As a big Chiefs fan, this season was an up and down emotional roller coaster that was at times difficult to bear. Going from their hot 5-0 start, to losing 6 of 7 including losses to the Jets and Giants in that period, back to finishing the season with 4 straight wins to capture back-to-back AFC West titles. This Kansas City team has shown several things this year, they are a great group of talented players who are extremely streaky. So is their four-game win streak to end the season enough to get them sparked into making a run? Well let’s take a look back at the season and see.
First things first the competition in this division was not nearly what it projected to be. The Chargers who started off the year 0-4 got pretty hot and were able to finish second in the division at 9-7, just missing the playoffs. But once again, Rivers and company lost both matchups against the Chiefs. The Raiders were an absolute disaster, as some projected them to even win the division, they ended up finishing 6-10. Coming off his borderline MVP season last year, Derek Carr did not match that performance. Carr finished with a passer rating of just 86.4, 13 interceptions, and just short of 3500 pass yards. Now these stats are not bad by any means they are actually solid, but after signing one of the biggest contracts in NFL history this past offseason, I think Oakland expected a little more from their QB. But it was mainly their defense and ball protection that cost them many games. While only having a total of 5 interceptions and 9 fumble recoveries as a team, they gave up 14 interceptions and 13 fumbles lost. That’s 14 turnovers for their defense and 27 turnovers given up by the offense as a team on the year. Not good by any means. And in last place were the 5-11 Broncos whose season was an absolute disaster from the beginning. The Super Bowl champs of just two years ago started the season 3-1 then lost 8 straight games. A hole that’s too big to dig out of, they went 2-2 to end the year. Their QB issue really haunted the season as Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiler, and Paxton Lynch all got time under center. None of them being very impressive makes Denver’s offseason decision a tough one if they need to draft or sign a franchise QB. Now these issues are definitely what helped Kansas City to keep a hold on the division even through their losing streak. But let’s take a look at what worked and didn’t for Kansas City.
The Quarterbacks
Before the season the Chiefs were once again projected to be a top team among the division, competing with Oakland for the title. The team was very happy with their recent draft picks; including QB Patrick Mahomes, the son of a former MLB pitcher out of Texas Tech, who they traded up for and hope to become their heir to Alex Smith. This seemed to light a spark under Alex as he put up his best season of his career. As the league’s top MVP candidate through the first few weeks, Alex ended the year with 4042 pass yards, 26 pass TDs, 5 interceptions, a passer rating of 104.7, 355 rushing yards, and a rushing TD. Amazing stats for any season as most were Alex’s career highs. Patrick Mahomes took center for the meaningless Week 17 win against Denver and showed off his laser arm. Throwing for 284 yards and rebounding after an early interception. Of course, everyone knows Mahomes is the man of the future but with Alex’s amazing season, it’s going to depend on the playoff outcome to see if KC roles with their youngster next year or keeps Alex for the final year of his contract.
The Running Backs
Several notable running back moves occurred during the 2017 offseason as the Chiefs released their injury prone star Jamaal Charles in the early offseason. He would end up signing with Denver creating some controversy. Ultimately, Jamaal was not a factor this year and creates question if he has much of a future in the NFL. The Chiefs went in a different route with a core of veteran’s Spencer Ware and Charcandrick West and a little known rookie 3rd round pick out of Toledo named Kareem Hunt. Ware seemed to be the favorite to start until a preseason injury would sideline him for the season. The job was given to Kareem Hunt who almost nobody knew about and was given a big responsibility as a rookie 86th overall pick. Opening night came and the Chiefs were kicking off the new season against the defending champ New England Patriots. Kareem’s first carry resulted in a fumble lost which is something he had never done in High School or College. Hunt rebounded with 148 rushing yards on 17 carries, 98 receiving yards on 5 receptions, and 3 total TDs (2 receiving, 1 rushing). And the rest was history, Kareem finished his rookie campaign without another fumble on the entire year, an NFL best 1327 rushing yards, 8 rushing TDs, and a Pro Bowl selection, edging out Le’Veon Bell, LeSean McCoy, and Todd Gurley for the most yards on the season. I think it’s safe to say Kansas City has found their future back in Kareem.
The Receivers
Sparked by Alex Smith’s tremendous passing season, the Chiefs receivers saw a lot of success throughout the year. Young phenom WR Tyreek Hill hauled in 1183 receiving yards and 7 TDs. Establishing himself as the fastest player in football, Hill seemed to break free from any CB at least once a game for a 60+ yard TD. TE Travis Kelce had yet another magnificent season becoming arguably the best receiver at his position in the league. With 1038 receiving yards and 8 TDs he was a reliable piece to the offense. TE Demetrius Harris and WR Albert Wilson had additionally solid seasons as second options. With WR Chris Conley missing almost all the season and being placed on the IR, Wilson stepped in as a valuable second receiver.
The O-Line
The offensive line was much improved from a few seasons of inconsistency. Being a valuable part to allowing Kareem Hunt and Alex Smith to have such dominant seasons. Consisting of Zach Fulton splitting time at Guard and Center, Mitch Morse missing all but 7 games due to injury but starting at Center when he played, Guard Bryan Witzmann and Tackles Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher playing all 16 games, and Guards Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Cameron Erving seeing time the majority of the season. The O-line stayed consistent throughout the season even with injury issues. With Morse still on the IR, the O-line should consist of Tackles Fisher and Schwartz, Guards Witzmann and Duvernay-Tardif, and Zach Fulton under center into the playoffs.
The Defense
The defense was easily the biggest story throughout the season with many ups and downs. The season didn’t start off well when star safety Eric Berry went down Week 1 with a torn achilles and wouldn’t return. Daniel Sorenson would step in at FS and did a solid job supporting SS Ron Parker in the secondary. Sorenson led the team in tackles with 89 along with an INT and 1.5 sacks. The biggest inconsistency were the CB’s for Kansas City. With Marcus Peters being the star defender, he put up another great season with 5 INT’s, but a couple of meltdowns would end up costing him a game due to suspension. The inconsistent play of Terrance Mitchell, Steven Nelson, and Philip Gaines as the other corners was brutal. Mitchell started alongside Peters most of the season and showed up big some games and got absolutely burned others. For example, he locked down Brandin Cooks week 1 against New England but got absolutely burned against Robbie Anderson in the loss to the Jets. A good end of the season in the final four wins gave hope that Mitchell and Nelson can put things together into the playoffs. But mostly the inconsistencies between them make the long-term seem more interesting if the Chiefs need to pursue a CB in the draft or free agency. The D-line along with the LB had up and down years too with some struggles throughout. OLB Tamba Hali and OLB Dee Ford missed time throughout the season so we saw a lot of play from young LB Kevin Pierre-Louis and LB Reggie Ragland. They ranked 24th in the league with 31 team sacks lead by OLB Justin Houston’s 9.5 and DE Chris Jones’ 6.5 (both had tremendous seasons, anchoring the D-line). But the Chiefs defense would end the season ranked 29th in passing yards allowed, 25th in rushing yards allowed, and 15th in points allowed per game. Stats that definitely do not lead to a relatively great defense but were mainly due to the several horrible performances during their losing streak. All and all the defense went through a lot of ups and downs but looked much more consistent and strung together at the end of the season. The loss of Eric Berry I believe had a huge impact not only from his play but his presence of being on the field and making everyone around him better.
Special Teams
A no brainer that the special teams was dominant all year stood in the form of rookie kicker Harrison Butker. Going into the season, Cairo Santos had the kicking job under control until an injury forced him to be released, forcing the Chiefs to take a rookie kicker off of Carolina’s practice squad to start. Right from the word go Harrison Butker was as consistent as can be, earning the nickname Buttkicker. Butker would end the season 38/42 FG and 28/28 XP. Among only missing 4 field goals all year, Butker set the NFL record for most made Field Goals by a rookie along with setting 7 other Chiefs franchise kicking records. Another rookie that seems to have found his home in Kansas City for the near future. Veteran punter Dustin Colquitt also had another great season in his 13th season, all as Kansas City’s punter. Tyreek Hill continued his kickoff success as the main punt returner for the team. After his insane year last year, Hill was limited to only punting duties to keep him safe from injury now that he is the number one WR as well. On 25 punt returns, Hill recorded 204 return yards and a punt return TD. 3rd year HB Akeem Hunt was the main kick returner with 25 returns for 611 return yards. WR De’Anthony Thomas also saw some time at Kick Return as he had 13 returns for 305 yards.
The Road Ahead
As the Chiefs look toward the postseason, many obstacles stand in the way of achieving their ultimate goals. A wild card matchup against the Tennessee Titans awaits them this Saturday at 4:00. The Chiefs will host the Wild Card game but have lost their last 5 home playoff games dating back to 1993. With Demarco Murray out, Kansas City is definitely the favorite but will need to have production from all of their top level players. If Kareem, Alex, Tyreek, and Kelce can all get on the same page on offense they will be tough to beat as I think the Chiefs defense will be too much for Tennessee’s inconsistent and turnover prone offense. But winning this game will only mean they will need to beat either New England or Pittsburgh, possibly both, to win the AFC. Especially Pittsburgh, these are two teams who have had the Chiefs number recently and are what makes them the third best team in the AFC as of the last couple years. But Kansas City did beat New England away on opening night this past year in basically a near perfect game by both Kareem Hunt and Alex Smith. I also strongly believe the playoff outcome this season will be the deciding factor if Smith will be back next year in the final year of his contract or if it’s time to hand the job over to Mahomes full time. All and all, as the Chiefs are playing their best football as of late, I think a very realistic run can occur. We’ll just have to wait and see but the key is to take it week by week as Tennessee is the first obstacle to face.
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