The Kansas City Chiefs lost another football game to a hungrier team. The Green Bay Packers were on point from the opening kick-off and never let up. They had the best offense on the field, the best quarterback, and the best head coach.
I’m going to sound like a broken record, but the Kansas City Chiefs’ offense is broken, and at this stage of the season, there are no fixes to repair it. The 2023 season has five games remaining, and the harsh reality is the Chiefs are now the fourth seed in the AFC, and their lead in the AFC West remains two games with the tiebreaker in hand.
Making things worse, Patrick Mahomes is playing the worst football of his career because this offense has no identity. What’s worse is the Chiefs, despite injuries and an off night, still have a great defense, but Head Coach Andy Reid is wasting Mahomes’ talents.
Listen, Big Red is still a Hall of Fame Coach, and if anyone can solve the Chiefs offensive woes, it’ll be Reid. However, the fact General Manager Brett Veach put more faith in his scouting department than in signing a veteran wide receiver who can show the young guns how to play the position might be the biggest reason Kansas City is 8-4 on the season.
The woes run deep for this Chiefs offense, and their inability to adjust to the game’s ebb and flow creates manic drives when there’s no reason to have them.
Mahomes has been magic for five years as a starter; however, this year, he’s not playing at a level that creates confidence this team can repeat as Super Bowl Champs. I’m not even sure this Chiefs team won’t be one-and-done in the playoffs.
As I stated in my rant last night, the head coach and quarterback are not on the same page. Yes, the tackles are bad, and the receivers outside of Rashee Rice and Kadarius Toney might not suit up for other NFL teams.
To be fair, I must give credit to the Green Bay Packers defense. They took the Denver Broncos blueprint and perfected it against Mahomes. They dropped in coverage, double-teamed Kelce, and single-covered everyone else. They knew when to apply pressure on Mahomes and took away his options to improvise and see the field clearly.
Again, Mahomes threw another late-game interception. Yes, Skyy Moore ran the wrong route, but why put the kid in that position when you already don’t trust his route running? Why not keep running the ball when Isiah Pacheco had the hot hand?
The problem with Mahomes is that he’s not having fun on the football field. He’s also not showing the frustration you need to fuel better play within and with his teammates.
When the Chiefs were down 24-0 against the Houston Texans, Mahomes got in the grill of his teammates and pleaded with them to get behind him to wake up and make one play at a time. Where is that Mahomes today?
Reid has put so much pressure on Mahomes and relied on his extraordinary talents to bail out his mistakes with play calling and usage of his personnel; remarkably, this team has won eight games.
The offense has been flat for much of the season. The offense line leads the NFL in penalties, and it’s clear Offensive Line Coach Andy Heck isn’t doing his job. I hate to create a new scapegoat, but this line has talent.
What can’t be argued is the lack of talent at the wide receiver position. Equally, there’s not a darn thing Reid, Mahomes, or Veach can do about it until the offseason.
Veach could sign veteran Tight End Zack Ertz or add veteran Wide Receiver Sammy Watkins, but he can’t make a trade for DeAndre Hopkins or make the decision to re-sign JuJu Smith-Schuster.
I know Veach will fix the receiving core in March and April, but that’s meaningless now. Fans must face the harsh reality that this offense won’t get better.
Despite having Mahomes and Travis Kelce, they probably win four of their final five games and their AFC eighth consecutive AFC West Title, but they won’t be a team feared in the postseason.
To me, that’s the hardest pill to swallow.
