The Kansas City Chiefs are struggling this season and nobody saw it coming. Heading into 2021, the Chiefs were the defending AFC Champions and most fans and analysts seemed to agree that Andy Reid’s team would likely be better than it was a season ago. After all, GM Brett Veach had totally remade the Chiefs’ offensive line and some were predicting that Kansas City would have its best offense ever since acquiring Patrick Mahomes.
Well, things went sideways fast. There is still a ton of potential on the Chiefs offense but they are not playing particularly well. One credible theory is that the reason the K.C. offense is struggling is that they are pressing, believing that they must score on every drive because the Chiefs defense has suddenly fallen off a cliff.
Stephen Spagnuolo’s unit has been historically bad to start the season. It isn’t just one or two players that are underachieving but the entire defense. From tackling, to pass rush and pass coverage, hell, even communication, the Kansas City D looks completely lost.
As you can imagine, fans in the Chiefs Kingdom feel a bit blindsided by this development. Being a fan is an emotional investment and that can mean having understandable, if not irrational feelings.
If you’re on Twitter, which frankly I don’t recommend, you can see that Chiefs fans want heads to roll. Nobody is safe.
At this point fire Veach, we want greatness ffs.
— max n' cheez (@maxthomm) October 11, 2021
Fire Spagnulo now Veach, @chiefs
— Colvo2005 🥋 (@ChristianColv11) October 11, 2021
chiefs suck man why dont they just tank the rest of the year trade mahomes, trade hill, fire andy reid, fire the GM and start from scratch period! they are going to be next jaguars losing 30 straight games which would break an NFL record
— Joey V. (@lionsarewinners) October 11, 2021
Fire Andy Reid and promote Bieniemy to HC and we go 20-0
— post alone (@RealIronoxide) October 11, 2021
CUT DAN SORENSEN FIRST THING IN THE MORNING
— alex (@alex_hon25) October 11, 2021
Trade Chris Jones, cut Frank Clark. Send a message to the rest of the team their job is not guaranteed and they have to WORK to keep them.
— Crane (@OceansideCrane) October 11, 2021
Ben Niemann. Dan Sorensen. CUT!!!!
— GoochPaNooch (@emendez_03) October 11, 2021
CEH need to get cut or traded!
— Nate (@Hotsauce199) October 11, 2021
Cut Hardman
— 𝘒𝘺𝘭𝘦☭(22-22) (@PatMahomesSZN) October 11, 2021
Sheesh. That is pretty much everyone. I am surprised nobody threw Hone Badger and Kelce in there.
Oh, wait, there it is.
Teams are catching up. KC really needs to overhaul defense. Let Frank and Tyrann go. Trade 32 year old kelce and work on future.
— Andy (@ddpyworks) October 11, 2021
Look, there is no question that the Chiefs will probably move on from some players, particularly on defense, after this season. However, to suggest firing the coach and GM that just led the Chiefs to the most successful few years in the history of the franchise is a little extreme. This team went 14-2 last season and made the Super Bowl. Even if a couple of players, like Sorensen, have declined, Kansas City shouldn’t be this bad.
If the Chiefs are going to fix some of their issues this season, they are going to have to do it with the personnel they have. The good news is that we know this team can play better than it is. Let’s hope they can find a way to turn back the clock.