Losing Eric Berry has become the difference for these Chiefs

What has happened to the Kansas City Chiefs? After starting 5-0 they’ve tumbled into the by week on a 1-3 skid. What’s going on in K.C.?

Quite cliché, no?

But it’s a question a lot of people have on their minds. Who are these Kansas City Chiefs? After looking like the bar none best team in the league through 5 weeks the Chiefs go into their bye week 6-3 with a lot of questions.

Through the first 5 games the Chiefs averaged 414 yards on offense and 336 yards allowed on defense. They also outscored their opponents 164 to 111 for a +53 point differential. In the 4 weeks since they’ve averaged 319 yards on offense and 421 yards allowed on defense, and been outscored 89 to 97 for a -8 point differential.

It’s pretty clear we’re looking at almost two different teams here. The offense and defense have both gotten worse by nearly or over 100 yards per game. Considering the average drive in the NFL is 30 yards (rounded up from 29.97), that’s equivalent to giving up over 3 additional drives to the opponent. It’s no surprise then that KC currently ranks 30th in yards per drive given up with 36.41 ypd. The Chiefs defense wasn’t much better during last season, but they led the league in turnovers per drive and were 4th in least points allowed in the redzone per drive. This season the Chiefs rank 15th and 21st in those categories respectively.

So why is this? The offense appears to be businesses as usual for the Chiefs, but something has clearly has happened to the defense. What happened to the Chiefs defense? Well I don’t think there’s one concrete answer. Looking at the lineup compared to the end of last season to now the team looks mostly the same. Except for one particularly glaring subtraction.

Eric Berry is gone.

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Now normally a team shouldn’t have to be worried about losing one player and having their team fall apart, but Berry is no ordinary player. As proved last season and in week 1 of this season Berry is the Chiefs best and most important player in the secondary. Berry is special because he can do things no one else can do. He can play the deep safety, box safety, nickel linebacker, and nickel corner. He covers the tight end, is an enforcer in the run game, and makes plays when needed most.

With Berry gone the Chiefs have tried to replicate his play using 3 different guys. They’ve had Ron Parker as the deep safety and nickel corner, Daniel Sorensen as the box safety, nickel linebacker, and cover tight ends. Eric Murray has been used a lot in coverage against tight ends and receivers in the slot. Berry could do all of those things that they could do, and at a high level. You don’t lose a guy like that and have it not affect your team dramatically.

So is that it? The Chiefs aren’t the same without Eric Berry? Well we already expected that, but why the sudden skid? Well my hypothetical question asking friend, we can point to the Chiefs run game and by extension the offensive line.

Through the first 5 weeks of the season the Chiefs ranked 1st in run blocking by football outsiders. Since then the Chiefs have plummeted to 19th overall along with dropping from averaging 156.2 rushing ypg to 67.25 ypg. After topping 100+ rushing yards in each of the first 5 weeks of the season they’ve yet to do it once since.

The passing game has held steady averaging 258 ypg through the first 5 weeks and 251.5 ypg since. The offensive line has actually very slightly improved its pass protection since week 5. They’re allowing an average of 10.5 total pressures and .75 sacks per game compared to 10.4 total pressures and 1.4 sacks per game in the first 5 weeks.

With all that in mind, the mission is pretty clear for Andy Reid, Matt Nagy, and Bob Sutton over the bye week. Work on the run game and define clear goals and positions for their secondary.

Flexibility is nice, but without Berry in the lineup, the team’s deficiencies in particular areas are being exploited. They need to find out what they do best and have them hone in, change up the scheme, or drill the fundamentals of the scheme and get them to execute better.

This is a team more than capable of beating the best and reaching their ultimate goal. The question is whether or not they can answer the question themselves. Who are the Kansas City Chiefs? It’s time for them to decide.

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