The Kansas City Chiefs are coming off of their 2nd straight Super Bowl appearance, but find themselves at the bottom of their division at just 2-2 through 4 weeks.
Obviously heading into Week 5 isn’t a time to hit the panic button on a .500 team that is loaded with talent, but should the Chiefs be concerned? I think so, and here’s why.
The Chiefs’ offense is borderline unstoppable. Patrick Mahomes is the best QB in the NFL and Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce each have a strong argument for the best WR and TE respectively in the NFL.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire has been up and down this season but obviously is a talented back that has had many flashes of brilliance this season. The offense is putting up 33.5 points per game, tied for 2nd in the league.
They are also averaging 427.5 yards per game, good for 2nd in the league as well. Teams have a very difficult time stopping this loaded offense, and understandably so. However, the Chiefs still stand at 2-2 to this point. For this, you need to look at the defense.
The defense has been very questionable to this point, to put it nicely. They are allowing 31.3 points per game, ranking 31st in the entire league. That is paired with allowing 437.8 yards per game, also 31st in the league.
Needless to say, allowing over 30 points a game and being chewed up by yardage is not the best winning recipe. In fact, only once in 4 games have they allowed less than 30 points, and they allowed 29 that week.
Divisional rankings will change a lot from now until the end of the season, but being in last place through a quarter of the season surely wasn’t what the Chiefs were expecting from themselves.Â
Next up on the schedule, Kansas City will host the red-hot Bills on Sunday Night Football. The Bills are winners of 3 straight, and rank 1st in the entire NFL in the following categories:
Takeaways
Turnover differential
Points allowed per game
Points per game
Not only that, but they rank 2nd in points scored per game and 6th in yards gained per game. They are absolutely humming on both sides of the football right now and are not a team the Chiefs want to see in this spot, a game that will give them either a winning or losing record.
A loss in this game would drop them to 2-3, remaining last in the division. The other 3 teams sit at 3-1 each with the Raiders getting a very winnable home game against Chicago, the Broncos will visit the struggling Steelers, and the surging Chargers host the Browns.
The worst case scenario is not an unrealistic one here. The Chiefs could be 2-3 in a division of 4-1 teams, putting themselves in an early hole that may not be so easy to climb out of.
As for the original question, the Chiefs do have reason for concern. It is by no means time to hit the panic button, but the pressure is on now, so they need to respond in a positive way, and soon.
