Not everything went according to plan and there are some wrinkles to iron out, but in a season in which the race to the postseason is so close between so many teams, the Kansas City Chiefs have to be very happy to come away with a 22-9 home victory over the visiting Denver Broncos in Week 13.
It was a weird week for casual fans watching the Chiefs, or at least those who are used to seeing headlines about the Chiefs offensive prowess. Instead they saw a dominant defense keep Teddy Bridgewater at arm’s length and Dave Toub’s special teams units come up big in every single facet of the game. There are questions to ask, but there are far more answers already in place and that keeps the Chiefs ahead of most of the AFC at this stage.
Either way, the most important thing for Chiefs Kingdom was how nice it was to have football back after a week away and that the Chiefs created a bit more distance in the AFC West standings between themselves and two of their rivals (the Chargers kept pace with a win over the Cincinnati Bengals). But here are a handful of lessons we learned in Week 13.
Execution is still sloppy at times
One of the key descriptors for the Kansas City Chiefs in the first half of the season was “sloppy.” The Chiefs just looked sloppy most games at multiple points, which is what led to their downfall. It was costly turnovers and silly penalties. It was defensive miscues and poor communication. When you think of a winning team, you think of a solid game plan executed well and the Chiefs had issues with the latter especially.
Some of that surfaced again coming out of the bye, and you’d better believe that will be a point of emphasis for the coaching staff going forward. Think back through the number of drops in the game for the Chiefs on both sides of the ball. Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, and Byron Pringle were all guilty on offense. Multiple interceptions were dropped on defense, moves that could have easily put the Broncos away instead of letting them hang around—from a potential pick-six from Alex Okafor to a gift of an INT dropped by Charvarius Ward.
The Chiefs certainly look much better overall these days, but tightening up these screws is going to be vital for the Chiefs in bigger games than this.