Chiefs have three obvious solutions to Andy Reid's short-yardage nightmare

The Kansas City Chiefs' Week 8 loss in Denver was more than just a loss, whether fans or the coaching staff want to admit it. Not only does the loss shove us down the AFC playoff rankings, but it also stops the Chiefs from holding a comfortable lead over the best divisional opponent in the AFC West. But even worse than all that, the game showed the utter lack of confidence the Chiefs have in short-yardage situations.

Three of Kansas City's final four plays all took place from the one-yard line. Granted, one scored but was quickly negated by a false start penalty on right tackle Jaylon Moore. Either way, even with Kansas City featuring a running back who has been mentioned in MVP conversations, they could not punch it in from the one.

Not only does that sound insane, but it was agonizing to witness for all of Chiefs Kingdom. This rings even more audacious when Chiefs fans watch games all over the NFL where one-yard gains past the sticks are a dime a dozen thanks to the dreaded quarterback sneak (insert scary music here).

Even during some of the best and worst stretches of the Patrick Mahomes era, short-yardage situations have always seemed to confound Andy Reid and his extremely complex offensive schemes. So how can the Chiefs get it together when the sticks are right up to their nose? Surely a midseason Band-Aid will help, but how can they continue to keep it up when it matters most?

Just run the dang sneak!

The most obvious answer to all of this is simply letting Mahomes—or, God forbid, bringing in Justin Fields for one play—run the QB sneak that has an 81%-86% success rate in the league. That includes Philadelphia's "Tush Push" and the classic snap-and-shoot QB sneaks.

At the podium on Wednesday Mahomes and Reid both answered questions about their lack of QB sneak attempts, obviously still stemming from the one-time freak accident against Denver that saw Mahomes dislocate his knee in 2019.

Mahomes said "It's not like we're scared to call the quarterback sneak ... We've been able to execute with other things."

And while it may be true that he and Reid are not scared to run it, it's not necessarily true that Kansas City converts third and fourth downs with less than two yards to go. While the Chiefs rank ninth on third-and-short (1-3 yards) with a 61.7% success rate, they rank right in the middle when it comes to fourth-and-short with the same yardage.

Two of the top four teams on fourth-and-short, Philadelphia and Buffalo, are known for their quarterbacks being able to convert any 1-3-yard gain with a simple QB sneak (or "tush push"), and that only adds insult to injury, considering they are two of the main teams that Chiefs fans have had to endure terrible losses against during Mahomes' dynasty.

If the Chiefs truly aren't afraid to run the QB sneak, especially when an open gap appears across the center, then they should prove it against the Jets on Sunday and run it. Even better, the Chiefs' backup quarterback went 7-for-8 on QB sneaks when he was with the Jets last season.

Bring Fields in, run the sneak. Bring a tight end in, run the sneak. Let Mahomes prove he's not scared to run the sneak and simply RUN THE SNEAK.

Bring back the hard-nosed running back

The best years of Mahomes' nine seasons in the NFL came because he had a hard-nosed back behind him who was more comfortable rushing into the pile for a quick yard than he was rushing outside the lines in open space.

Anthony Sherman was a fullback, but he was the perfect necessity for short yards. The same could be said about Spencer Ware, LeSean McCoy, Isiah Pacheco and, more recently, Kareem Hunt. Even though Kenneth Walker III is the best running back Mahomes has had in his career (so far), his specialty is patient running and open-field bursts.

Not only is Walker III not the proverbial third- and fourth-down, hard-nosed, run-through-a-wall-style back, but nobody on the Chiefs' current roster truly is. Emmett Johnson is 5'11", 200 pounds and showed that his best trait is making defenses miss in the open field, as he proved on his first career touchdown in Denver on Sunday.

His 22 tackles avoided rank snugly between James Cook (24) and Derrick Henry (21), who both have over 150 touches this season ... Johnson has 34. Other than that, Brashard Smith is on the team and has recorded a big, fat goose egg in the rush attempts category.

So Kansas City's next-most-obvious choice behind simply sneaking the ball with Mahomes or Fields is to bring in a brutish running back, preferably with knowledge of Reid's hyper-complex playbook.

Hunt is the obvious choice. Last year, while the Chiefs went 6-11 during his first full season back in KC, Hunt led the league on short-yardage third and fourth downs. His 85% success rate (34-of-40) was not only well above the average last season (65.9%), but it was also the best success rate since Y2K (among backs with 30+ attempts).

There are other running backs who are still free agents, some of whom might be just the type of short-yardage back the Chiefs need. Names like former Chiefs hybrid back Carson Steele (6'0", 228), former Steeler and Charger Najee Harris (6'1", 242), former Packer Patrick Taylor (6'2", 217), and former Charger and Titan Hassan Haskins (6'2", 228).

The sheer size of all those backs compared to any of the Chiefs' current rushers shows a glaring hole in Reid's offensive schemes. If there isn't anyone to scare defenses into loading the box, they won't feel threatened and can play the pass or the outside of the lines even better.

Get a bigger back. Shove him into the back of a lineman or two. Gain the one or two yards with ease at a much higher success rate than the Chiefs currently have (58.8%) when running the ball on third or fourth downs with two yards or less remaining.

What makes that last stat even worse is that the Chiefs are 2-of-13 inside the five-yard line with goal-to-go (15.4%), which is the NFL's worst by a large margin.

Enough with the trickery

If there's one thing Reid is known for, other than his utterly impossible-to-understand playbook unless you have six months to read it like the Bible, it's his tricky plays.

The formations that haven't been seen since World War II. The quick underhand throws to tight ends or running backs. The fake runs that roll out into bootlegs with one receiver already standing out of bounds. It simply doesn't work as easily or as effectively as the plays that have worked consistently for decades.

Quarterback sneaks, runs up the middle, diving over the pile like Priest Holmes and Walter Payton. They all work at a more effective rate than so many of Mahomes and Reid's silly plays that look cool but don't always get the job done.

Going back to the basics is not a sign of failure; it's an opportunity to raise the success rate.

If Reid were to call a QB sneak on Sunday at the one, there is a higher chance of winning the game than there is of losing it, especially with multiple timeouts. If Reid were to still have Hunt on the team, a standard "RB Dive" up the middle on two or three consecutive attempts likely would have secured the victory. Reid couldn't do either, and the Chiefs are now neck-and-neck with Denver for the division for the rest of the season.

No matter which way you look at it, anything is better than the standard that Chiefs Kingdom has been used to when it comes to those pivotal third and fourth downs with minimal yardage between Mahomes and the goal line. It should be the easiest, most manageable play in the playbook, and yet Kansas City and Reid seem to muff the moment multiple times per game.

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