Kansas City Chiefs Fall To Arizona Cardinals, 17-14

A horrifying instant replay review cost the Kansas City Chiefs a chance to pull off a road win in Arizona against the Cardinals, resulting in a 17-14 defeat.

With 5:23 remaining, Travis Kelce caught a pass and ran it down to the Cardinals’ 16 yard line in a drive that seemed like was going to at least tie the game for the Chiefs. Instead, a replay by the Cardinals found that Kelce had fumbled even though it was clear he was down by contact when the play had ended. KC would be able to mount a worthwhile attempt after that drive.

Here’s the reality, however. The Chiefs offense never really had a chance after that fumble. Arizona packed the box with eight and sometimes nine players, daring the Chiefs to throw the ball deep. That was never going to happen given the way the offensive line was playing.

On the final drive of the game, Smith was forced in to three-step drops with quick passes to the outside in an attempt to earn yards. But even on those three-step drops Smith was getting hit as he was throwing the ball. This offensive line is just horrifyingly bad.

KC ended up with more total yards (390-366), more passing yards (264-225), and more first downs (19-18) than the Cardinals but still lost the game. Kansas City should have won this, but a combination of a terrible offensive line and awful officiating led to defeat.

As for the playoffs, the Chiefs are still in the hunt, even after the loss. If there was one game they could afford to lose it was today in a non-conference game. But the Chiefs are not in a position where they need to win out and hope for some outside help to ensure they don’t end up on the short end of the stick on some of the tie-breakers.

Oh, and Jamaal Charles only had 10 carries and four targets today. Carry on.