Two-time Super Bowl champ says Chiefs are still a team to be reckoned with in playoffs
The Chiefs have lost two straight games and four of their last six, and that’s raised a lot of questions among pundits about their ability to return to the Super Bowl.
But the good news is the Chiefs have an 8-5 record and are currently third in the AFC conference standings, one game behind the Dolphins.
Former NFL defensive end Chris Long, who won a Super Bowl with the Patriots and Eagles, said the Chiefs didn’t do themselves any favors by not upgrading the receiving corps at the trade deadline. But he still believes they can do damage in the playoffs.
Long shared his thoughts Monday on “The Rich Eisen Show.”
“This kind of falls on Brett Veach and Andy (Reid) if he has a say in this thing, because you’re wasting a year of prime (Patrick) Mahomes,” Long said. “Now do I think they can figure it out? Yeah. My legs are tired from standing on the table on the Chiefs. I just have to believe that they can figure these things out. And part of it has to do with getting the people off the field that are making mistakes.
“You’re telling me, I don’t know, pick some other guy from that room: Richie James couldn’t catch that throwback and run it into the end zone and line up onside? Kadarius Toney’s cost them two games this year now: Detroit (and) this one (Sunday). It’s the difference between Patrick Mahomes playing at home, which is what he’s done customarily his whole career in the playoffs, and going on the road.”
Long said it was nothing personal against Toney, other receivers or the offensive tackles who have had issues with penalties and dropped passes, but the NFL is about production.
It’s made Long wonder if the Chiefs were missing former offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who left for Washington.
“It’s all this stuff they’re doing wrong, the detail-oriented stuff, and I don’t understand if it’s an Eric Bieniemy thing,” Long said. “It’s not like last year they had the greatest show on turf, and they scored 30-plus points in the Super Bowl. They had to outscore the Eagles with a group of guys out there, they still have those guys, but the guys aren’t doing the little things right and it’s burning them.”
Eisen asked about Long’s level of concern about the Chiefs, and he noted there isn’t a team in the AFC that doesn’t have issues.
That was before Miami blew a 14-point lead with three minutes to play Monday and lost at home to the Titans.
“If we didn’t know anything about the Chiefs in the past and you just took this year in a vacuum, you’d be like, ‘This team’s frisky. The wide receivers aren’t real good, but their quarterback, he can win just about any game,’” Long said. “And that’s the thing about them is they can beat anybody, but anybody can beat them. And that’s the difference and especially when you go on the road. Am I concerned about their ability to get to the Super Bowl? Yeah, now like everybody else they’re gonna have to go on the road to win.
“I still would like them in a matchup with Miami. I’d have to look closer at the Baltimore matchup, but give me a team in the AFC, give me a team that you think more than seven out of 10 times beats the Chiefs.”
Eisen said maybe the Dolphins (again, this was before Monday’s game), but he also agreed the Chiefs can’t be counted out in the postseason in their conversation.
This story was originally published December 12, 2023 at 11:02 AM.
