KC Chiefs: Kansas City will have to run the ball better in Super Bowl LVII

The KC Chiefs will need an effective ground game if they’re going to slow the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII.

The running game for the Kansas City Chiefs has seen the dynamic change many times throughout the 2022-23 NFL season. We’ve seen the Chiefs go from Clyde Edwards-Helaire to rookie Isiah Pacheco as the starter and Jerick McKinnon has become a mainstay in his second season with the Chiefs. Yet, we’ve seen many games where the Chiefs can run whenever they want as well as games where they can’t get anything going.

In the divisional round of the playoffs, the running game came up huge for the Chiefs as Isiah Pacheco ran for 97 yards and had a huge run in the 2nd quarter after backup quarterback Chad Henne came in for an injured Patrick Mahomes to help propel Kansas City past Jacksonville.

Things weren’t so successful in the AFC Championship, though. Pacheco only averaged 2.6 yards per carry and Jerick McKinnon wasn’t any better. Luckily, the Chiefs pulled out the win thanks to the heroics of Chris Jones and the defense as well as others.

Going into the matchup versus the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship, many insisted the Chiefs would have to run the ball to beat the Bengals due to their traditional dropping of eight men into coverage against the Chiefs and simply because they needed to take pressure off Mahomes due to his ankle injury.

The approach sounded good, but the Chiefs failed to sustain any real success in the running game even when the passing games started to suffer from injuries and inconsistency. They were able to escape with a win versus Cincinnati, but they face another big challenge versus the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.

The Chiefs will have to run the ball with more success for similar reasons against the Eagles. Philadelphia’s pass rush is one of the best in the entire league and they led the NFL in sacks during the regular season. It’s reasonable to assume that Patrick Mahomes will face a decent amount of pressure and the offense will need to hand the ball off to keep the defense honest and keep Mahomes out of harm’s way.

Luckily, the Eagle’s defense ranked just 15th in rushing defense this season so it is possible to run the ball on them and their edges can be attacked in the run game. It is an easier matchup than the Bengals who ranked 5th in rushing defense this season. In order for the Chiefs to really find success, their interior three of Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey, and Trey Smith are going to have to win their blocks much more than they did against Cincinnati in the AFC Championship. If they can get the right amount of push, the athleticism and experience of Pacheco and McKinnon should be able to do some damage.

Running the ball well will be important in controlling the game and keeping the Eagles’ offense off the field. The defense stepped up and carried the Chiefs against the Bengals when it didn’t work last week but asking them to have a performance like that twice in a row is asking a lot. The Eagles’ offense was right behind Kansas City’s at No. 2 this year so running the ball is key to sustaining scoring drives and winning the time of possession.

The team with the most rushing yards tends to win the Super Bowl a lot of the time and it happened in Super Bowl LIV when the Chiefs rushed for more yards versus the San Francisco 49ers. The Eagles’ defense, while they haven’t faced many great offenses this year, has a lot of elite talent on their pass rush and in the secondary. It would be ideal if the Chiefs could attack the area in which they weren’t so great against even lesser competition.