Chiefs lose to the Seahawks 38-31: Insta-reaction!
In the modern NFL the road to a Super Bowl is open for a team with a defense so unreliable you would not loan it a dollar but that’s only true if said team has a wizard for a quarterback and the league’s most dynamic offense.
If that wizard isn’t wizard enough, and the offense struggles for more than a few possessions, well, that road becomes impassable.
That road becomes something like what we saw in the Chiefs’ 38-31 loss here to the Seahawks on Sunday night.
This was always going to be a tough game, and a brutal X’s-and-O’s matchup, so you can hang onto that if you want but the Chiefs have now lost three of five games. In the first 12 games, they averaged 37 points and scored fewer than 30 just twice.
In the last three games, they’ve scored 27, 28, and 31. Two losses, and one win in overtime.
The problems against the Seahawks were nuanced. Too many short drives. Not enough protection for Patrick Mahomes. An inability to stop the run, which was expected, but also an inability to move the ball much for about three quarters, which was not expected. The offense struggled for too long, and the defense managed one stop less than it needed.
The problems against the Seahawks will be simplified. The defense wasn’t good enough, again. Eric Berry stood on the sideline on the last drive, towel over his head.
If this was a normal team, the defense should be blasted. They gave up 38 points to a team that had scored that many just once before. If that’s where you want to go here, have at it. The defense is not good.
But this is not a normal team. The responsibility is not divided evenly between offense and defense. The offense is what will win or lose games for the Chiefs. That’s true now, has been true all season, and will continue to be true in the playoffs.
Mahomes did his wizard thing in the second half. His second touchdown pass was an all-timer: running away from pressure to his left, throws sidearm back to his right, behind a linebacker but in front of a defensive back for a touchdown to a man who was unemployed a few weeks ago.
He also took the Chiefs down the field late in the fourth quarter for a touchdown that kept things interesting, with a gorgeous pass to Demarcus Robinson against the sideline in the end zone.
But they had the ball six times in the first half, and managed just one touchdown, two punts, and two turnovers — one of which set up a 21-yard touchdown drive for Seattle. The Chiefs just aren’t good enough on defense to take a half off on offense.
The margin for error is thin. Maybe it’s unfair that the burden is on the offense, but with this roster, and with the NFL’s rules, this is reality.
Some perspective. The Chiefs remain in enviable position. They play the Raiders at home next week, which is the closest thing the NFL allows to a week 17 bye. A win would lock in the No. 1 seed, and to whatever extent their imperfections freak you out there are imperfections on everyone else that have thus far proven more problematic.
This is not a pick-me-up. This is not blind optimism, or a case that all will be fine in the postseason. It’s actually something like the opposite.
You’ve been worried about the defense this whole time. But this is two weeks in a row the offense hasn’t been good enough — last week on the most important possession, and this week for an entire half.
This story was originally published December 23, 2018 at 10:50 PM.