Isiah Pacheco, Jerick McKinnon must be featured with Patrick Mahomes limited

The need for rushing success

Give credit to the Bengals and their knack for resilience. They are certainly one of the better defensive units in the NFL. The Chiefs alternatively have the best offense, scoring more points and generating more total yards than any other team. Even with Patrick Mahomes battling an ankle sprain, expect Kansas City’s offense to produce. How that production comes about is going to determine the outcome of the game.

Isiah Pacheco has provided a different element of physicality. Kansas City ran with their running backs 40% of their total offensive plays in the Bengals game he suited up for. This is a big change in comparison to the backfield seeing under 30% of the total plays versus the Bengals in the prior season. Nevertheless, as a collective unit, Kansas City gained 343 yards on 57 rushing attempts. That is good for an average of 6.0 yards per carry.

The Bengals have given up yards on the ground seemingly to focus on the Chiefs passing attack. If these past three games are a trend for what is to come, the Chiefs need to give their running backs more handoffs. There is no good reason for giving up leads when you have an admirable rushing scheme. Expect the Chiefs to have a good game plan. There will most likely be quite a bit of pre-snap motion with the ability to hand the ball off as well. Both Andy Reid and Mahomes will have to resist their appetite for forcing too many passing plays. Kansas City should lean a little more on their running backs in this game.