SI: The Inevitability of the Kansas City Chiefs

[BigRedChief]

The Inevitability of the Kansas City Chiefs

The season is already over, we're all just going through the motions now.

"The Kansas City Chiefs don’t win well enough."

That’s what I’ve been hearing and reading from analysts throughout our hermetically sealed football bubble. I’ve even seen it from some Chiefs fans on Twitter.

The Chiefs are 14-1, but they aren’t obliterating their opponents and mailing the leftover viscera to their families, so are they really winning?
The Chiefs have the best record in football, but their wins are being counted against them more than the losses of all other playoff teams. Nearly every discussion about the Chiefs over the last three or four weeks has legitimately been “Why aren’t the Chiefs blowing everyone out, and should we be concerned?”

This is, in part, the Chiefs’ own doing. While the Chiefs have mostly goofed off, sleepwalked, and can’t-be-bothered their way to a 14-1 record, the Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers have spent the last couple of weeks looking a lot more exciting.

Yet, the Chiefs have the second-best point differential in the NFL. They trail only the Baltimore Ravens, who they always beat. So, to be clear, the lackadaisical team that looks like it couldn’t care less and refuses to blow out teams is second in the league at scoring more points than their opponent.

I get it. The version of the NFL we know today was built on storylines and narratives. Like 50% of the stuff I’ve written about the Chiefs has been complaining about dumb made-up media/fan narratives or trying to find narratives of my own to spend a thousand words on. Without the rivalries or beefs or soap operas or redemption arcs, the NFL wouldn’t be one of the biggest sports and entertainment goliaths in the world.

The Chiefs' inevitability runs counter to the idea the NFL is the land of parity. It’s difficult to preach “any given Sunday” when Kansas City feels so inevitable. We all already know the ending, but we’re pretending like we didn’t peek at the last page before starting the prologue. We’ve known where this season has been headed since last season ended.

The Chiefs have no competition. Everyone knows it. The comparison to the '90s Chicago Bulls and 2010s Golden State Warriors are already tired. They could kneel the ball every play until the fourth quarter and still put up 31. They have no peers. It's the Chiefs, about a galaxy of empty space, and then everyone else.

That’s not just this year; it’s the next 15 years. People like to point to the Chiefs' collection of talent and say there’s no way the team can maintain its powerhouse status after Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill are gone. I would remind those people that Kelce and Hill were third- and fifth-round picks. The Chiefs are about to be a Patriots-tier dynasty that also drafts well. It’s over, folks.

Turning to the 2020 playoffs, the Bills or Tennessee Titans on their absolute most flawless days will beat the Chiefs on their absolute worst day. That is legitimately the only reality in which the Chiefs do not get to a second-straight Super Bowl.

The rest of the AFC has no shot. The Steelers and Colts have lumbering, geriatric noodle-arm quarterbacks who load up like trebuchets before hucking the ball seven yards downfield in an excruciating, borderline-tortuous fashion. The Ravens have had three seasons to figure out how to attack Mahomes and just keep getting embarrassed. The Browns would need twice the graupel they got last time to even have a shot at keeping it close. The Dolphins are just kinda there.

As far as potential Super Bowl opponents, the Packers and Seahawks fall into the Bills and Titans “if we don’t make a single mistake and the Chiefs eat themselves, then we have a shot” camp. Everyone else is hopeless. All of their fatal flaws are infinitely exploitable by even a middling Chiefs performance.

It’s not fun for anyone but the Chiefs and their fans to exist in a world where no one else has a fair shot. But it is what it is, and after this postseason, reality will finally set in. The only thing stopping the Chiefs are injuries or themselves.

The 2020 season was over when it started, the games were just a formality.

https://www.si.com/nfl/chiefs/gm-rep...L0ouqE1hikwOTM

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by O.city

https://twitter.com/nfl_dougfarrar/s...359546368?s=21

He’s been under a **** load of pressure the last three weeks. It takes a toll

He played on of his better games against New Orleans, who applied a **** load of pressure.

Blaming it all on the line is a cop out. It isn’t that simple.

[O.city]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

He played on of his better games against New Orleans, who applied a **** load of pressure.

Blaming it all on the line is a cop out. It isn’t that simple.

He threw for 3 tds but it was a low completion percentage low QBR game. Under the pressure he was under it was fine but it wasn’t close to one of his better games

[chiefzilla1501]

The good news is the Chiefs defense is starting to win games for us. As awesome as our offense was in last year's playoffs, defense played an equal part in our success. Who knows... Maybe we'll look back at our late season offense "slump" and be thankful that it woke up the defense. Mahomes injury last year was when our D turned things around.

But in order for us to stop winning ugly our offense needs to clean up some stuff. Our OL is what it is. But our short passing game absolutely must get cleaned up. We've got 3 weeks to focus on that. Because if our offense gets back in sync with the D playing like they are now... Holy shit, look out.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

Mahomes came in right after that when we got a turnover, then led us down the field for a scoring drive. I think his psyche is fine.

His psyche on short passes is not fine. He isn't afraid of getting hit. That's not the main issue. Hes become tentative to throw passes he fears will get tipped.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

His psyche on short passes is not fine. He isn't afraid of getting hit. That's not the main issue. Hes become tentative to throw passes he fears will get tipped.

Yep. They’re forcing the ball deep even when they don’t have to. The short stuff isn’t working and it’s not the line. His throws aren’t even on target much of the time.

[Tribal Warfare]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Yep. They’re forcing the ball deep even when they don’t have to. The short stuff isn’t working and it’s not the line. His throws aren’t even on target much of the time.

Actually it is the OL is getting bullied and being pushed back on their heels and allowing the passrushers hands to get their hands up to swat and block the pass.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare

Actually it is the OL is getting bullied and being pushed back on their heels and allowing the passrushers hands to get their hands up to swat and block the pass.

He missed two screen passes against Atlanta and it wasn’t the line. There more to it than just the line.

[Tribal Warfare]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

He missed two screen passes against Atlanta and it wasn’t the line. There more to it than just the line.

One of those screen passes was cross body with a defender in his face. Le'veon quit on the play in question too

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare

One of those screen passes was cross body with a defender in his face. Le'veon quit on the play in question too

One of them wasn’t even catchable. Can’t blame that on anybody but Mahomes.

Again, not saying the line isn’t the problem but it isn’t the only problem.

In fact, people better hope it’s not the only problem because it isn’t getting fixed at this point. Play calling can be fixed, schemes can be adjusted. This line is what it is until the offseason because Schwartz isn’t coming back.

[Mecca]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

One of them wasn’t even catchable. Can’t blame that on anybody but Mahomes.

Again, not saying the line isn’t the problem but it isn’t the only problem.

In fact, people better hope it’s not the only problem because it isn’t getting fixed at this point. Play calling can be fixed, schemes can be adjusted. This line is what it is until the offseason because Schwartz isn’t coming back.

You mean this year or you think he calls it quits.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Mecca

You mean this year or you think he calls it quits.

This year.

[Tribal Warfare]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

One of them wasn’t even catchable. Can’t blame that on anybody but Mahomes.

Again, not saying the line isn’t the problem but it isn’t the only problem.

In fact, people better hope it’s not the only problem because it isn’t getting fixed at this point. Play calling can be fixed, schemes can be adjusted. This line is what it is until the offseason because Schwartz isn’t coming back.

I'll say this Patrick has earned the benefit of the doubt, because look at the different variables he had to adapt which includes as you mentioned backup OL , a depleted running game, and honestly complacency on the team.

Mahomes is the least of our problems especially when he activates GOD MODE.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare

I'll say this Patrick has earned the benefit of the doubt, because look at the different variables he had to adapt which includes as you mentioned backup OL , a depleted running game, and honestly complacency on the team.

Mahomes is the least of our problems especially when he activates GOD MODE.

Not saying we should roast him. Just saying that there’s plenty of reasons they’re struggling and it’s not all on the o-line. If it is all just the line, we are probably ****ed at this point in the season so we better hope it isn’t.

[Halfcan]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

His psyche on short passes is not fine. He isn't afraid of getting hit. That's not the main issue. Hes become tentative to throw passes he fears will get tipped.

Because of one game against the Falcons? I think everyone is overreacting.

Mahomes will be rested up from that beating in New Orleans and dominate.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by Halfcan

Because of one game against the Falcons? I think everyone is overreacting.

Mahomes will be rested up from that beating in New Orleans and dominate.

One game? Mahomes had a bajillion tipped passes in Denver then a couple of tips vs Miami. It's been a problem way beyond atl. Mahomes is inaccurate in the short game because he is understandably worried about getting passes knocked down. I trust Reid to fix it but it's definitely not an overreaction. Defenses made an adjustment to us and we need to adjust back.