The Kansas City Chiefs aren’t fixed with one win. But maybe (*maybe*) the fix has begun
Football seasons take a million turns, many of them contradictory. But there is a chance — a chance — the Chiefs just played a game that we can optimistically view as a microcosm of what’s left of this group’s time together.
They stunk out loud in the first half (like they did their first five games), then halted the bad vibes at halftime (maybe that’s what just happened here), and then beat the brakes off Washington in the second half (that’s the very optimistic view of the rest of the season).
The plot twist nobody could have seen: It’s the defense that pulled them out of their darkest moment.
The Chiefs beat Washington 31-13 Sunday, and the Internet does not have enough space to list all of the ways they still must prove themselves before a credible case can be made that they’re a Super Bowl threat again.
But if we get there, the story of this team’s rise will almost certainly have begun on a gorgeous fall afternoon near the nation’s capitol.
“I just think the guys put their mind to it,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “Beared down. Kind of enough’s enough. There’s a point you have to do that.”
Measured by points or yards given up, it was the best day for the Chiefs’ defense since that annihilation of the sorry New York Jets 11 1/2 months ago.
The most obvious change was the overdue replacement of Daniel Sorensen by Juan Thornhill as the starting free safety. Willie Gay Jr. also started at linebacker. The charts will be out soon, but it also looked like defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo called more blitzes than he typically has.
That’s notable for a lot of reasons, including the fact that defensive end Chris Jones did not play with a wrist injury and the Chiefs still managed 10 quarterback hits. Their previous season high was six.
“Our scheme is our scheme,” safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “I don’t necessarily think if it’s Dan or Juan … I think our defense is built for 11 guys to be on the same page, and I think when we do that we can play championship defense.”
Whether or not that was intended to be a thinly veiled shot at Sorensen, the plain truth is that the Chiefs have not looked this good on defense in quite some time.
We should do some adjusting for the opponent’s strength here, but while it’s true that Washington is not nearly as good as the Bills or Chargers or Ravens — the teams that have beaten the Chiefs, and must be overtaken for this season to be a success — it’s also true that Washington entered the game ranked 12th in the NFL in scoring.
This was the beginning of a three-game stretch that will be mostly overlooked at the end of the season but is critical to the Chiefs’ development.
They failed the first part of their season. Failed it badly. They were sloppy and ineffective in a 2-3 start that put some corners of the fan base in a dark place. Against Washington they were sloppy but effective, which isn’t enough to beat good teams but is enough to wonder if the worst parts of the season are over.
Some of this can’t be explained. A group that’s a year older, with a better offensive line than the one that committed just 16 turnovers all of last season, has 14 in six games. Patrick Mahomes has thrown seven interceptions — more than his season total of 2020 or 2019 — including (by far) the worst two of his career.
You might remember the bad-idea-poorly-executed play in Baltimore, but he essentially told that play to hold his beer toward the end of the first half against Washington. He dropped a shotgun snap trying to hurry, then rolled to his right. With a defender dragging him down — all he had to do was take the sack and the Chiefs could’ve kicked a field goal — he lollypopped an end-over-end throw that hung in the air for nearly 2 seconds and had virtually no chance of not being intercepted.
“It’s going to look bad,” Mahomes said. “It’s probably going to be on, ‘C’mon Man,’ or something like that, but you’ve got to find a way to win games at the end of the day.”
The Chiefs have not won turnovers since their season opener, and are now minus-10 on the season. Without saying it in these words, Reid makes is clear he’s more frustrated and confused by the problem than any fan could possibly be. The Chiefs have not lost a season’s turnover differential since 2014, and minus-10 would be the team’s worst under Reid.
The question is hard not to ponder: What would this team look like if it could solve its turnover problems?
The optimistic answer: The second half against Washington.
The Chiefs’ offense committed no turnovers Sunday and scored touchdowns on three consecutive drives that totaled 200 yards. The Chiefs’ defense forced one turnover (two for the game) and gave up a total of 76 yards and zero points.
The Chiefs, like virtually every football team from middle school on up, talk a lot about playing complementary football. For too much of their first five games, the Chiefs were the wrong kind of complementary — when the offense turned it over, the defense gave it up.
This is just one game, and it wasn’t played against the caliber of team against which the Chiefs will ultimately be judged.
But maybe — maaaaaayyyyyyyybe — this is the beginning of the Chiefs becoming what a lot of us expected them to be before the season began.
This story was originally published October 17, 2021 at 5:49 PM.