What the Chiefs can learn from Broncos quarterback debacle of Week 12

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Broncos were without a quarterback in Week 12. What’s the takeaway for the Chiefs?

If you’re reading this, then you’re probably aware all of what happened to the Denver Broncos last weekend before their tilt against the New Orleans Saints. Forced to play without all four of their quarterbacks due to COVID-19 protocol, the Broncos elevated practice squad wideout (and former college quarterback) Kendall Hinton to play quarterback against the Saints. The game went as you could expect, with the Broncos losing 31-3, but more importantly, we have zero promises that this can’t happen again.

It would be foolish to expect this to be the last time a team is obligated to field an offbeat roster in the 2020 season. While some games like the Steelers vs. Ravens match are being postponed and then postponed again, others like the Broncos vs. Saints game get crammed through like a mortgage in the year 2007. Furthermore, league protocols are very unclear.

The Broncos appear to have learned a lesson. On Wednesday the team stated publicly that Blake Bortles will be kept away from the facility in order to avoid this circumstance again.

The question here is: Did the league’s other 31 teams learn the same lesson?

Here is the bottom line for NFL organizations: With each circumstance evaluated individually and hardly ever any kind of precedent, teams must take every measure necessary to ensure that the Broncos’ fate in Week 12 does not become their own in Week 15. Or Week 17. Or in the Super Bowl.

Let’s put the Chiefs into this scenario. Imagine, on a Saturday, being told that Patrick Mahomes, Chad Henne, and Matt Moore were all ineligible to play the following day. Like the Broncos, you must suddenly throw the playbook out the window and figure out how to just move the chains. Some might suggest maybe Travis Kelce could be “Plan D,” but is it wise to remove one of the league’s best security blankets? There’s no “right answer,” and it’s not a fun exercise to even think about, but this the the reality that could befall any franchise, on any given Sunday.

Jon Gruden once asked former Colts offensive coordinator Tom Moore about why the team didn’t get more practice reps for Peyton Manning‘s backup. Moore had a salty R-rated response that you can quickly find in a Google search, but the premise was that there was no need to practice what would happen if Manning wasn’t in the game, because the team wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway.

That’s not the case with this 2020 Chiefs roster.

As unique, talented, and explosive as Mahomes is, the Chiefs have the offensive arsenal to step on the field and compete without him—if there is a plan in place. An emergency situation in which you must start Henne or Matt Moore is winnable. One in which you must start Gehrig Dieter at quarterback probably is not (no disrespect to Dieter).

Head coach Andy Reid talked about this at length during his press conference on Wednesday. He explained several precautions that the Chiefs take in meetings (John Dixon at Arrowhead Pride sums it all up here), and even shared that the team practices an offense to run in case they don’t have a quarterback.

It’s not shocking that last weekend’s Denver debacle happened with a team that is already out of the playoff race. For an elite team like the Chiefs, it makes sense to take the utmost security with the quarterback position. It would not be outrageous to keep a practice squad QB like Moore isolated from the facility. It remains to be seen if any other teams make notable changes with their meeting procedures.

The closer we get to January, the higher the stakes become. Whether it’s isolating Moore, or keeping a roster casualty like Jordan Ta’amu close at hand in case of emergency, the Chiefs have the responsibility to their players and fans to have an iron-clad plan in place in order ensure that the Broncos’ fate does not become their own.