Defensive resurgence reasserts Kansas City Chiefs as intriguing contender once more
Through seven games, you may remember, the Chiefs’ defense loomed as a fatal flaw, a scourge hovering over the perpetual promise of the Patrick Mahomes-led offense. With the unconvincing exception of its fine play in a 31-13 victory over a pedestrian Washington team, it basically had been a sieve on top of a trap door just about every game … with no discernible evidence it was getting any better.
The Chiefs were dreadful against the run, incapable of generating a pass rush, susceptible to the deep pass, unable to create turnovers and tackling aimlessly, both literally and figuratively.
Even given a history of dramatic in-season improvements of his defenses, small wonder some were calling for defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s job, given how his unit was enabling opponents.
Compounded by a rare offensive funk, including a bizarre spree of giveaways uncharacteristic for an Andy Reid-coached team, the Chiefs seemed on the brink of a freefall from back-to-back Super Bowl berths after that 27-3 clobbering at Tennessee left them reeling at 3-4.
Mahomes said after that game that it had been “kind of rainbows and flowers and awesome” these last few years and that times of struggle were to be expected.
But in the moment, you couldn’t help but wonder if the flowers were withering at the end of the rainbow for this season, anyway … and that no matter how much you could expect the offense to reassert itself that the defense rendered improbable any prospect of a deep postseason run.
Flash-forward a month, and the defense appears like an entirely different entity. A half (shutting out Tennessee in the final 30 minutes) grew into a hope (17 points against the Giants). That turned into cautious optimism (7 points against Green Bay … without Aaron Rodgers) and morphed into a reason to believe (14 points against Las Vegas).
But on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium against Dallas, the NFL scoring leader averaging more than 30 points a game, was something on another tier: firm proof it can contain the best in the league.
The Chiefs (7-4) muzzled the Cowboys 19-9, allowing only three field goals, holding Dallas (7-3) to 276 yards, sacking Dak Prescott five times, picking him off twice and forcing two fumbles.
Suddenly, a defense whose woes seemed endless is brimming with so many assets that Reid must have offered praise for a dozen or more players by name or jersey number.
“I could probably go through all of them,” said Reid, particularly citing the defensive line led by the rampaging Chris Jones (3.5 sacks, a fumble recovery and a tipped pass that became a game-clinching interception by L’Jarius Sneed).
There’s a long way to go, and every season is its own journey.
But it bears mention that this scenario carries a striking resemblance to the last time the Chiefs lost at Tennessee in 2019 … and the defense snapped into place … and they went on to win the next nine games, including the Super Bowl.
In fact, the last time the Chiefs’ defense held opponents to fewer than 20 points in four straight games was during a streak of five such games from Weeks 11 through 16 that season.
That trajectory hasn’t been lost on Mahomes, who clearly has been pressing and forcing less as he’s learned to trust the defense more. After the game on Sunday, a day of muted offensive production, he reminded that he’s been making this point for weeks now: Much of this winning streak has been strongly influenced by the Chiefs’ defense — both in terms of its performance in itself and how the offense is more willing and able to play a complementary game.
Which is great as far as it’s gone. The real question is where this might be going from here, and whether this has serious traction, and what the implications are for the rest of the season.
Perhaps the first thing to consider is the simple but astute point made by Jones.
“It’s never how you start, man; it’s how you finish,” he said. “It’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint, and you’re going to go through adversity along the way.”
The Chiefs indeed had plenty of that, including some that was self-induced. From a spree of injuries to unwillingness to replace struggling personnel to a failure to communicate to lapses in fundamentals themselves, it seemed they’d never get it together.
But many things have radically shifted over the weeks, some subtle, some overt. Here are a few: substituting Juan Thornhill for Daniel Sorensen; getting Jones and a resurgent Frank Clark healthy at the same time; Sneed emerging as a star; Willie Gay and Nick Bolton coming into their own; Charvarius Ward and Anthony Hitchens returning from injury.
And acquiring Melvin Ingram from Pittsburgh.
Ingram’s stats haven’t been gaudy, but the eye test is telling, too. He’s helped reset the boundaries for the Chiefs in more ways than one … including routinely turning back the tide on the edge and having enough of a presence that Jones has almost entirely been moved back inside, where it seems he most belongs.
In typical understated fashion, Reid said getting Ingram has been “a nice thing, a nice addition.” But Reid gained momentum as he went along on this topic, adding, “He brings a certain energy to the group … (and) I think it upped everybody’s game. That’s what I think happened.”
All of a sudden, then, in stark contrast to the first seven games of the season, the Chiefs are harassing quarterbacks, covering well downfield, tackling well and on the same page and thus able to scheme more aggressively.
It all goes together, as Jones nicely vouched:
“Give it to the back end and the guys around me. Frank Clark started it off with a sack. So they started sliding to Frank Clark and giving me one-on-ones. If you watch the back end and how tight they were playing in coverage, they (routinely) took (Prescott’s) first option away. That forces him to hold the ball a second or two longer. I was able to make some plays.”
The Chiefs haven’t proven anything yet, Reid was quick to remind after the game.
Still, they’ve certainly hinted that they may be a complete team after all, one with offensive and defensive units that can carry the other at times … and perhaps one that can put together more great games on both sides, like they did in Las Vegas.
In a season already marked by wild swings all across the league, their rebooted defense is enough to make the Chiefs an intriguing contender again … if not the team that others should fear most.
This story was originally published November 21, 2021 at 9:43 PM.