The Kansas City Chiefs lost on Sunday (*audible gasp*) but they’re going to be just fine, so calm down.
If you were expecting the Kansas City Chiefs to roll through this season undefeated, your dream died on Sunday. What didn’t die, however, was the Chiefs season which is still humming along despite the 19-13 loss to Pittsburgh.
Kansas City is still 5-1 and in control of not only the AFC West but the entire conference. They still have the league’s best running back and Alex Smith has only had one bad game this year. Also, the sky has not yet fallen as of the writing of this post.
Even with the loss things outside of Arrowhead bounced the Chiefs way. Oakland lost to Los Angeles, and the Broncos were put through the ringer in a loss to the Giants. The only two teams Kansas City needs to be remotely worried about (the Patriots and Steelers) won on Sunday but are still trailing in the playoff hunt by a wide margin.
Despite the loss, the gap between the Chiefs and everyone else is still significant.
The season doesn’t end in Week 6 … there’s no need to panic
There’s mild cause for concern, as is the case anytime a team loses. For as good as the Chiefs have been this year (described here), the loss to the Steelers exposed some scars that will no doubt give fans ‘Nam flashbacks.
For starters, Alex Smith came crashing back to Earth after starting the season looking like Joe Montana. He was every bit the game manager he’s always been criticised as being; throwing short dink-and-dunk passes straight from the Todd Haley era. Chiefs fans are very triggered at just the thought of that.
With Smith slacking, the entire Chiefs offense suffered. Kareem Hunt couldn’t shift into the right gear and the receiving corps went hungry. Kansas City had 25-yards of total offense through the first two quarters of the game, which was taking fears to the extreme.
Then there were the mental mistakes and bad breaks. From stupid play calling to not taking points when they were on the table, the Chiefs outsmarted themselves with stupidity. The crown jewel moment of nincompoopery came when Demetrius Harris committed a holding penalty that negated a first-down run late in the game. Or maybe it was when Philip Gaines let a ball bounce off his facemask which led to momentum swinging back to the Steelers at a critical point in the game?
These are things they can think about in the offseason now that their season is ov–
*Checks schedule and calendar*
Oh, it’s only Week 6? Well, then what’s all the panic for?
Chiefs fans are eternally cursed to always expect bad things to happen no matter how good they have it. The loss on Sunday was a vintage heartbreak. To blame fans for reading too much into it is to not understand Chiefs fans at all. That being said, the loss comes at a time when Kansas City has enough time left to sort things out.
Control of the No. 1 seed in the AFC Playoffs is still well in hand. The defense is still one of the best units in football and the offense had one bad week. Mostly everyone is healthy, and the flaws can be fixed. Bad breaks are going to happen, but do you think after this loss the Chiefs aren’t going to tighten the screws? The season doesn’t end in Week 6 and a quick check of the TV Guide revealed this wasn’t the Super Bowl. There’s reason to be concerned but there’s no need to panic.
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It’s better these things happen in October when there’s still plenty of time to fix things before January. That’s what the Chiefs are playing for, and everything outside of this one week suggests the team is going to be just fine.