3 Kansas City Chiefs to blame for inexcusable Christmas loss against Raiders
By Mark Powell
The Kansas City Chiefs surprisingly fell to the Las Vegas Raiders at home. Much has been said of the Chiefs offense, which has struggled with consistency since the midseason mark. Given the playoffs are right around the corner, Kansas City is heading in the wrong direction, already having guaranteed they will not clinch the No 1 seed in the conference.
With the win, the Raiders are still alive for the AFC West division (unlikely) and an AFC Wild Card spot (slightly more likely). Interim head coach Antonio Pierce talked a big game all week long, and having backed up that talk, his interim tag may be removed shortly. The Raiders look much better and tougher since Pierce was put in charge.
As impressive as Pierce and the Raiders were, especially while shorthanded, blame must be placed on the favorites, who came up short once again. Kansas City has lost three of its last four games with the lone outlier being a win in New England. Something has to change, but identifying the problem is the first step.
Kansas City Chiefs to blame: The entire receiving corps
We've been here before. Kansas City's receiving corps came up short on Sunday afternoon, often failing to gain much separation against a young Raiders defensive backfield. Rashee Rice had six catches, once again proving he is one of the few Chiefs targets Mahomes can rely on. Travis Kelce had a subpar game by his standards with Taylor Swift in attendance. Marquez Valdes-Scantling had zero catches. Justyn Ross only had one grab. Justyn Watson had four catches and a touchdown, but failed to get open on a consistent basis.
Mahomes challenged his receiving corps just a few weeks ago following a loss to the Buffalo Bills.
"I asked Patrick Mahomes what specifically do you do to try to help your teammates minimize dropped passes," Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk said. "He said it's about going out before or after every practice, [getting] extra throws from Patrick Mahomes, extra throws from the other quarterbacks, extra catches from the Jugs machine. He said it's all about confidence."
Very little has changed since then, and the Chiefs wide receivers now have their backs against the ball. They are part of the problem.