It’s time for Kansas City to start panicking about the Chiefs
By John Buhler
After losing consecutive games at home to fellow AFC contenders, it’s time to start panicking about the Kansas City Chiefs. Are they that good?
It happened again. The Kansas City Chiefs hosted a fellow AFC contending team in the form of the Houston Texans on Sunday and lost due in large part because the run defense couldn’t stop a nosebleed. Kansas City succumbed to its first defeat of the season last week when the Indianapolis Colts came to town to stun Chiefs Kingdom in Arrowhead on Sunday Night Football.
In a battle of elite franchise quarterbacks that were taken later in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft after Mitchell Trubisky, Deshaun Watson’s Texans got the best of Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs in Arrowhead Stadium Sunday afternoon to the tune of 31-24.
Though Mahomes arguably outplayed Watson in this ball game, it was the Kansas City defense that let the insanely talented Chiefs signal-caller down. Mahomes completed 19 of 35 passes for 273 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Watson completed 30 of 42 passes for 280 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Mahomes played well enough to win.
What was the difference in this ball game was the dominant rushing attack of the Texans and the underwhelming ground game of the Chiefs. Houston outrushed Kansas City 192 yards to just 53. Kansas City only pounded the rock 11 times, while Houston ran all over the Chiefs defense 41 times for three touchdowns, one by running back Carlos Hyde and two by the quarterback Watson.
This led to the Texans dominating time of possession, as Houston had the ball for 39 minutes and 48 seconds when compared to the 20 minutes and 12 seconds Kansas City was on offense. This was the fourth week in a row where the Kansas City run defense surrendered over 180 yards on the ground.
Kansas City has given up over 100 yards on the ground in its last five games. The lowest rushing yards allowed total on the year was 81. That was the road versus the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1 when Nick Foles broke his clavicle and a rookie sixth-rounder by the name of Gardner Minshew II had to come off the bench and replace him.
The point is this: If you can run the ball with conviction, you can beat the Chiefs, as long as you don’t turn the football over. Kansas City got off to a hot 4-0 start, but the Chiefs’ most recent wins against the Baltimore Ravens and the Detroit Lions began to reveal a deeper problem that better teams like the Colts and Texans were able to capitalize on.
While it is still early in the season, Kansas City should be in full-blown panic mode because the Chiefs’ fatal flaw has been exposed. We can’t expect the Chiefs to beat strong, well-coached teams that have a strong ground game and play respectable defense. With the Colts and Texans likely to make the AFC Playoffs, Kansas City has now lost both head-to-head tiebreakers.
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Though the Chiefs have a generational talent at quarterback, a Pro Football Hall of Fame-level head coach, an absurd amount of offensive weapons and one of the best home-field advantages in the NFL, having a pitiful run defense likely means Kansas City won’t be making its first Super Bowl berth in 50 years this February. They can’t run, can’t stop it and that won’t work in January.