The KC Chiefs showed something important Sunday night in quest to be champions again
As clear as we can possibly be: If someone tells you the Chiefs are back, you should tell them not yet. Too soon.
Also as clear as we can possibly be: If the Chiefs were back, this is exactly what it would look like.
Patrick Mahomes strut-hopped his way to midfield after touchdowns. Travis Kelce danced after first downs. Tyreek Hill was a self-described “head case” on the sideline and uncoverable on the field. Tyrann Mathieu bossed the back end of the defense. Chris Jones led a pass rush that cajoled Raiders quarterback Derek Carr into mistakes.
The Chiefs beat the Raiders 41-14 here on Sunday night, the league’s biggest regular-season platform and the Chiefs’ biggest game of the season serving to confirm this team’s stubborn confidence.
They did everything well — outgunning the Raiders 516-299, nearly doubling them in first downs (29-15) and removing all doubt in time for Raiders fans to clear the stadium by midway through the fourth quarter.
This was the first time since last season’s AFC Championship Game that the Chiefs showed a performance worthy of a champion.
“We’re trying to be our own version of the Kansas City Chiefs,” Mahomes said. “Obviously we know what it takes because we’ve been in Super Bowl games and stuff like that, but I think we kind of went back these last few weeks and just went day by day.
“Let’s not worry about the Super Bowl right now. Let’s figure out how we can make ourselves better as a team each and every day. And I think that’s you’ve seen these last few weeks of finding ways to get wins.”
It’s a subtle difference, and maybe this is armchair psychology, but it sounds like Mahomes is saying they needed to reset the journey. It sounds like he’s saying the weight of expectations was a problem, and as the Chiefs fell behind their own standards and others in the AFC and especially the AFC West, the problems snowballed.
This is all easier said than done, but what if the solution has always been to stop chasing the ghosts of recent Super Bowl teams and instead embrace their own identity?
What if the best way to “get back” to that Super Bowl standard is to rewrite what that means?
This team is different than the Super Bowl LIV champions, and different than last year’s AFC champion. The offensive line is stronger, and less athletic. Defenses are forcing the Chiefs to be patient and score in ways that are less than comfortable.
The Chiefs’ defense is transitioning to younger linebackers, and they needed Juan Thornhill to replace Daniel Sorensen’s snaps at free safety. The line was remade to feature Chris Jones on the edge, but as those results have been mixed at best, another new solution has been required on the fly.
“You have to develop your own personality,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “Every team is different. Every year. So you can’t worry about the expectations and all that stuff. You’ve got to get down to the nitty gritty and build it.
“So our guys have kind of done that and getting to know each other better. And we’ve got to keep plugging away. This is a good one to get, though. I think you’re probably spot on with that.”
The meaning of this win can stretch as far as your imagination. For more than half the season these Chiefs played rather poorly by the standard they set for themselves, but here we are in the middle of November and they are alone in first place in the AFC West. Only the Titans have more wins among AFC teams.
If we are at the beginning of the Chiefs regaining their mojo, then a lot of AFC teams — and especially the Raiders and Chargers in the division — are going to see the first nine weeks as a missed opportunity to put real doubt into the minds of the two-time champions.
It speaks to the NFL’s emphasis on parity in general, and the AFC’s specific lack of top-shelf teams, that the Chiefs struggled like this and never fell too far down the standings. The Chiefs deserve credit for winning without their best, but man, this has to be aggravating for the rest of the conference.
“I’m not necessarily looking back,” Mathieu said. “Being to the last two Super Bowls, they don’t crown champions in October and November.”
He’s right, of course, and there’s still far more to accomplish than the Chiefs have done so far. They still need to protect the ball better on offense, and show more consistency with pass protection, explosive plays and beating Cover-2. The defense’s pass rush goes in and out, the run defense is so-so and the back end gives up too many big plays.
But, man, this was as close to the vision as this group has been. Sports analysis sometimes gets shorthanded to how confident a team appears — at some point, swagger became the accepted descriptor — which is really silly.
How many of us appear confident when things are going against us? And who on this earth doesn’t project certainty on the best days?
All that said, it was hard not to notice a different look from this group. Kelce’s dancing started early. Mahomes looked fresh on the field and had the type of easy bounce after the game that reporters hadn’t seen in recent weeks.
“You could just feel the energy from the guys,” Mahomes said. “I mean, everybody was ready to go this game. We obviously haven’t offensively played the way we wanted to.
“But we’ve been finding ways to get wins, and so I think guys have been just steady with the process of getting better and better. And I thought pre-game you could feel that energy and I think guys wanted to be on Sunday night football playing in a stadium like this against a team like that.”
This game was proof that the 2021 version of the Chiefs is capable of playing as well as anyone in the league. That’s a weird thing to say, because for years we’ve been accustomed to at least a handful of these moments.
The next step is consistency, which is good timing because the next opponent is likely the best the Chiefs have seen — the 7-2 Cowboys, who have both stars and depth, with the ability to win in virtually any style.
NFL seasons can be delicate. You never know when the next monster will appear from around which corner, and this specific group has shown many more reasons to pump the brakes than to go all-in.
But they also just took the season’s most significant step toward becoming their best, which, it’s obvious now, will be different than the best we’ve grown used to.
This story was originally published November 15, 2021 at 12:33 AM.