They say there’s nothing worse than being ordinary and for Chiefs fans used to driving a Mercedes and eating steak and lobster, they were relegated to a Ford Taurus and Hot Pockets on Sunday night in front of a sellout crowd at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Chiefs offense managed its lowest scoring output since a 16-10 loss to the Buffalo Bills back on November 26th of 2017. Perhaps injuries are beginning to take their toll as several Chiefs left Sunday’s game including WR Sammy Watkins & DT Chris Jones. The Chiefs are already dealing with noticeable absences from Tyreek Hill & Eric Fisher on offense which has added to the problems. Patrick Mahomes himself “tweaked” his left ankle when LT Cam Erving backpedaled into it inexplicably.
Chiefs lose to Colts 19-13, 5 takeaways
- This defense is no better than last year. Five games is enough of a sample size to start deducing that. Banged up running back Marlon Mack carried the team on his shoulders for the Colts rushing for 132 yards on 29 carries. The Colts offensive line manhandled the Chiefs front four with ease and a timely turnover from safety Tyrann Mathieu could not pull the Chiefs out of lethargy on this night. Currently, the team defensive ranking is 25th, which is marginally better than a year ago, but this years’ version is not getting near the pass-rush of 2018 and is still swiss cheese against the run.
- Justin Houston showed up, Frank Clark did not. Currently, the Frank Clark trade is nothing short of a disaster. The $105 million dollar man has one sack through five games (and supposedly an interception against Jacksonville that no one saw). On Sunday, the biggest defensive play of the game occurred late in the 4th quarter when an unblocked Justin Houston scampered unblocked into the Chiefs backfield and stopped Damien Williams cold on a pivotal 4th and 1. Right now the Frank Clark situation is a huge black mark on Brett Veach’s record and the team should be getting MUCH more out of Clark at this point.
- This loss could cost the Chiefs home field advantage. With the Patriots prancing effortlessly through another regular season (they currently sit at 5-0), the Chiefs have very little room for error if they want to claim the 1 seed in the AFC playoffs. Sunday was a huge blow to that because not only did the Chiefs lose, but they lost to an AFC team which won’t do the team any favors in a potential tiebreaker situation.
- The Chiefs will still win the AFC West. The Chargers were supposed to be the Chiefs’ biggest roadblock to a fourth straight AFC West crown and they have just lost to previously winless Denver. The Raiders (3-2) are in second place but have already suffered a home loss to the Chiefs. Barring a complete disaster, the Chiefs should still win the division and earn, at the very least, a home playoff game in January.
- The offensive line is a problem. It’s an old cliche but Patrick Mahomes is “running for his life” out there and has an ankle injury to show for it. Not only that, but the running game is almost non-existent as the decimated line is struggling to get any push whatsoever on rare running plays. Guard Andrew Wiley is now hurt, Eric Fisher is still out and line depth is very thin right now with the recent departure of Jeff Allen (the team will likely sign him back ASAP).
