What we learned from the Chiefs loss to the Raiders

The first loss of the Kansas City Chiefs season taught us a lot about both sides of the ball.

This week, the Kansas City Chiefs hardly resembled the unit that dismantled the Baltimore Ravens earlier this year. The Chiefs were defeated 40-32 at the hands of their rivals, the Las Vegas Raiders. With the disappointment from this surprising loss still fresh, let’s dive into some of the lessons we learned in Week 5.

The Chiefs continue to play uneven football

The Chiefs’ offense put on a baffling performance in this game. In the first half, the Chiefs punched in 24 points in their typically exhilarating fashion. There were end-arounds, scrambles, dime passes, including a bomb to Tyreek Hill that was called back due to holding.

The offense simply did not resemble themselves in the second half. The holding calls piled on, and protection broke down repeatedly, which led to Patrick Mahomes playing a little too much hero-ball.

The Chiefs passing attack was poor in the second half as Mahomes was forced to do a lot of back-pedaling and scrambling thanks to frequent breaks in the protection. He did an admirable job navigating the pressure, but rarely found a hookup with one of his receivers even after escaping. Watching Mahomes struggle to find a receiver made me wonder if the Raiders’ secondary had spontaneously morphed into a stable of Darrelle Revis clones (2009 version).

This tale-of-two-halves has become familiar for these Chiefs. They played an anemic three quarters against the Chargers, then ignited in the 4th to eventually take the contest. They had a rough first quarter in the opening game vs. Houston and struggled for the majority of last week’s game against the Patriots.

Today, most of the Chiefs’ mistakes were self-inflicted. Early-down holding penalties, and an overall lack of efficiency made it tough to charge up the offense. We know the Chiefs are a rhythm offense; in other words, they have a habit of stringing together explosive plays, and by extension, high-scoring quarters. So it’s not exactly a concern that they went quiet in the second half. However, it’s worth investigating what exactly is going on offensively during these dry spells.

While the Chiefs have already built. a foundation of winning on this style, the elongated dry spells that plague the offense are keeping the Chiefs from scoring at the upper limit of their potential.