The Kansas City Chiefs losing strategy
The Kansas City Chiefs lost one of the most frustrating, maddening, irritating, and disappointing games that I can ever remember.
It was former Chief Ryan Succop hit a game-winning field goal as time expired to give the Tennessee Titans a 19-17 victory at Arrowhead. There are a number of reasons this game was so upsetting. There’s the fact that the Chiefs wasted an early lead. There’s the fact that they won the turnover battle but didn’t take advantage of it.
There’s the fact that they stopped the Titans on a two point conversion with only minutes remaining but still gave them the ball back with time to win the game. There was Alex Smith’s mind boggling interception in the end zone. There was Andy Reid’s time out on Succop’s first kick (which he missed) that cost KC the win. Take your pick on which of these was at the top on your list of things that made you pull your hair out.
While I was enraged, befuddled, flabbergasted, and exasperated by all of the things I mentioned above, I don’t believe any of them are the most worrisome or the biggest reason that the Chiefs lost the game.
I know what some of you are thinking. It is either…
“How can Alex Smith’s interception not be the biggest thing that lost them the game? Even if they just kick a field goal there they still win!”
Or……
“How can Andy Reid’s time out not be the biggest thing that lost them the game? If he doesn’t do it they win. Period!”
You can isolate both of those individual actions as the two biggest moments that cost the Chiefs the game. I won’t argue that. However, I will argue that neither of those two mistakes should have mattered. Players and coaches make mistakes. The best ones make fewer than the rest, but they ALL make mistakes.
I hated those mistakes, but the Chiefs should have been in a position to overcome both of them. The problem with this loss and the thing that worries me more going forward is not those two mistakes but the losing strategy in this game that put the Chiefs in a position where a couple of mistakes like that could cost them the game.
That losing strategy is simply this…
The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t utilize their best offensive players.