Kansas City Chiefs defense is a liability, but also a strength

With an up-and-down defense, we look closely at the Kansas City Chiefs defense and how they’ve hurt and helped the team this season.

If you’re reading this article, it is likely that, as a Kansas City Chiefs fan, you have seen every snap this season. You have noticed a lot of flaws from the defense. But you’ve also noticed a lot of bright spots on the defense as well. The problem is, the bad has overshadowed the good this year.

Kansas City’s defense is 30th in total defense, last against the pass and 28th in points allowed. This is no secret to anyone, even if they haven’t followed the Chiefs closely. But the points and yards surrendered has prevented the defense from getting the credit that it deserves.

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Defensive end Chris Jones leads the team with 11.5 sacks, tying 9th. Outside linebacker Dee Ford is 12th with 10.5. Along with Denver, Kansas City is the only team to have two players in the top 15 in sacks.

Ford is tied with Khalil Mack of the Bears for most forced fumbled with six while outside linebacker Justin Houston is tied fourth with four.

As a team, the Chiefs have 41 sacks and 18 forced fumbles. The Chiefs are tied second in both categories while collecting 11 interceptions and recovering 10 fumbles. Kansas City is currently tied eighth with two other teams in forced turnovers with 21.

Away from statistics, Pro Football Focus thinks highly of some of the Chiefs’ defenders. Among interior defenders, such as defensive tackles and 3-4 defensive ends, Jones is ranked the fourth best pass rusher. If you look at edge defenders, which accounts for 3-4 outside linebackers and 4-3 defensive ends, Ford and Houston respectively rank first and ninth in their abilities to pressure quarterbacks.

As for cornerbacks, Pro Football Focus ranks Steven Nelson 18th, Kendall Fuller is 20th and Orlando Scandrick is 40th.

Both Jones and Ford have won AFC Player of the Month honors this year.

It is obvious to state that the defense has plenty of room to improve and defensive coordinator Bob Sutton owns a lot of the responsibility of that. At the same time, Kansas City’s defense has made big plays in key moments, including games where the Chiefs allowed 97 combined points in the losses to the Patriots and Rams.

In the Week 6 loss to the Patriots, rookie outside linebacker Breeland Speaks and inside linebacker Reggie Ragland sacked Tom Brady, causing him to fumble, which was scooped up by defensive end Allen Bailey while the Chiefs were down 27-19 late in the third quarter. That resulted in a short touchdown drive for the Chiefs to cut the deficit to one.

In Week 11 against the Rams, the Chiefs defense gave up 40 of the 54 points due to a pair of defensive scores off turnovers from Mahomes. Still, 40 points is a lot. Even so, Kansas City’s defense made multiple plays to help give the team a chance to win in the end.

In the second quarter of that game, Bailey recovered a fumble caused by Ford. The Chiefs offense scored a touchdown on the next play.

In the same game, after Mahomes threw a pick six and the offense went three-and-out on the next drive. Down by 10 early in the fourth quarter, the defense forced a punt to allow the Chiefs to quickly get the ball back and score a touchdown on a three-play drive. Bailey shined again in the game when he scooped up a fumble for a touchdown.

The defense also made some big plays and key stops in comeback wins against Denver in Week 4 and Baltimore this past Sunday.

At the same time, the defense hasn’t been reliable in making a stop. Against the Rams, the Chiefs allowed them to score on a six-play drive with no timeouts, which ended up being the game-winning touchdown.

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Sutton and Chiefs head coach Andy Reid must figure out the reason for the imbalance and how they can prevent this in the postseason and how they can improve on this in the offseason. In doing so, the Chiefs defense will have the ability to be just as good as the offense.

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