A crazy week 18 has concluded, and the playoff field is officially in place. With their victory in Denver on Saturday afternoon, the Kansas City Chiefs set themselves up with a worst-case scenario of settling into the No. 2 seed, and that is exactly how it played out. Kansas City will host Pittsburgh on Sunday night in their contribution to “Super Wild Card Weekend.”
It was a rocky road to the second seed in the bracket this year, so, fittingly, the final game of the year came with plenty of contention. A win is a win, no matter how ugly, and this one was far from glamorous. These are the numbers that best tell the tale of the final game of the regular season.
191
There is good, bad, and ugly to highlight in this one, so we may as well get the ugliest out of the way. When considering the keys to a Chiefs win earlier in the week, the most glaringly obvious facet of the Broncos to manage was their rushing attack. The running back duo of Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon has proven repeatedly to be balanced and threatening.
With Teddy Bridgewater unable to clear concussion protocol, and Drew Lock getting the start at quarterback, the Chiefs’ defensive scheme presumably would have been geared towards eliminating that threat. It was not. The Broncos rushed for a combined 191 yards and 3 touchdowns (two of which belonged to Drew Lock). Melvin Gordon averaged 9.2 yards per carry on 12 touches for a total of 110 yards on the ground and led Denver’s failed effort at breaking their lengthy losing streak to Kansas City.
This sore thumb of a statistic from Saturday came with plenty of scrutiny from mainstream media. Comments and concerns about the Chiefs’ effort circulated in late-night talk shows and pregame chatter on Sunday. The jury is still out on whether Denver was taken lightly, or if the game was played in slow motion to fend off potential injury, but we will surely never know the truth of that matter. Regardless, an encore of that defensive effort could very well lead to a short-lived playoff run this year.
6
Aside from securing the Chiefs’ victory with an 86-yard scoop and score, rookie linebacker Nick Bolton rounded out the regular season with another impressive tackling performance. He led the team with 6 tackles, and of course, shared that lead with fellow fundamental expert L’Jarius Sneed. For weeks it has been apparent that the defense operates just a bit more smoothly when those two are on the field together. Although Bolton only received 44% of the defensive snaps, he—once more—made the absolute most of his opportunity and collected a little chunk of history in the process.
Whether you think new records should come with an asterisk or not, the season is now 18 weeks, and a lot of history will be getting updated very quickly. In the case of Nick Bolton, he finished his rookie campaign with 112 tackles, which led the team in 2021. That makes him the first rookie in Kansas City to lead the Chiefs in tackles in 35 years (Dino Hacket; 140 tackles in ’86). Bolton is a special talent with great upside and potential to become a core piece of this defense moving forward. To quote the great Billy Madison, “CHERISH IT!”
1
1, as in number 1, as in Jerick McKinnon. Yes, the offseason acquisition has finally made an impact. He’s been on and off of the active roster wrestling with a variety of bumps and bruises throughout the season, so there’s really nothing negative to say about him, it’s just nice to finally see some value come out of his roster spot.
McKinnon scored a touchdown on the first drive of the second half with a crafty spin move, a Chris Berman-approved juke, and a flash of strength blasting a defender across the plane of the end zone.
One touchdown may not justify the $1 million that McKinnon getting paid this year, but it does refuel the competitive nature of the Chiefs running back room at an awesome moment right before the playoffs. The agility and strength he put on display Saturday certainly put him back in the conversation for guys that may be worthy of more snaps.
54
Back to the bad. The Chiefs’ leading rusher was Patrick Mahomes with just 54 yards. CEH was inactive and Derrell Williams left the game early with a toe injury, and while I don’t mean to beat a dead horse, the Chiefs are going to have to be able to move the football on the ground in order to succeed in the playoffs.
It’s abundantly clear that this year’s offense is moving at a different, slower pace than has become custom in the previous three seasons, and the rushing attack is an imperative aspect of Kansas City’s current success. If the running backs and offensive line can get/remain healthy, there’s no reason why the Chiefs can’t be a physical rushing threat through the playoffs, but no matter what it looks like, the ground game has to be better in every contest from here on out.
Mahomes had a solid day under center with 270 yards and 2 TDs, and again, a win is a win, but this one just had a weird and unfamiliar feel to it. There seemed to never be a doubt that the Chiefs would pull it out, but there was also never clear evidence to substantiate that confidence. The bad news is that we barely squeaked by the bottom of the barrel in the division. The good news is that we ended the regular season with a W and maintain the potential to host our way to the Super Bowl.
Do yourself a favor by pushing the bad and ugly of week 18 to the back of your mind, and just carry the good with you into next Sunday. That is all that matters now.