Five reasons for Chiefs Kingdom to keep the faith for 2021

The crazy losses so far

Think about the insane nature of some of the losses suffered by the Chiefs this season. So far this year, there have been two clear defeats in which the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans were the better team by far. Those two losses stand out from the rest and the Chiefs have a lot of tape to watch in response.

But think about the crazy endings to some of those other games. The Kansas City Chiefs turned the ball over on the first three drives of the game against the Los Angeles Chargers and were still in it until the very end. That sort of opening was so crazy, it was laughable (in a bad way, of course)., but in what world would that ever happen again? Really? Even if the Chiefs were just as bad but only coughed it up twice instead of three times in that quarter, the game is different.

There’s the Clyde Edwards-Helaire fumble from Week 2. There’s also the freak tipped passes that have turned into multiple interceptions for Mahomes. Sometimes the Chiefs just seem downright cursed.

The Chiefs are on pace for 41 turnovers. Forty-one. Just think about how ludicrous that sounds. Over the last several years under Andy Reid, the Chiefs have been ranked in the top 8 in takeaway ratio in 7 of the last 8 seasons. The only outlier was in 2014 when they ranked 21st overall. This year, they are 31st. Do we really think that won’t even out? Are we convinced the Chiefs are going to continue to turn the ball over at such a ridiculously high rate, especially when history says this never happens?

Conclusion

Overall, Chiefs Kingdom has been right to hit the panic button. This team is not meeting expectations, nor are they even close. There are players not giving max effort. There are coaching issues that seem undiagnosed. There are personnel issues that have been exposed. The Chiefs should be taken to task, and they should also be very worried about being 3-4 with a very tough schedule ahead of them.

At the same time, there are 10 more games ahead of them with time left to shake it off and return to the level of play expected from them. Even if a first-round bye is out of the picture, anything is possible once a team is in the postseason. With Hall of Fame players and a head coach bound for Canton, with young talent that will continue to develop, with freak plays that are bound to balance out, and with an AFC that’s flawed across the board, the Chiefs have reasons to believe they are still in it.