burrow is on his rookie deal and loaded with young weapons around him, along with a very good defense (underrated). Compare this with Mahomes in 2018 trying to drag the worst defense in the league to a championship.

[Abba-Dabba]

Originally Posted by jerryaldini

In this game, despite the pass rush weakness, the defense outperformed the offense. They gave up one touchdown and three field goals in regulation, 16 points. Is that not good enough? The other TD gifted by the Mahomes interception. The offense wins that game every time except last Sunday.

They could not hold a 3 possession lead.

Thought this defensive scheme was supposed to be better with a lead?

Defense was/is shit.

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by RubberSponge

They could not hold a 3 possession lead.

Thought this defensive scheme was supposed to be better with a lead?

Defense was/is shit.

The offense was a big part of that, too. Hold onto the ball some, give the defense a breather. But they stopped trying to run the ball, kept endung drives with punts and didn't take advantage of goal to go opportunities.

Can't lay that loss on the defense. Particularly when your team is built around offense and they disappear for half the game
And holding the opponent to 24 points in regulation should be a win for this team. Every single time

And we won the ****ing coin toss in overtime to boot

No reason at all to lose that game. The defense did enough the offense blew it

[Chiefshrink]

Originally Posted by stevieray

This wasn't the Bills game.

That game was a war. No shame in losing that game.

This game was there for the taking. Even after all the blunders, all that mattered at that point is they were first and goal.

The right played was called, the WR's were open, and he froze. He had room to scramble outside of the pocket and yet, he made two turns back inside and fumbled the ball upon getting the sack.

It was like taking candy from a baby, something he has done effortlessly.

He deserves a big slice of humble pie.

I hope it serves him well.

[LongSufferingToady]

Originally Posted by Chris Meck

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

WTH? If you don't like the comments then scroll on by... Didn't know I was surrounded by such weak-arsed snowflakes. You and Wallcrawler should get a room.

[LongSufferingToady]

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.

Certainly, you guys don't understand sarcasm. My gawd the idiocy on here.

ps - How many accounts do you post under?

[Bugeater]

Originally Posted by LongSufferingToady

WTH? If you don't like the article you should scroll on by... Didn't know I was surrounded by such weak-arsed snowflakes. You and Wallcrawler should get a room.

The fact that you made it that high on someone's hate list with only 470 posts is quite an accomplishment. I'm impressed.

[Chiefshrink]

6. Life goes on.

[Bugeater]

7. **** off