Turnovers
On Sunday, the Chiefs lost the turnover battle and still won the game. The reason they could do that is because their opponent was the Philadelphia Eagles and not, say, a contender of any kind.
When the NFL Draft rolls around again next spring, the Eagles will be there picking in the top 10 picks. There’s just no way around it. The fact that Devonta Smith and Jalen Hurts looked so good isn’t a testament to their ceiling and NFL future so much as it is a statement about the porous Chiefs defense.
Thus the Chiefs had the margin they normally will not in a given week and they will not be so lucky in the future. Consider that they coughed up four turnovers against the Chargers (and lost). Coming into Sunday’s game, 21.4 percent of all drives by the Chiefs were ending in a turnover. It was nice to see them limit that to a single errant throw from Patrick Mahomes on Sunday but they still have to get a grip on this (a literal grip for those struggling with fumbles).
One caveat here: Yes, Patrick Mahomes will even own the fact that he has to stop throwing those kind of passes that turned into the interception for Eagles linebacker Eric Wilson, but the truth is that the Chiefs defense at the time was allowing more than a first down of offense per snap. It was pitiful. When the offense knows that they have to do all the work, they end up trying to pull off feats that will help them achieve it. Thus the defense’s improved execution and communication would go a long way toward limiting their own turnovers.