Reviewing Andy Reid’s tenure with the Kansas City Chiefs: 2015

The beginning

As already mentioned, the season didn’t quite start out the way many likely hoped. The Chiefs did win their first game of the season against the Houston Texans. In a game that was not as close as the score may have indicated.

In their second game of the season they faced eventual Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos in a hardly fought divisional battle. It’s a game many Chiefs fans felt that we deserved to win. But a poorly timed fumble by Jamaal Charles in the remaining moments of regulation sealed their fate.

From there things didn’t look better. Their five losses were by 39 points or just over a touchdown and extra point a game. They lost Jamaal Charles for the season in their 5th game of the season against the Chicago Bears. But they finally got their 2nd win of the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 7. From October 25th, 2015 to January 15th, 2016 the Chiefs would not lose another game.

The finish

The Chiefs had begun the season allowing 3 straight teams to score 30+ points, but after Week 4, they did not allow an opponent to score more than 22 points. Their defense finished 3rd in the league allowing an average of just 17.9 points per game.

During their 10-game run, they had a 6-game stretch where the offense scored 29 points or more. Their streak ended outscoring opponents 278 to 128 (or a +150 point differential). The result was complete domination of their opponents

Perhaps the sweetest win during the streak came after their bye in Week 10, a rematch against their division rival Broncos who had beaten them in heartbreaking fashion earlier that season. Peyton Manning broke the all time career passing record, but the Chiefs broke him by the end. Manning finished that game passing 5 of 20 for 35 yards, 0 TDs, 4 INTs, and a 0.0 passer rating. The Broncos may have had the last laugh at the end of the season, but the win still felt like sweet justice.