Four takeaways from Titans loss

Here are four miserable takeaways from one of the most pathetic losses in Kansas City Chiefs history—and that’s saying something.

Saturday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans was one of the most pathetic things I have ever seen as a Kansas City Chiefs fan—and that is saying something. There are a lot of things to take away from this game but I’ve narrowed it down to the top four.

Andy Reid

Andy Reid is one of the greatest regular season coaches in the history of pro football. In the playoffs though, he is not only bad, but he is historically bad. Only four teams in the history of the NFL have lost games when leading by 18 points or more and two of those are Reid’s Chiefs.

I said I didn’t like the hire the day we signed Reid because I had watched him in Philadelphia and listened to their fans. Yes he’s a great regular season coach and, yes, I knew we’d be in playoffs more often than not with him. But I also knew that he makes going to a Super Bowl nearly impossible. I said it then and I’ll say it again, he is Marty Schottenheimer 2.0.

For everyone giving Matt Nagy credit for play calling the last five weeks, you are fooling yourself. Reid never stopped calling plays. At most he stopped relaying the plays to the quarterback, but he was still calling them. Even if you don’t believe me on the previous four weeks, it was 100% evident he was calling them today. The league’s leading rusher only had 11 carries in a game the Chiefs were winning from the start. Up 14-0 and 21-3, it’s embarrassingly stupid that Kareem Hunt only got 14 total touches.

The team came out in the second half uptight and never got loose and relaxed the rest of the game. It’s up to the head coach to keep his players ready to play and to keep things loose. The players take the attitude from the head coach and Reid lets them down again and again.

Derrick Johnson makes the hit of the season, causing the quarterback to clearly fumble and Reid just goes about his business when it’s not called correctly? Ned Yost would have been screaming for five minutes after he got ejected after a call that bad. Listen to Reid after the game and he sounded exactly the same as when he was dressed up as Santa Claus after clinching the division. What kind of energy can you expect from your players when your head coach wouldn’t show electricity if he got hit by lightning?

I will say it now and I am 100% serious: Reid needs to be fired. The entire coaching staff should be cleaned out and the Chiefs should start fresh in 2018. The team is already going to be retooling so what better time to get a new coach in there than now. I don’t want him to ruin Patrick Mahomes with his garbage play calling and conservative attitude. The only way we win with Reid is if Mahomes is a top three quarterback in the league and ignores him and wins on his own.

Alex Smith

The only good thing that comes out of this loss is that Alex Smith is finally gone from Kansas City. Smith is the Reid of quarterbacks where he’s good enough to keep butts in the seats but not good enough to actually win anything.

Smith had a very good season, but that means absolutely nothing. He choked in the most important game of the season. Yes his stats for the game where good: 24/33 for 264 yards and two touchdowns. He had a quarterback rating of 116.2 which if you just look at the stat sheet says he played amazing. That’s why stats don’t ever tell the true story of a game, especially for the Chiefs.

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Smith played a great first half. He was a hair off on a couple throws, but he was throwing dimes. The play at the end of the half was fantastic. But none of that means anything when you go old Smith in the second half. Throwing east and west instead of north and south like he did during the first half. The worst though came in the final drive with the game on the line when he did what he’s done all season, he choked. For the fifth time this year, he got the ball with the game on the line and he couldn’t finish.

On third and nine, he gets happy feet and runs from a clean pocket directly into a sack. Then on fourth and nine with the game on the line, he throws into triple coverage and over threw him. It was a bad read and a bad throw. This whole game was not on Smith, but the team put the game on his shoulders and he crumbled under the weight.

The good news is he’s played his last game in K.C. The Chiefs will attempt to trade him and hopefully they can. I don’t know what the demand is for a slightly above average quarterback if you have a lot around him who chokes under pressure. If it’s me, it’s not high, but there are some quarterback hungry teams out there.

Bob Sutton

If Bob Sutton isn’t fired already then something is wrong. This defense has been bad all season and it all starts with him. I know there have been some injuries and there are some old players who were past their prime, but a good coach overcomes. A good coach calls a game based on the players he has, not the players he wants.

Sutton turned Justin Houston from one of the most feared pass rushers in the league to a run stuffing safety. Despite Derrick Johnson being well past his prime, he continued to get twice as many snaps as Reggie Ragland who was the biggest addition to the team this year. Ragland should have been playing almost every down; instead he was playing 40% of snaps while Johnson was playing 65 to 70% of them.

The fact that the Chiefs let a running back averaging just over two yards a carry the last four weeks in Derrick Henry rush for over 150 yards when everyone said that was the Titans only weapon is a serious problem. They also let a mobile quarterback who is only successful when he can throw on the run outside the pocket all game.

The Chiefs will need a scapegoat after one of the worst losses in franchise history and while I think the whole coaching staff should be fired, Sutton is a lock. There is no way the franchise can sell the fans on the team being serious about winning and have him on the sidelines.

Excuses

I know everyone has excuses for this loss from the refs to injuries. I can tell you right now that none of those excuses make this loss anything other than what it is: a pathetic meltdown.

Yes the refs were bad today. They were almost criminal. The insane sack Johnson had wasn’t ruled a fumble and that’s horrible officiating. Never in my life have I heard of a quarterback ruled down by forward progress when he’s standing still in the pocket, gets nailed and drops the ball. I believe the ref didn’t see the ball and blew the whistle, thinking it was just a sack, and then didn’t want to admit he blew whistle early. Of course, if the official had just called him down, it would have been reviewable, but the ignorant way it was called meant the play was not reviewable.

Now the same call on the two point conversion was legit. Daniel Sorenson clearly had Marcus Mariota in his grasp and he wasn’t getting away. That kind of call is made every week whether it’s a running back being pushed back or a quarterback in the grasp of a defender. The ref actually took longer than I expected to call the play dead, so that call was correct no matter how much we wish it wasn’t.

The were other missed calls like when Travis Kelce fumbled when he got knocked out. That one went for us but it was still a blown call. The holding penalty on Demetrius Harris when Smith had a big scramble was a bad call. It may have been a little hold, but if you are calling it that tight then how are you not calling the headlock hold on Tamba Hali by Jack Conklin earlier in the game? And let’s not forget the Titans play where they marked the ball three yards behind where it should have been, forcing them to use a challenge to fix it.

Next: Alex Smith doesn't deserve blame for this meltdown

Besides the refs, I hear a lot about our injuries. Yes it was a big loss when Kelce went out and Chris Jones went down. But we were playing the Titans, not the Steelers or Patriots. Kelce going down shouldn’t have caused us to not run the ball in the second half and to not go deep to Hill. Losing Jones shouldn’t have meant you don’t force the Titans to punt the entire second half. If your coaches are that bad that they can’t adjust with one or two players out, then what good are you?

This loss is not the ref’s fault. It’s not bad luck because of the injuries we had. It wasn’t about players not showing up. This game 100% falls on the coaching staff who choked under the pressure and spent the entire second half playing not to lose. It’s the same old story, and the only way to get a different ending is to make sure the participants aren’t the same this time next year.

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Andy Reid, Bob Sutton and other frustrations from Chiefs vs. Titans

By Britt Zank | Jan 7, 2018