Chiefs' misery at left tackle forces them to turn to Joe Thuney versus Raiders

Something had to be done.

WIth the Chiefs clinging to a two-point lead in a game that's way too close against their rivals in the AFC West, the visiting Las Vegas Raiders, the Chiefs were watching their lead that was once at 16-3 shrink completely before retaking the lead 19-17. The primary cause of that drainage: their issues at left tackle.

On drive after drive on Friday—yes, a special Amazon Prime-featured Black Friday broadcast—the Chiefs watched their star quarterback go down again and again with one sack after another thanks to the miserable performance up front by Wanya Morris on the left side. As the team went into the fourth quarter hoping to stave off any final efforts, the Chiefs finally made a change.

Given the lack of options behind Morris, the Chiefs decided to shift starting left guard Joe Thuney to left tackle in order to stop the bleeding to edge rushers K'Lavon Chaisson and Maxx Crosby. In his place, Mike Caliendo was installed at left guard as Morris was benched, which is also where his backup remains in Kingsley Suamataia.

The Chiefs signed D.J. Humphries to a one-year deal a week ago, but he will not be ready until next week at least. The team left him on their inactives list, so turning to Humphries early wasn't even an option for Week 13. It remains to be seen how Thuney will look out there, but he can't fare any worse than what Morris has showed already.