Kansas City Chiefs: Five steps to a Super Bowl

The Chiefs need to get and stay healthy.

I almost didn’t include this step since a lot of it is not really in the team’s control, but if we’re being honest it could have a huge impact on their ability to make a Super Bowl run.

First and foremost, the Chiefs to keep their key players healthy. I’m just superstitious enough to not mention anyone by name but there are a few key players on the Chiefs that if they were to go down with an injury could derail their season. So while K.C. needs to keep their foot on the gas and secure home-field advantage they also need to be smart about protecting their key players and keeping them as healthy and fresh as they possibly can at this point in the season.

The second half of this step is getting some guys back that have been hurt. The big name out there is Eric Berry. I certainly can’t sit here and tell you exactly what will happen with Berry, but I do believe the Chiefs have been saving him for the stretch run. I believe they see him as a guy with a limited amount of games that his body can tolerate so they’ll give him just enough snaps during the end of the season to try and get him in game shape for the playoffs and then cross their fingers and hope he holds up. If he does, his presence on the field could be a definite boost to the defense. After week 11 Ron Parker led all NFL safeties in defensive snaps and yet Pro Football Focus had him rated as the 67th safety overall. If we can replace some of Parker’s snaps with a healthy Eric Berry that is a massive upgrade.

The Chiefs also need to make sure Sammy Watkins is 100% and ready to contribute. Chris Conley played pretty well in his absence, but Watkins is a much bigger weapon, especially after the catch. If K.C. needs to sit him for a few more weeks to make sure his foot is right for the stretch run that would be fine with me.

Finally, the Chiefs could potentially get a couple of interior offensive line starters back. In my opinion, the bigger boost would be if Laurent Duvernay-Tardif was able to return from his broken leg earlier this season. The Chiefs simply don’t have any “people movers” on the interior of their offensive line and LDT was the one guy strong enough to create holes inside at times. While it would also be nice to get center Mitch Morse back, I’m not sure his return would be as impactful as LDT’s.

If I’m being honest, I don’t think Morse was playing at that high of a level before his concussion issues. He wasn’t a liability inside, but he wasn’t a dominant player by any means either. Honestly, I think I have that same assessment for Austin Reiter so far as well. Reiter hasn’t been bad but he hasn’t been super impressive either. Out of curiosity, I looked up both centers’ PFF grades (not that they’re perfect) just to get an idea of what they think and Reiter has actually graded out higher thus far with a 72.0 grade compared to Morse’s 64.1. Again, I’m not saying I think Reiter is the better center, I’m just not confident that Morse’s return will mean a big boost to the offensive line. If anything it may help in continuity as Morse is likely more comfortable making reads and communicating them to the rest of the line.

The bottom line here is that if the Chiefs can avoid any other serious injuries down the stretch and have Eric Berry, Sammy Watkins, and LDT back and ready to contribute for the playoffs this would be a roster that can compete with anyone in the NFL.

So there you have it Chiefs fans, my five steps for making the Chiefs a real threat to win the Super Bowl this season. What do you think? Do you disagree with any of these steps? Do you think I left anything out? Do you think they can win a Super Bowl as they are right now without any major adjustments? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. As always, thanks for reading and GO CHIEFS!