The Kansas City Chiefs had the AFC West in their hands and let it slip away on Sunday. Despite taking a 24-13 lead into the fourth quarter, they let the Denver Broncos come charging back and then couldn't pull off a late comeback, ultimately losing 28-24. It was a game that had several positive performances for the Chiefs, but they weren't enough to overcome the list of negatives.
Let's start with the positives performances.
Winner: Emmett Johnson
This one is obvious. Johnson had his coming-out party on Sunday. He was amazing. He was by far KC's most impressive player in this game. He had 5 receptions for 128 yards, including a 73-yard touchdown. He had a 15-yard first-down run. He had a 44-yard kick return with under 2 minutes to go that should have set up the Chiefs to win the game. He even made a nice tackle on special teams. He was fantastic.
Winner: Rashee Rice
Rice returned from injury to be KC's best wide receiver. He caught 7 passes for 53 yards and a touchdown. Rice may not be a true No. 1 wideout capable of running the full route tree, but he's clearly KC's best weapon at receiver right now (at least until they fully trust Cyrus Allen). Rice would have added another catch and a game-winning touchdown to his stat sheet as well if Jaylon Moore hadn't been flagged for a false start on KC's final drive.
Winner: George Karlaftis
There isn't much to celebrate when it comes to KC's pass rush and defensive line these days, but you can't fault George Karlaftis in this one. Karlaftis recorded KC's only quarterback sack in this game, had one of their 2 QB hits, and batted down an impressive 3 passes in one game. Karlaftis may not be an elite sack-total edge player, but his motor and effort are without question, and he deserves credit for his performance in this one.
Winner: Patrick Mahomes
It would be fair to criticize Mahomes for taking a sack before Harrison Butker's missed field goal (more on that soon) and a couple of other plays here and there, but what Mahomes did in this game with questionable offensive line play, inconsistent (at best) wide receivers, and head-scratching play-calling is pretty remarkable. Mahomes went 30 of 41 for 321 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions. This loss wasn't on Mahomes.
Now it's time to call out some losers in this one.
Loser: Kingsley Suamataia
Look, we don't know what got Suamataia benched last time or if it was the exact same thing that got him benched this time, but the guy clearly didn't learn his lesson because he was benched again against the Broncos. You're getting paid millions of dollars to play football, so figure it out and get your $%@# together. There is a LOT you can criticize Andy Reid and his staff for in this loss (more on that soon), but if Suamataia got benched for a full game and then did the same thing (or something equally bad) again just a couple of weeks later, that's absurd. It sure would have been nice to have him out there on that last drive.
Loser: Xavier Worthy
The Chiefs need wide receiver production, and Worthy just isn't capable of giving it to them. Worthy had a pathetic 3 catches for 13 yards, continues to show no strength on contested catches, and had another key third down where Mahomes was clearly expecting him to come back to the ball and he didn't. His highlight of the game was probably breaking up a near interception on a pass that a more physical wideout might have come back for and made the catch on.
Loser: Creed Humphrey
Creed Humphrey is the best center in football WHEN HE ISN'T SNAPPING THE BALL INTO THE GROUND. He's hands down the best blocking center in football and might be the most lovable guy on the team, but it's now to the point where we all just know at least one or two plays per game are going to be completely ruined by a truly awful shotgun snap. I don't know if it's a concentration thing or if the guy has the "yips," but Creed has to get this figured out ASAP.
Loser: Harrison Butker
The time has come. He needs to go. Most fans agree Justin Tucker shouldn't be the answer, but it feels like you could find multiple guys not named Butker or Tucker who have filled in for other teams this season and not missed kicks at the rate that Butker has or, you know, have a bunch of sexual assault allegations against them.
Loser: The Penalties
The Kansas City Chiefs lost by just four points and were just a few yards away from winning this game despite having 11 penalties for 105 yards. They literally had the game-winning touchdown taken off the board by a penalty. In addition to taking that score off the board, at least three of Denver's scoring drives were aided by significant penalty yardage. I don't care if you don't agree with all the calls; the Chiefs were too undisciplined, and it cost them. Period.
The Biggest Loser: The Coaching
I don't have it in me to rehash all the bad decisions that contributed to this loss, but here are a few of the key ones. Not trusting the run or being willing to call QB sneaks in the lead-up to the sack that made the Butker missed field goal even longer. Deciding to trust Butker on a 54-yarder in the rain given his recent track record. Defensively, they looked like they went into a no-pass-rush shell after going up 24-13, and Nix looked completely comfortable taking them down the field. Steve Spagnuolo is supposed to be a master at coming up with blitzes. Where are they?
The Chiefs looked better in this game than they did against Seattle last week, but that's part of what made the collapse in the fourth quarter so frustrating. There may have been more winners this week, but the losers list is still far too long. Hopefully, next week against the 2-6 New York Jets, the Chiefs can keep the winners list long and finally shrink the long list of losers they've had the past two weeks.
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