Andy Reid keeps evolving and other Chiefs lessons learned in Week 12

A few lessons we learned about the Chiefs in Week 12.

The rich get richer. This week, the Kansas City Chiefs marched into Raymond James Stadium and defeated the formidable Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With the win, the Chiefs improved to 10-1 and remain within striking distance of the Pittsburgh Steelers for the number one seed in the AFC. Let’s take a look at some of the lessons learned from the Chiefs’ 27-24 victory over Tom Brady and the Bucs.

The Chiefs offense feels unfair

I’m from Chicago and have lived there my whole life. So naturally, I have a certain amount of love for the Bears. In a group chat with some of my friends yesterday—all despondent Bears fans—my friends kept remarking how “unfair” the Chiefs were. They weren’t angry, but forlorn. I understand the strange hybrid of sadness and frustration they are feeling. After all, when Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid are dialed in, the game hardly resembles the majority of other games around the league.

To illustrate the Chiefs’ “unfairness,” here’s something to think about. The Chiefs’ O line has struggled for the majority of the season. Per PFF, the highest graded Chiefs lineman is Eric Fisher. Fisher grades as the 19th best tackle in the NFL overall. The rest of the offensive line, in the absence of Mitchell Schwartz has been solidly below average. Pass protection has been rocky as of late, and the Chiefs have more or less moved away from their rushing attack in recent weeks.

The beauty of the Mahomes-Hill-Kelce trio rests in their ability to make issues with pass protection and run blocking almost negligible. And that’s not how football works, at least for the majority of the NFL. For instance, look at the Rams without Andrew Whitworth, the Ravens without Ronnie Stanley, and the Cowboys without Zack Martin and Tyron Smith. Each of these teams have suffered substantially as a result of these players missing time. In other words, it is not typical that an offense produces well despite poor line play. The point is not that “nothing matters because we have Mahomes,” though. Instead, the point is that when you have a phenom at the most important position, and a couple Canton-bound pass-catchers, you are better situated than most to overcome periods of struggle.

The Chiefs are unfair in the sense that the structural weakness of their offense-weaknesses that often thwart other teams’ offenses-fail to become a death knell for these Chiefs. They go through sloppy periods, for sure, and can stall a bit when they should be putting games away. This week, they let the Bucs back in late and shot themselves in the foot with late, costly penalties. But the final completion from Mahomes to Hill to put the game away said it all. For all the holding calls, the roughing calls, the bad punts—miscues that opened the game up late—Mahomes to Hill was all we needed to silence the cannons and move to 10-1.