The Kansas City Chiefs showed up in all facets of the game in order to put away a tough Minnesota Vikings team at home in Week 9.
Given the injuries top to bottom and the level of competition, the Kansas City Chiefs were going to need to play a well-rounded game in order to come up with a win over the Minnesota Vikings at home on Sunday afternoon. Fortunately they did exactly that as the team came up big on offense, defense and special teams in order to put away the NFC contenders.
Without Patrick Mahomes under center along with other key players missing, the Chiefs had a tall order against the 6-2 Vikings team coming into Arrowhead. Minnesota is a tough team itself with key impact players on both sides of the ball and Super Bowl dreams of their own. There’s a reason the Vikes were favored even as the visitors.
The Chiefs were more than ready for them, however, on this day, especially with a defense ready to come up big at times. Charvarius Ward continued to show his growth as a boundary corner. Chris Jones returned and showed just how disruptive he can be. The run defense in general came up huge on Dalvin Cook, who averaged a scant 3.4 yards/carry. Overall, the defense came up with big plays right when they needed them, especially down the stretch.
As for the offense, they also put up enough big plays of their own. Tyreek Hill was an absolute revelation on more than one catch that turned the tide of the game. He ended with 140 receiving yards on six catches. Sammy Watkins and Travis Kelce both came up with key catches in clutch moments to keep the chains moving. It also doesn’t hurt when Damien Williams goes 91 yards for a touchdown run early.
Even special teams performed well on an afternoon when all cylinders needed to fire. Harrison Butker had 14 points on the day and didn’t miss any of his four field goal attempts, including a key 54-yard attempt with only 2:30 remaining to tie the game and the obvious 44-yard game-winner as time expired.
What’s amazing here is that there’s room for improvement. The Chiefs went 0-for-2 in the red zone, but they still did enough with Matt Moore at the helm. Fumbles were also an issue and the left side of the line is still frustrating with Eric Fisher on the injured list. These Chiefs have the ability to dominate even a good team and still have some film to point to in terms of areas to improve.
With the win, the Chiefs move to 6-3 and now move on to face the Tennessee Titans in a game in which Patrick Mahomes might be ready to assume his role as this team’s MVP.
As for the Vikings, they travel to Dallas to face the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football.