Vikings vs. Chiefs: Kirk Cousins is red hot and other things to know

The Kansas City Chiefs schedule continues Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. What are the major story lines heading into the game?

If you told me before this season started that the Kansas City Chiefs, eight games through the season, would have lost three of those games I would have been surprised. If you told me that all three of those losses would come at Arrowhead Stadium, one of the loudest and toughest venues for opponents in the league, I would have called you a liar. Sometimes, things just don’t go the way you think they should, and that’s what we’re witnessing with the Chiefs this season.

There is still reason for great optimism, though. Yes, they have three losses and grabbing the one or two-seed in the playoffs is starting to look like a pretty big stretch. Yes, they have injuries at practically every level on offense and defense. Yes, the pride and joy of Kansas City has missed almost two games with a scary injury and may miss more.

All this said, this team has responded the last two weeks with some pretty fundamentally sound football. Don’t forget, the Green Bay Packers are 7-1 and arguably one of the best teams in the entire league. They boast arguably the hottest quarterback in the league, given Mahomes isn’t suiting up right now. Yet, the Chiefs with a long list of injuries to some of the biggest names on their team made Sunday night a really tough game for a Super Bowl contender.

Andy Reid dialed up some of the most creative play calling I’ve seen from him in quite some time. Sometimes I think having Patrick Mahomes is a double edged sword for Reid. On the one hand, he has the best and most talented quarterback he’s ever coached at his disposal that can do incredible things on the field. On the other hand, this has the potential to cause complacency with Reid in terms of his play calling and I think we’ve seen that rear its ugly head a bit this year. That wasn’t the case Sunday night, and hopefully this rejuvenated play calling can continue even when Mahomes returns.

On the other side of the ball, it’s starting to look like Spagnuolo was the right man for the job. After looking like he was behind the eight ball on so many plays the first six games, it looks like he has finally settled into a rhythm with his own play calling.

Nothing shows this better than the final play of the first half. Most coaches would simply drop eight players back and guard against the hail Mary, but Spagnuolo called a delayed blitz that clearly caught both the offensive line and Rodgers off guard. Was Spagnuolo perfect? No, but he seems to improve on a weekly basis. If the defense can keep this up this team can easily win four games in January.

Finally, if the Chiefs had Mahomes in this game this is a totally different conversation. The way this game played out I truly believe Mahomes would have accounted for between 10 and 17 points. Either way we win the game. So take heart Chiefs Kingdom, this was a close loss to a great team and the Chiefs will be just fine.

Don’t look now, but the Chiefs have another great opponent on Sunday. What are the major story lines fans should be looking for in this contest?