Steve Spagnuolo
I’ve been a Steve Spagnuolo defender for most of his tenure. While I certainly had issues with how the defense was performing early in the season, I think you have to give him and his staff credit for the remarkable turnaround this defense has made throughout the season. That having been said, I had some real issues with his approach and some specific decisions he made during the game.
First, the lack of adjustments on Ja’Marr Chase when it was clear he was having a career day is just flat-out unacceptable. Period. Chase had ELEVEN receptions for 266 yards and three touchdowns and they didn’t adjust at all to him all game. I get that the Bengals have some other good weapons that have to be accounted for, but at least make them prove they can beat you with someone else. No safety deep help cheating to his side, no double teams, nothing.
Second, Dan Sorensen was back in coverage too much. We know he’s awful there. AWFUL. So why put him in that position? One of Chase’s long touchdowns was 100% on Sorensen taking an inexcusably horrible angle on him, but at this point, I don’t even blame Dan. We all know he’s awful back there. that play is on Spagnuolo for putting a guy in a position to fail.
Third, why in the wide, wide, world of sports are you blitzing on 3rd and 27 and leaving Ja’Marr Chase in single coverage on the outside? I just… I mean… I can’t even…. (takes a deep breath) You can make a strong case that that one play might have cost the Chiefs the game. Yes, they had chances after that, but I just can’t see any justification for making that call in any 3rd and 27 situations, let alone when a guy is torching you in single coverage over and over.
Fourth, and this one might be on Andy Reid as much or more than Spagnuolo, but they absolutely should have let the Bengals score once they had first and goal from the one-inch line so that KC would have had almost two minutes and all their timeouts to respond. I know not everyone may agree with me on this one, but at that stage, a Cincinnati score is almost a lock and every second that ticks off the clock and every timeout you are forced to use just decreases the likelihood that the Chiefs will be able to respond.
You might be thinking that I’m letting the defense off the hook and placing all the blame on Spagnuolo. Well not so fast my friends.