Familiar issues pile up to bury Kansas City Chiefs vs Denver Broncos

1. Play calling in the red zone and on third down

This is the one I have to start with because I could use some serious venting about it. Andy Reid is a fantastic offensive mind and I wouldn't trade him for any other coach, but the play calling on third down and in the red zone is becoming a huge issue. I understand that fans are often reactive to play calls based on whether they work or not. If a play works, the coach is a genius; if it doesn't, he's an idiot. While the results on 3rd-and-short and in the red zone haven't been good, my real issue right now is less about the results and more about the process.

On 3rd-and-2 inside the 5-yard line, the Chiefs ran a touch pass to Rashee Rice that got stuffed. On another critical third down in the red zone, they threw a designed screen to Jerick McKinnon that got stuffed. Then on a critical 4th down in the 4th quarter when all they needed was a first down to keep their hopes alive, Mahomes threw a deep ball in the end zone that Skyy Moore dropped (more on that in a minute).

What do all three of those huge failed plays have in common? The play design doesn't play towards K.C.'s biggest strength. Typically, when Mahomes can drop back to look for an open man, or take off and scramble, more times than not, they can get five yards. So why isn't Reid calling plays that take advantage of that fantastic advantage? I'm fine with all three of those plays on first or second down when you can go back to your strength on third down, but don't go away from what works best on the most important plays!

Reid is an offensive genius, but he is clearly overthinking these situations. These plays may be his attempt to break them out of their funk in these areas, but he's just making the problem worse. Lean on what works best in those situations in which you must succeed and then get creative and take chances on earlier downs. While I'm not ranking these issues, this is the area that worries me most going forrard.

I also think the Chiefs need to find a way to get a more consistent run game going with Isiah Pacheco to take some pressure off the passing game, but that's more of an overall play calling complaint than one specifically about the third down and red zone calls.

I could go on for a while on play calling, but you get the point. Let's move on to the next issue.