What went wrong for Chiefs on Sunday night

It’s been a rough couple days after the Chiefs incredibly heartbreaking loss Sunday night at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Usually, the best time to react to a loss like the one on Sunday is not right after the game. We’ve all had the chance to step back, and think about the loss. After taking a look at some things, I wanted to share a handful of my reactions.

Alex Smith is an average quarterback that lacks the skill and ability to make a deep playoff run.

I get it. Alex Smith is 41-20 in regular season games with the Chiefs. That is seriously impressive on his part, I understand that. The guy can pile regular season wins together. But that’s the best you’re going to get from him.

In the playoffs, you need a quarterback that makes big plays in even bigger moments. At this point in his career, Smith doesn’t have that “it” factor. Sure, he’s had some nice comebacks in the regular season, but I just never see his style of play translating into a Super Bowl.

According to Nathan Jahnke of Pro Football Focus, Smith had a 102.7 passer rating while under no pressure. When No. 11 was under presser, though, here’s Smith’s line: 0/7, 1 INT, 1 sack, 0.0 passer rating. You have to trust that your quarterback can make a play under pressure.

Take a look at the video below. At the first site of a Steeler coming at him, he immediately abandons the pocket and rolls right. He still had time to hang in the pocket and see Tyreek Hill streaking down the middle of the field wide open.

It’d be unfair to put the loss in its entirety on Smith, though. Wide receivers dropped balls and his head coach did not help (we’ll get to that later). What is just so frustrating is that Smith looked great on the first drive of the game.

If you watched Smith the rest of the game, there were moments that he just did not look comfortable. He consistently took the play clock down to five seconds or less. He took a delay of game penalty in the second half that cost the Chiefs five yards on a big third down. Andy Reid had to use a timeout later on because he wasn’t sure Smith was going to get the snap off. Reid would have liked to have that timeout in his back pocket at the end of the fourth quarter.

To his credit, Smith did make some nice throws in the loss. His big third-down conversion after Travis Kelce’s inexcusable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty comes to mind. He just lacks that consistency. It’s hard to win in the playoffs when you can’t have faith in your quarterback to come through in the big moment.

Ben Roethlisberger didn’t have the best of games, either. However, he made the biggest throw of the game on the third down completion to Antonio Brown that sealed the game for the Steelers.

Where the Chiefs go from here at the quarterback position is complicated. I’m frankly not sure there is a better quarterback available that would be such an upgrade from Smith. Some are eyeing Tony Romo, but his playoff pedigree is just as unimpressive as Smith’s.