Kansas City Chiefs: 5 Things to Work on during the Bye Week

Oct 5, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs defensive lineman Allen Bailey (97) tackles San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) at Levi

3. Put the Hammer down

The 2014 Chiefs defense has faced some hard times. It has lost key players like Derrick Johnson and Mike DeVito for the year. Eric Berry has been suffering from a high ankle sprain. Marcus Cooper, while showing flashes, still gets picked on in his second year.

However, even with the injuries on defense, this Chiefs squad still has the ability to shut opposing offenses down and put pressure on any quarterback on any Sunday. This team ranks in the top 15 in scoring defense, passing yards per game and total yards per game. They also have 15 sacks, which is currently fourth in the NFL, with Justin “give me a contract” Houston’s six leading all defense players. So this defense is very much able to go toe-to-toe with any offense. The problem is that, when time comes to losses, it is the failure of the defense to put the hammer down. For example, on Sunday, after the insane first-down call, the Chiefs defense was not able to stop the Niners from marching down the field and getting the score. For the Chiefs to continue their winning ways, they need to bring the pain to offenses and, as Mitch and Lenny say, “Put the hammer down!”