Kansas City Chiefs bought themselves time to improve with Denver Broncos win

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The Chiefs victory over the Broncos on Sunday moved their record to 7-1 in the first half of the season and gives them a chance to improve going forward.

The Kansas City Chiefs completed their first half of the season on Sunday with a 30-23 win over the Denver Broncos in Arrowhead Stadium. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, the Chiefs didn’t play a pretty game (especially on defense), but in the end, their offense put up enough points to get things done.

The win brought the Chiefs to 7-1 on the season, which is good for the best record in the AFC. That is especially significant because the first half of the team’s schedule was viewed as significantly harder than the second half. So now the Chiefs have a chance to try and clean things up going forward without having to worry about making up ground on other teams.

Chiefs fans have a lot to be excited about heading into the second half of the season. They have the most exciting young quarterback in the NFL in the record-breaking Patrick Mahomes. They have the best record in the AFC and they’ve done it without playing their best football yet. While you can nitpick things on offense, it’s hard to complain about much when the unit is averaging over thirty points per game on the season. The defense is another story. In a word, it’s been……bad. There have been moments where things looked promising, but there have also been countless times where the defense looked just plain awful.

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The Chiefs are also nursing a ton of injuries. Their two biggest names on defense, Eric Berry and Justin Houston, haven’t seen the field (especially at the same time) in what feels like years. Anthony Hitchens left the game Sunday with a rib injury. The interior offensive line has been decimated by injuries and while they hopefully aren’t anything serious, both Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce got a little banged up on Sunday as well.

I point this out because while the first half of the season seemed like one big game after another the Chiefs now enter a stretch of the season where they may be able to try and get some things cleaned up and let some guys get healthy. No game in the NFL is a sure thing. If the Chiefs want to stay out in front of the AFC they can’t afford to overlook an opponent with a losing record and drop a game they have no business dropping.

That having been said, the Chiefs next two opponents are the (2-5-1) Cleveland Browns and the (2-6) Arizona Cardinals. The Browns are averaging 21.1 points per game and the Cardinals 13.1. The Chiefs, on the other hand, are averaging 36.2 points per game. That means that the Chiefs are averaging more points per game than their next two opponents combined.

Simply put, the Chiefs offense is in another league than their next couple of opponents and if they continue to perform as they have, it should allow the defense to focus on cleaning up what was an incredibly sloppy first half of the season.

While there was a lot of talk recently about the Chiefs needing to add a cornerback like Patrick Peterson before the trade deadline, the fact is that it’s been the run defense that has been the biggest problem with the defense. It’s easy to understand why people would be focused on the pass defense. In fact, if you just look at the yards allowed it even seems justified. The Chiefs are 29th in the NFL in passing yards allowed per game and 25th in the NFL in rushing yards allowed per game. However, the yards don’t really tell the whole story. The Chiefs prolific offense causes opposing teams to have to pass more to keep pace with K.C. If you dig a little deeper you can see that it’s the run defense that really needs improvement.

The Chiefs rank dead last in the NFL in rushing yards-per-carry allowed and it isn’t even close. They’re 30th in the league in rushing touchdowns allowed and are tied for last in the NFL in first downs allowed on the ground. The run defense has been absolutely terrible.

Meanwhile, despite the yards allowed, the pass defense hasn’t been near as bad. They rank 13th in the NFL in completion percentage allowed and 15th in passing touchdowns allowed. They’re ranked 8th best in the NFL in opposing teams QB rating and are tied for second in the NFL in QB sacks. And those numbers are AFTER having faced some of the best quarterbacks on their schedule like Tom Brady, Phillip Rivers, and Ben Roethlisberger (all on the road).

That’s a pass defense that the Chiefs can win with as long as their offense keeps firing on all cylinders. The run defense, on the other hand, has to be addressed.

So during the next couple of weeks while the Chiefs should have a little easier matchups Bob Sutton and the Chiefs coaching staff has to get the run defense fixed. Early in the game Sunday the Broncos showed the formula for beating the Chiefs in the playoffs. Play good defense and keep Patrick Mahomes and the offense off the field with long sustained drives that rely on the run game.

While some of the improvements are simply players missing tackles, many times it has been that players aren’t in the right place or aren’t taking care of their assignment. The defensive line isn’t filling gaps and occupying blockers. That means that the inside linebackers often have to try to go through linemen or a fullback to get to the ball carrier and more times than not that isn’t happening. Other times the linebackers simply aren’t staying put and are getting sucked out of position by play fakes or because they’re simply too aggressive and over pursue. That puts added pressure on an injury-depleted safety group that now has to worry about cleaning up the run game AND making sure they have the corners back so they don’t get beat deep (which Ron Parker failed to do Sunday).

If the Chiefs can shore up run defense in the front seven within the coming weeks it will do wonders for this defense. We’ve already addressed that the actual coverage hasn’t been all that bad most of the time and if the run defense is improved and the opposing offenses are facing more third and long situations it should only get better.

The other thing the great first half and easier schedule does is give the Chiefs a little time to get healthy. Players like Mitch Morse, Cam Erving, Eric Berry, Justin Houston, and even Anthony Hitchens are guys you really need healthy for a playoff run. There really is no need to rush them back for games against the Browns and Cardinals. If they’re ready to go for those games, great, but if not rest them up for K.C.’s looming showdown with the Los Angeles Rams in Mexico.

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The Chiefs took care of business Sunday against the Broncos and in doing so capped off an excellent first half of their season. They have put themselves in the pole position for a first-round bye in the AFC and now should focus on doing what is necessary to prepare for a deep playoff run. The two biggest things on that list should be fixing the run defense and getting guys healthy. Here’s to hoping that’s exactly what happens in the coming weeks.

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