Kansas City Chiefs-A-
It’s easy to forget that Patrick Mahomes was a bit of a question mark before the season began. Most executives thought, at the very least, he’d show some real inconsistency from week-to-week. Instead, he turned in an MVP season under the watchful eye of coach Andy Reid.
In many ways, Mahomes was the best story for a league that desperately needed a new poster child. His magical ability to wing the ball all over the field was appointment television for the nation. He wasn’t able to guide the Chiefs to the Super Bowl, but it’s hard to imagine him giving this franchise anything more in his sophomore season.
If the grade was entirely based on the Chiefs offense, the group would get an easy A+. Unfortunately, defense is also a part of the game. That’s where Kansas City really struggled. The group was torched for an average of 405.5 yards per game and finished 24th in the NFL in scoring defense. It’s not an exaggeration to say this team would have blown the rest of the league away if they could have stopped opponents at even an average clip.
Bob Sutton finally got the axe as the team’s defensive coordinator after the Patriots loss, but it’s fair to say this team waited too long to pull the plug on his vanilla schemes. Mahomes figures to give the Chiefs several more chances to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, but their stubbornness on defense cost the talented quarterback his first chance.