The Chiefs win, AND get a bye, but it’s not all good news. On the change now required
The happiest locker room in the NFL is the one with the reigning (and healthy) MVP at quarterback, a suddenly stout defense and a stunning Sunday gift: a first-round bye because one of the league’s worst teams beat the defending Super Bowl champions.
There is no way to overstate the joy that bounced off the walls as the Chiefs celebrated their 31-21 win over the Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium.
Because the Miami Dolphins beat the New England Patriots — by point spread, this was the league’s biggest upset in 30 years — the Chiefs secured the AFC’s No. 2 seed in the NFL playoffs.
Instead of playing this coming weekend, they can rest their bodies and watch the wild-card round from the couch.
Instead of going to New England in the divisional round, they will play at home.
The Ravens remain the AFC favorite, but the Chiefs’ chances of playing in their first Super Bowl in 50 years just increased.
All of that is true, but the most important scene in the Chiefs’ locker room was one that few noticed. Juan Thornhill, the standout rookie safety from Virginia, limped with a heavy black brace on his left knee worn over his jeans. He stopped to chat softly with a few teammates, including veteran safety Tyrann Mathieu, who has torn the ACLs in both of his knees and offered the rookie some advice.
The official diagnosis came Monday, a torn ACL that will end Thornhill’s season — just as their most important part of the season begins.
“It’d be a big loss for us defensively,” Mathieu said. “Just his growth this season, he was one of those guys we depended on to make big plays. We don’t have that now.”
Mathieu and Thornhill have been the heart of the Chiefs’ vast improvement on defense. A year ago, the Chiefs’ safeties were among the league’s worst position groups.
Now, the safeties have been the Chiefs’ greatest strength. They’ve provided better cover for the cornerbacks, and helped the pass rush by creating coverage-sack opportunities. Quarterbacks can no longer throw with free minds. They know the Chiefs have playmakers on the back end who can flip games.
That changes now. Mathieu is the better of the two, but Thornhill was a perfect complement. Thornhill has range and athleticism that limited what quarterbacks could do downfield and allowed Mathieu to be more aggressive and free closer to the line of scrimmage.
Against the Chargers, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo used Armani Watts in a traditional plug-and-play substitution after Thornhill’s injury. The Chiefs selected Watts in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL Draft, but he played in just five games before suffering a core-muscle injury. At Texas A&M, Watts played as more of a centerfield-type safety, which could be a good fit now, but he had played just 26 defensive snaps before Thornhill’s injury.
On Sunday, we saw Thornhill’s absence leave an obvious hole at least twice. On a third and 9 in the third quarter, Philip Rivers threw deep down the seam to tight end Hunter Henry, the pass completed despite four Chiefs defenders being close. Hypotheticals are impossible to prove, but Thornhill has defended or prevented many throws exactly like that.
Then, at one point in the fourth quarter, Mathieu signaled the Chiefs’ coaches for a substitute and walked toward the sideline. There appeared to be confusion as to who would come in, and after a short delay Mathieu went back to his position. The Chargers scored a touchdown on the next snap.
Watts generally presented well, particularly within the context of being thrown out there with so little experience. His tackling could improve, and that’s been a knock on him since college. But his teammates complimented his communication, saying that part of the defense’s game didn’t suffer.
“It’s just being prepared before the game,” Watts said. “Just knowing at any moment I could be called. That’s why I prepare during the week, with conditioning, everything. The way we practice, I’m just ready for that.”
Thornhill’s injury does not have to be a fatal flaw for the Chiefs. It doesn’t have to be the difference between an early postseason loss or a Super Bowl.
But it does have to be something the Chiefs adjust to.
Maybe it’s as simple as Watts playing Thornhill’s snaps, though even that will have to come with adjustments. Watts simply does not have Thornhill’s range over the top, or his track record of making plays closer to the line of scrimmage.
If the Chiefs believe those things are in there, that’s still a heck of a gamble to make at the moment games determine legacies.
If they’re not sure, they’re going to have to adjust the way their corners play, or put even more responsibility on Mathieu, or perhaps even put Kendall Fuller at safety more often.
Fuller played more safety than corner in each of the previous two games, according to Pro Football Focus, and he’s a smart player with proven instincts. It makes sense that Fuller takes on some of what Thornhill did, though that would necessitate more adjustments at corner.
“Wherever they want to put us, they put us,” Fuller said. “We have a lot of guys who are versatile. We can move around to different positions, give offenses a different look. I’m sure (the coaches) will think of something clever.”
The bye would’ve been welcomed anyway, but Thornhill’s injury makes it particularly useful. Spagnuolo’s greatest successes this year have come with adjusting — he’s tweaked the way the Chiefs’ defensive linemen stunt up front, and he’s overhauled how he plays guys in the back.
In recent games — this has coincided almost completely with the defense’s improvement — Spagnuolo has shifted more of the back seven away from the linebackers and onto the defensive backs.
But even that becomes more challenging now, because the Chiefs just lost one of their best defensive backs.
Look, maybe some of this comes across as a little too in-the-weeds, or even not in the spirit of what was overall a terrific day for the Chiefs. Their Super Bowl chances just grew, and going forward this will continue to be more about the star quarterback and loaded offense than replacing a rookie safety.
But Thornhill’s injury is going to show up, and the conversation about that will catch up soon, too.
There is more togetherness and general confidence around the team now than a year ago, and that’s directly tied to the defense’s improvement, even as the offense has not matched last year’s wild production.
The Chiefs enter the playoffs as a legitimate Super Bowl contender, and the Patriots’ apparent fade means the Chiefs are the most serious challenger to the Ravens in the AFC.
Thornhill’s injury does not change any of that. But it does change how the Chiefs must approach the challenge.
This story was originally published December 29, 2019 at 6:47 PM with the headline "The Chiefs win, AND get a bye, but it’s not all good news. On the change now required."