Are the Kansas City Chiefs flawed or just bored?

The Kansas City Chiefs improved to 12-1 on the season on Sunday, but once again there were some issues along the way. So is this team flawed or just bored?

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs were clearly the better team, but because of some mistakes and sloppy play, they had to hold on to a close win.

At this point it now feels like the defining characteristic of the 2020 Chiefs season. The Chiefs are talented enough to win the game, but sloppy enough to keep it close. Yes, this week we are talking about their 33-27 win over the Miami Dolphins where they fell behind 10-0, then scored 30 unanswered points to blow the game open, yet then allowed Miami get back within a single score. The end result was still a game where the more talented Chiefs made things harder than they needed to be.

It was a similar story in their 23-20 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.

It was a similar story in their 26-10 win over the New England Patriots (a couple late scores made it look easier).

It was a similar story in their 33-31 win over the Carolina Panthers.

It was a similar story in their 35-31 win over the Las Vegas Raiders.

It was a similar story in their 27-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

It was a similar story in their 22-16 win over the Denver Broncos last week.

For those keeping track at home, that’s seven of their 12 wins where most fans walked away from the game with some kind of a “it sure feels like it shouldn’t have been so close” type of feeling. Before I pursue this question of if the Chiefs are just a sloppy or flawed team or just simply bored and biding their time until the playoffs, let me acknowledge two key points.

1. The Kansas City Chiefs are without question the most talented team in the NFL.

2. Feeling like your 12-1 reigning Super Bowl Champion team isn’t winning their games by enough points may be the most first world problems take in all the NFL.

Make no mistake, I wouldn’t trade places with any other team in the NFL. The Chiefs have a fantastic record and, as I stated in point #1, they are without question the most talented team in the league. I really don’t even think fans of any other team can make a credible argument against that fact. It all starts with quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but it’s the depth of talent that makes this team impossible to match up with. Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill are arguably the two greatest weapons at their respective positions in all the NFL, and the Chiefs have talent up and down the roster.

So why worry? Why complain about a win, let alone 12 of them? After all, a win is a win and winning consistently in the NFL is hard to do. Most teams would kill to be 12-1 with a bunch of close wins.

The answer, for me, is that my lone focus for the 2020 Kansas City Chiefs is winning the Super Bowl. No other outcome for a team this talented will be considered a success. None. A fifth straight division title is nice. Making the playoffs is all fine and good. But if the Chiefs aren’t hoisting another Lombardi Trophy when all is said and done, then this season wasn’t a success. The bar for this team is set as high as possible. That’s how talented the Chiefs are.

That is why asking questions of these close games is important to me. If this team is going to be plagued by mistakes and sloppy play in the playoffs, it makes accomplishing their goal harder. Period. I know they pulled out double digit comebacks in every postseason game last year, but that’s a dangerous game of chicken to play with your Super Bowl chances.

There is also a credible case to make that playing your very best for 16 games in the NFL is simply an unreasonable expectation. The NFL is too hard. There are so many moving pieces and variables, and even the bad teams are talented enough to beat you on any given day. It just isn’t realistic to think that a team will give their very best effort and execute cleanly week in and week out. There are going to be frequent bumps in the road and how a team handles those bumps, and if they can win in spite of them, is the real test of a good team.

By that thinking, we should just be happy and feel confident in the 12-1 Kansas City Chiefs because they have, time and again, found a way to overcome their mistakes and win. The problem with that line of thinking is that there is no analysis of what needs to be done to make sure those mistakes or “bumps” don’t strike at the worst possible time when the postseason arrives—when a single loss sends you home.

Yes, finding a way to win is valuable, but does that mean that we shouldn’t be concerned about the offensive line struggles? Yes, being the most talented team in the NFL is great, but does that mean we shouldn’t examine the lack of execution in the red zone? Yes, they overcame similar issues in the playoffs and won the Super Bowl last year, but does that mean we can’t be worried about the lack of a pass rush (although there were some improvements there against the Dolphins)?

Where is the appropriate line between being too critical of a 12-1 team and refusing to acknowledge the areas where the team could stand to improve to make winning a Super Bowl more likely?

In the Chiefs one loss this season, the Las Vegas Raiders came in with more effort and better execution and never blinked. The Chiefs had enough issues of their own that game that they could never mount a comeback because the Raiders never came back down to earth. If that happens in the playoffs, the season is over.

If the Kansas City Chiefs go head-to-head with any playoff team in the NFL and both bring their “A game”, I believe the Cheifs will win. However, I just don’t know how confident I feel that the Chiefs will bring their “A game” at this point. It’s great that their B or C game will still beat 90% of the teams in the NFL, but if they bring a subpar performance to the postseason, and their opponent has an “A game” like the Raiders had, it’s over.

My hope is that after tasting the ultimate high of winning the Super Bowl last season, this team is just a little bored with the grind of the regular season. It’s hard to get up for games against teams with losing records or even teams like the Dolphins that have a good record but aren’t yet seen as real Super Bowl threats. That’s especially true when your spot in the playoffs and at the top of your division feel almost predestined. The hope is that once the playoffs roll around, these Chiefs will start to really find their drive and focus. That desire and hunger for another Super Bowl will start to feel tangible and people stop just going through the motions for stretches of a game (or games).

However, will that be enough to fix the offensive line or the red zone efficiency? I don’t know. Are the Chiefs deliberately letting off the gas at times to conserve energy or not give away all their tricks before the playoffs? I don’t know. I do know that earlier this season, when facing both the Baltimore Ravens and the Buffalo Bills, the Chiefs clearly seemed motivated to send a message to those teams (and the rest of the NFL) that while they may be playoff caliber teams, they weren’t yet in the Chiefs league. We just haven’t seen that same mindset in their last five wins that have come by an average of just 4.2 points. The Chiefs don’t seem to be trying to prove anything to anyone right now. Instead, the Chiefs seem to have a “just make sure you edge out a win and move on to the next one” mindset.

Thirteen games into the 2020 season, I feel like we know that the Chiefs are the most talented team in football. I feel like we know that they are probably the clear favorite to win it all because of that talent. What I don’t think we know is if we can trust this team to give their best best effort and play a clean and efficient game when the playoffs get here.

Not only do I not know the answer, but I don’t think there is any way we will know until the playoffs arrive. Maybe the big stage will bring out the best in this team or maybe it will be like last postseason and they will find themselves digging holes that they have to claw their way out of. It worked for them last season, but it still makes me nervous and it all seems unnecessary.

So what do you think Chiefs fans? Are you riding high on K.C.’s 12-1 record without a care in the world? Are the Chiefs stressing you out this season with how they are continuously keeping the other team in games when it feels like they should be putting them away? Do you think things will be different when the playoffs arrive?

While each game is different, I feel like this has become the clear important question when talking about the incredibly talented 2020 Kansas City Chiefs. Is this talented team ultimately flawed in a way that could threaten a repeat or just bored and biding their time for when the games really count? I’d love to read your thoughts in the comments below.