Chiefs vs. Texans: Tyrann Mathieu’s greatness and other lessons learned in Week 6

From a lack of adjustments to a surprising secondary, let’s go over the lessons we’ve learned about the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 6.

There’s a theme developing for the Kansas City Chiefs, a negative one that reaches back beyond their current losing streak to their close win over the Detroit Lions in Week 4. It’s a theme that teams are picking up on the best ways to minimize the Chiefs’ strengths and take advantage of their weaknesses.

Unfortunately the Chiefs seem unable to do anything about it.

Fresh off a loss to the Houston Texans, the Chiefs are now preparing to face the Denver Broncos on a short week where the story has the potential to be the same given Denver’s recent turnaround in the standings. Hopefully the Chiefs will learn some lessons and make some key changes or realizations before giving up any more ground in the AFC.

Here’s our lessons learned about the Chiefs from Week 6.

The startling lack of adjustments

Going into Week 6, the Chiefs had given up 779 yards rushing to opponents, an average of 156 yards per game. In Week 5, the Indianapolis Colts were able to attack Kansas City’s porous run defense and put up 180 yards rushing, moving their offense up and down the field at will and running out the clock in the process. This was key to the Colts’ victory as Kansas City was unable to establish a rhythm offensively with limited drives and long rest between them. The defense also struggled as fatigue set in.

In Week 4, Detroit tried this same exact game plan, as they only failed due to some unfortunate turnovers and an amazing heads up play by Bashaud Breeland. Obviously, the book is out on how to beat the Chiefs, as three teams in a row have utilized the same gameplan. Despite the run game consistently hurting the Chiefs, adjustments have not been made to help overcome this shortcoming. That came through clear in Week 6.

The Houston Texans were able to run for 192 yards, capitalizing on missed gap assignments, missed tackles, and overall bad coaching and play calling. These are the same mistakes that the Chiefs have made for three weeks now, mistakes that should be fixed on the practice field during the week.

If coaches fail to make adjustments from week to week and develop a better game plan, Kansas City maybe unable to stop their current losing streak.