Chiefs debut an ineffective running back committee in Isiah Pacheco's return

The Kansas City Chiefs played a very uninspiring game on Friday against the Las Vegas Raiders, but got a Black Friday gift when the Raiders choked the game away. There were plenty of disappointing aspects of this Chiefs' performance. The defense was suspect again and the pass protection was such a major problem that they even tried Joe Thuney at left tackle. One of the biggest surprises was that the Chiefs also struggled to get a run game going despite the return of starting running back Isiah Pacheco.

Many fans (and fantasy managers) were curious about how the Chiefs would use Pacheco upon his return—in large part because Kareem Hunt had been fairly effective in his absence. The Chiefs had also been using a lot of Samaje Perine on passing downs. Would this continue with Pacheco's return or would he resume his role as K.C.'s clear feature back?

It is certainly understandable that Kansas City may not want to overload Pacheco as he returns from injury and tries to build up his stamina as the Chiefs head down the home stretch and prepare for a playoff run. That appeared to be Andy Reid's thinking in Pacheco's first game back, as each of the Chiefs' top three backs received significant playing time.

CBS's Dave Richard had the break down of snaps as follows:

Their game stats ended up at:

• Kareem Hunt - 7 carries for 15 yards and 2 receptions for 0 yards
• Isiah Pacheco - 7 carries for 44 yards and 1 reception for 5 yards
• Samaje Perine - 0 carries and 1 reception for 15 yards (including a 5-yard reception and 10 yards on a lateral from Travis Kelce)

So Kareem Hunt started the game and played the most total snaps, but was not effective. He also had the most touches inside the 10-yard line. Pacheco was second in snaps and matched Hunt in carries, but outproduced him because of one electric 34-yard run.

Perine continued to be the primary third-down/passing back, playing on 12 of 16 third downs. The Chiefs got all four active running backs in on offense on the very first drive of the game, with Carson Steele getting in as a fullback (he also contributed on special teams).

So it was definitely a committee approach, but definitely not as effective as what we would have liked to see from the Chiefs' running game against a Raiders team that had been giving up almost 120 yards rushing per game. The Chiefs ended the day with just 16 carries for 64 yards. Yes, Pacheco's 34-yard run was a nice play, but other than that, the Chiefs had 15 carries for just 30 yards and a pitiful 2.0 yards per carry.

In previous weeks we saw Kareem Hunt wear down opposing defenses as the game wore on, but the Chiefs never got the run game going in this one. Was that because Hunt wasn't able to get in a rhythm because he didn't get enough touches? Was there too much rotating? Did the Chiefs just not commit to the run enough in this game? Did they just feel like the Raiders defense was more susceptible to the pass? I don't know that we can know the answers to any of these questions, but what we do know is that the Chiefs will have to find a more reliable run game as they prepare for the playoffs.

Should the Chiefs consider gradually increasing Pacheco's load as the season goes on? Should they continue to lean on Kareem Hunt and save Pacheco? Should they consider shifting either Hunt or Pacheco to the passing down role to make it more of a two man rotation instead of three? I don't know what the answer is, but I'd love to read what you think in the comments below.