The Kansas City Chiefs have given their fans plenty to be grateful for over the last eight seasons. Three Super Bowl wins, seven straight AFC Championship Games, and an energy and mystique that made their success almost seem inevitable. Call it the "Chiefs Mystique" or "Mahomes Magic" or whatever you want, but it just doesn't feel like it's there this season.
The Chiefs aren't a bad football team. Both the offense and defense have looked good at times, but the consistency has been a huge issue, and that faith that fans had that their team would always find a way to win a game in the end has completely disappeared. In fact, it seems to have completely done a 180-degree turn, and now fans feel pessimistic that KC will pull things out in a close game.
Where has the Chiefs magic gone?
The most frustrating part of the Chiefs losing their mojo is that there doesn't seem to be a clear reason why it has happened. The Chiefs arguably had a worse roster last season with their injuries at wide receiver and issues on the offensive line. The defense is basically the same, and the offense, if anything, has a better roster. The “clutch gene” or “magic” just isn't there.
Maybe the Chiefs just had a string of good luck and now they are reverting to the mean, but it certainly felt like the Chiefs created their own luck in years past. If that was the case, then they seem to have lost the ability to do so this season. Maybe the team is just getting older and has lost a step, but that doesn't really feel like the answer either.
It almost feels like the Chiefs are just going through the motions. Maybe things have become stagnant. Maybe the Chiefs need some more fresh voices and new ideas in the building. Something needs to snap them out of this funk. It's like they just expect things to work because they have in the past, but in the past they were energized, hungry, and seemed like they had a fire and determination to find a way to win no matter what.
There are two different views on what would be best for the Chiefs this season. One is that the Chiefs win out, find some rhythm, and maybe find that magic and try to make another Super Bowl run this season. The other view is that because something clearly seems to be missing or not working this season, maybe it would be best for the long term if KC didn't make the playoffs and were motivated to shake things up this offseason.
At this point, it is certainly hard to deny that some changes might be beneficial. That doesn't have to mean blowing this team completely up. The Chiefs could still keep Andy Reid, Steve Spagnuolo, and the core group of talent, but maybe a new offensive coordinator and an injection of new/young talent that doesn't already have three Super Bowl wins would help revitalize a team that most still believe has Super Bowl upside.
There is a common saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The Chiefs seem to be locked in football purgatory by this belief. On one hand, they've achieved the highest levels of success doing things like they currently are, so if they keep at it they'll eventually get those results again. On the other hand, they have played enough games this season to prove that the “old way” isn't achieving the same level of results anymore. So how long do you keep at it before you admit that you need a change?
The Chiefs are unlikely to make any major changes before this season comes to an end, but if they do miss the playoffs (as would currently be the case), that may be the motivation they need. As long as the Chiefs have Patrick Mahomes at quarterback, they have the potential to compete for Super Bowls, but their current team doesn't have that same magic that their previous Super Bowl winners did. It's time to admit that and start to focus on how they go about finding it again.