The Kansas City Chiefs lost AGAIN on Sunday, this time it was to the New York Jets. The Chiefs stink and its time all fans accept it.
As the closing seconds of the Kansas City Chiefs loss to the New York Jets ticked away on Sunday, the CBS announcer declared “and the funk continues for K.C.”. It certainly did continue on Sunday as the New York Jets out paced the Chiefs to a final score of 38-31.
Unlike the past three losses, this one was not on the offense. Alex Smith and the offense put up lots of yards—31 of them—and plenty of explosive plays. This time it was the defense that simply couldn’t slow down the Josh McCow- led Jets offense. Prior to this loss I allowed myself to believe that all the Chiefs needed was a spark to energize the team and get them back to the winning ways from the beginning of the season. The offense gave them that spark and they still came up short.
Why?
Because they stink.
The Kansas City Chiefs are a bad football team.
We need to stop thinking about them in terms of how they get back to being the team that started 5-0. They have played twelve games this season. The first five were good and the last seven have been terrible. A team that played five good games and then seven awful ones aren’t in a funk as the CBS announcer decreed. They are a bad team. Period. You can’t define a team by their first five games and then imply that the next seven games are some kind of a slump or “funk”. There is now more evidence that the Chiefs are awful than good. We all need to think of this team in those terms.
It gets worse.
The Kansas City Chiefs are NOT making the playoffs.
I get that anything can happen in the NFL but the Chiefs went from the favorite to earn home field advantage in the AFC to unlikely to make the playoffs at all in seven games. They are tied for the division lead now with the Los Angeles Chargers and Oakland Raiders. The problem is that these teams aren’t trending in the same direction as the Chiefs. The Raiders have won three of their last four and the Chargers are an impressive 6-2 in their past eight games. I’m not a Vegas odds maker, but this division now appears to be the Chargers to lose.
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The Chiefs clearly look like they can lose to ANY team as they have gone 0-4 against the Cowboys, Giants, Bills, and Jets. Those four teams are a combined 15-29 against the rest of the NFL. The Chiefs remaining four games are against teams with a combined record of 20-28. So while the Chiefs remaining schedule may not be overly difficult, it is actually more challenging than the last four games that they lost.
If you want to see a harder schedule, look at the Raiders remaining schedule. They have to go at the Chiefs, Chargers, and Eagles and then are only at home against the Cowboys. While its certainly possible the Raiders could get hot, they have hovered around .500 all season and it seems unlikely they would finish much above that this season. The Chargers on the other hand are the team to bet on. They have the Redskins, Chiefs, Jets, and Raiders. I would guess that the Chargers will be favored in all four of their remaining games.
So if the Chiefs aren’t winning the division, could they win a Wild Card spot?
Don’t count on it.
First off, as we already established, the Chiefs stink. If they aren’t going to win games they aren’t making the playoffs. Period.
Second, the Chiefs are less likely to earn a Wild Card spot than win the division. The Baltimore Ravens are another hot team and their 7-5 record puts them ahead of the Chiefs in the Wild Card race. While they do have to play at the Steelers, their other games left are at the Cleveland Browns and at home against the Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals. Those last three teams all have losing records and with how the Ravens have been playing, a record of 10-6 looks very possible.
The other Wild Card spot will likely go to the team that doesn’t win the battle for the AFC South between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans who are both currently 8-4. That puts them two games ahead of the Chiefs with only four games to play. Anybody see the Chiefs making up a two game deficit? Yeah, me neither.
The Chiefs are a bad football team, and they aren’t making the playoffs.
These are all things that can point to the failure of this coaching staff to get this team where they need to be.
The Chiefs are inconsistent on offense and defense. They are undisciplined. They have shown suspect heart and effort at times. They often appear to lack an identity. These are all things that can point to the failure of this coaching staff to get this team where they need to be. I don’t see Clark Hunt firing Andy Reid, so how does this team right the ship? Do they need to play more young players down the stretch to see what they have in them?
All of this obviously brings us back to the Patrick Mahomes question, but obviously we can’t put all of this on Alex Smith. During the current 1-6 stretch Smith has had two very good games that the Chiefs still lost because of the defense (Oakland and the Jets games). The other four losses you can definitely place a large share of the blame on Alex Smith.
Do they continue to play the veteran who still has great overall numbers for the season? Do they hope to up his trade value so he can help bring some more draft picks to fix what is beginning to appear like a very flawed roster this offseason? Do they need to play Patrick Mahomes as soon as possible to get him as much experience as possible before next season arrives? At this point I don’t know the answer. I really thought the team just needed an offensive spark, but they got that spark this week and just found a different way to lose.
It’s not just the quarterback.
It’s not just the coaching staff.
It’s not just the offensive line.
It’s not just the bad cornerback play opposite Marcus Peters.
It’s not just Marcus Peters being undisciplined and hot headed.
It’s not just the steep decline in play by Derrick Johnson.
It’s not just the absolute black hole where a pass rush once was.
It’s not just the loss of Eric Berry.
It’s not just the special teams units going from elite to mediocre.
It’s all of it. It’s all a problem and a team with that many major problems stinks.
The Kansas City Chiefs stink.
Next: What did we learn about the Chiefs on Sunday
We need to accept that and start to shift our thinking to what the Chiefs need to do going into next year to try and not stink anymore because this season is a wash. The Chiefs aren’t good. The Chiefs aren’t making the playoffs.
The Chiefs stink and that sucks.
The Chiefs stink.
Period.