Kansas City Chiefs grades: offensive disaster
By Andrew Jones
The Kansas City Chiefs lost in Arrowhead Stadium for the first time in over a calendar year against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
For the third straight week the Chiefs had trouble moving the ball and stopping the opposing offense on third down. A casual observer might say that in the NFL anything can happen and winning is all that’s important. While true, the trend the Chiefs are currently exhibiting is disturbing. For three games now the Chiefs have not played a team with a winning record but could realistically be on a three game losing streak.
Now they have three straight games against contenders and two of them are on the road. Right now the Chiefs are just as likely to be 9-7 as 13-3 or 12-4 when the season comes to an end. If the offense can’t start producing touchdowns in the red zone and more than four third down conversions per game then they could miss the playoffs entirely.
Offense: D-
Alex Smith is the issue. Andy Reid is the issue. The identity of the offense is the issue. This is not new information but the regression of this offense is going to sink this ship. Both Andy Reid and Alex Smith tried to take all of the blame upon themselves for the loss and yes they should have. I don’t care that the defense gave up a lot of third downs when the offense has scored two redzone touchdowns out of their last eight. Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star let loose on Smith and explained why he is holding back a very promising season.
The truth is that the Chiefs have made their bed with Alex Smith and now they have to lie in it. I ave been a big supporter of Smith mostly because he is an awesome person and teammate, not because he is a great quarterback. For now there just isn’t another option. The only thing the Chiefs could have done (and it’s a big one) was draft any of the three or four quarterbacks that were available at the time.
But they thought they were ready to win now and needed an established guy under center. This next year’s draft class looks as sad as 2013’s with virtually no quarterbacks scouted as remotely NFL ready. Buckle up, Chiefs fans, Smith is here for at least one more year.