The 2020 evolution of the KC Chiefs, and why it’s very bad news for the rest of the AFC
The Chiefs beat the Broncos, and these days that’s as unexpected snow being cold, but by now we can all see some trends that should be tempting opposing coaches to self-medicate.
These guys are evolving.
They used to need the offense to be perfect. Now they’re beating the Broncos 43-16 with 289 yards of total offense and Patrick Mahomes going for his least productive game of the season.
The Chiefs used to be Super Bowl contenders because of Mahomes. Now, they have the look of a team that would be among the favorites even with a normal human quarterback.
And, actually, now that we’re here it’s worth mentioning that Mahomes said he sees that evolution “100 percent” and that it’s impacting how he plays.
“That’s something I’ve learned in my career so far,” he said. “I was talking to Tyrann (Mathieu) about it after the game, actually. Young Patrick would probably try to force it and throw a ball and maybe made a bad interception, whereas now, seeing the way the (Chiefs’) defense is playing and knowing it’s not there, just taking the sack or throwing it away. You have to learn ways to win in this league.”
Few teams have as many of those ways to win, and this Broncos blowout was the masterpiece. The Chiefs scored touchdowns on a run by the running back, a pick-6, a kickoff return, a pass to a receiver, and even a short run by the backup quarterback after the outcome was so ensured coach Andy Reid took his headset off.
The Chiefs have employed quarterbacks who screwed up a lot of games. It would’ve taken the worst from the worst to whiff on this one.
The defense was just that good. And has been often enough that the 2018 spaceship that lost the AFC Championship Game on a coin flip is almost unrecognizable from this aircraft carrier that can deploy the right weapon for the right moment.
The Chiefs used to play like Patrick Mahomes and Some Other Guys. Now, the Chiefs are doing things like running the ball, forcing turnovers, and limiting big plays that used to be their opponent’s key to victory.
The 2018 Chiefs defense proved to be the only one in the league that could stop Mahomes. From midway through last season on, the Chiefs’ defense has been one of the biggest problems opponents face when trying to beat Mahomes.
This offense is built for a shootout. This defense is built to make that a moot point.
“Coach Spags, me and him are kind of the same: we take everything so personal,” Mathieu said. “But I think it does the group well. Us obviously having a chip on our shoulder, not necessarily wanting to be the little brother. But wanting to be the reason, or part of the reason why the Kansas City Chiefs are a great team.
“We’re still building toward that, but anytime you have a performance like this where you can step up as a defense it just sends confidence through the whole locker room that each unit can trust each other.”
The idea behind this column is about more than just one game. It’s about the evolution not just of this season, but over the last few years. The Chiefs have had some good teams. Some dangerous teams. When have they had a team this complete?
The Super Bowl champions added depth across the defensive line and secondary, improved the running backs room tenfold, appear to have gotten tougher across the offensive line and have maintained sharpness and individual improvement with their stars.
Let’s just look at this season. They have won with patience against the Texans, performance under pressure against the Chargers, strength and brains against the Ravens, toughness against the Patriots, the run game against the Bills, and defense and special teams against the Broncos.
“You have to be on every week,” Reid said. “And that’s the challenge. That’s the challenge. Expectations are high amongst our players and amongst the coaches. How do you sustain that? How do you keep that rolling? It’s character. It tests you there, and you’ve got to bear down every week to do that.”
The way to beat the Chiefs used to be to play man, and score a lot. Then it was to play deep zones and have the ball a lot.
Now, based on what we know seven games in, it’s to hope you can neutralize the pass rush, catch the secondary confused or out of position, throw a season’s worth of game plans at them and hope you can outreach some of the best in the business. Goodnight.
The Chiefs are now in an awkward part of their season. They opened as a staggering 21 1/2-point favorite against the dysfunctional New York Jets on Sunday (think Le’Veon Bell will be excited?), and after that they get the Panthers at home and then the bye week.
The next opponent that will have fans’ full attention will be the Raiders on Nov. 22. That’ll be more than a month since the Bills game, which is a long time for the Chiefs to be beating NFL opponents while not showing their best stuff and working internally on improving inefficiencies.
It’s a weird thing, then. The rest of the schedule looks an awful lot like a 14-2 or so finish. The same way Chiefs fans kept one eye on the Patriots in 2018, they might do the same with the Steelers now.
Reid mentioned the challenge of being focused and energized every week, and that may have been part of it. But there was likely more in the message, too.
The Chiefs can win all but a few of their remaining regular-season games without their best effort. But winning regular-season games is not the point of the 2020 Chiefs.
The point is to win playoff games, and the best path from here to there might be to use these remaining 10 games to further sharpen their strengths and address the issues that have muted regular-season celebrations.
This story was originally published October 25, 2020 at 8:03 PM.