Chiefs vs. Broncos: Weighing the good and bad from Week 13

The Good

Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce

While the red zone efficiency disappointed us all, the offense still had its moments. Patrick Mahomes made several great throws and many of those were to all-world tight end Travis Kelce who had 8 receptions for 136 yards and 1 touchdown.

While Mahomes obviously deserves a ton of praise for his play each and every week, let’s take a second and appreciate just how good Kelce has been this season. Kelce already has 82 catches for 1,114 yards (most in the NFL) and 8 touchdowns. That’s an All-Pro season right there, and there’s still four games to go.

On Sunday night, Kelce became the first tight end in NFL history to have five consecutive seasons of 1,000 yards receiving and he is currently on pace to break the all-time single-season receiving yards record for a tight end. Kelce is an absolute monster and was definitely a huge reason why the Chiefs were able to pull this ugly game out. The connection that he and Mahomes have found is one of the most reliable I have ever seen.

Tyrann Mathieu

While K.C.’s big name pass rushers may not have earned their monstrous salaries on Sunday night, it’s hard to argue with the performance of the Chiefs’ other big name defender, Tyrann Mathieu. The Honey Badger ended the night tied for the team lead in tackles, had the team’s only tackle for a loss in the entire game, and walked away with two interceptions—including the one to ice the game on Denver’s final drive.

I gave the Chiefs defense some grief in the bad section for getting after people on Twitter more than they got after the opposing quarterback, but Mathieu backed up his talk this past week with a strong outing against the Broncos. While other names on the defense have seemed a little flat in recent weeks, Mathieu constantly brings an intensity that is very much in need on this defense. He was a huge reason for their turnaround on the defensive side of the ball last season on their road to the Super Bowl. If that’s going to happen again they’ll need his leadership and continued strong play.

Finding a way to win

Look, there may not have been many highlights in this ugly win, but the cliché is true: a win is always a good thing. At the end of the day the Chiefs won the game, improved to 11-1 on the season, clinched a playoff birth, and are pretty much a lock to win another AFC West title.

Was it ugly? Yes. Are there some issues the Chiefs need to clean up? Yes, but fortunately for the Chiefs they are talented enough to keep winning despite their flaws. There simply aren’t a lot of NFL teams that are talented enough to consistently win when they don’t have their best. The NFL is such a tough league that the margin for error is really thin. It’s a great sign for just how high this team’s ceiling is that they can keep pulling out games even when they have some issues.

So there you have it Chiefs fans, the good and bad from Sunday’s win over the Broncos. Do you agree with my lists? Is there anything major that you feel I overlooked on either the good or bad side? Do you feel like it’s silly to talk about the bad at all after a win or do you agree that some of these issues need addressing before it comes back to bite them? I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below.