[This post was written before the Chiefs game against the Giants last week.]
Even though it is only after the 7th game in a 17-game season, I can't not put down some thoughts about this Chiefs team. One of the things that is moving me to do this now is I'm watching a bit of the Packers-Cardinals game here on Thursday night football. I usually do not watch any of this other stuff because I just can't stand it, but my wife has it on the television and I'm seeing it.
And you know?
I just can't stand it.
All I've seen so far is the Packers drive at the end of the 3rd quarter. They scored to go up 24-14 over a 7-0 Cardinals team. The Packers themselves are 6-1.
A far cry from the 3-4 Chiefs.
I just want to compare.
Now some say we'll be fine, and we may be. It may be like 2015 when we started 1-5 and ran the regular season table even winning a playoff game. That was very cool, it was.
Okay, maybe it'll be that way. I hope so.
But I have my doubts.
Let's get to this Packers drive. Aaron Rodgers is there just picking apart the Cardinals defense, and it isn't even funny. He doesn't even have Davante Adams out there, and the Packers are still getting it done. They're mixing up their plays, making those plays happen, running, passing, catching, blocking, holding on to the football all exceptionally well -- touchdown Packers.
Then there are the Chiefs.
I heard from someone saying all it is is turnovers. That's it. We clean that up and we'll be fine. We can fix turnovers, quit yer bitchin.
Bullshit.
I call bullshit on all of that because for one, good teams don't turn the ball over. They just don't. We can say all we want this is not symptomatic of a Chiefs team. The fact is we're still doing it. Solid, precision, executing teams don't do that.
But the Chiefs have been doing that. And they, and Patrick Mahomes, have been messing up all season long.
That is the second thing.
And it is the key thing that I do believe is afflicting the Chiefs.
Remember...
Against the Browns we were having our hats handed to us. Then we got three fortuitous second-half turnovers to rescue us.
Against the Ravens CEH fumbled at the worst possible time snatching sure defeat from the jaws of victory.
Against the Chargers early in the game we moved the ball really well then fumbled and bumbled and threw picks and lost a close one just not ever looking like we were going to win at all.
Against the Eagles their quarterback missed open looks all day long and we still had to work much harder than we needed to put away a poor Eagles team.
Against the Bills we were in it, being a bit outplayed even though we had a chance to win when at a critical juncture late Rashad Fenton intercepted Josh Allen only to have it wiped out because right after that Frank Clark couldn't keep from pile-driving the QB into the ground.
Against the Once-Redskins we played one of the worst first halves ever in our history, then played well enough in the second half against a poor team to win.
Against the Titans, well, ::ker-blarff:: you know, it was just his past Sunday.
In every single one of those games we've looked baffled, flummoxed, befuddled, just generally all around messed up. We have the talent, but we are so all-over-the-place that not even Patrick Mahomes has been able to put a nice window-dressing on all this. Whenever I look at the players faces underneath those helmets I just see defeat, I'm sorry but I do.
Why? Here's what I think.
This stuff has been happening since the Super Bowl.
I know we can blame our Super Bowl failures on the offensive line all we want, or on any number of other things like those dratted dropped passes, but I've already shared my assessment of what happened. It is here for your review. It is simple -- what I am seeing on the Chiefs football field is merely a prolonged extension of that thing. And unless it is addressed more openly and fully and truly in a way where the spiritual connection regarding what happened is just not having an effect on making our team look like this, I think we'll still struggle.
To put it simply, I believe that thing is what happened on that Thursday night just before the Super Bowl, with Andy Reid's son criminally negligent in a serious traffic accident that left a little girl permanently disabled, and the intangible fallout from that incident.
Now you could argue that has nothing to do with the Chiefs as a team. I respect that. I just disagree. I simply do not see the full-on competitive integrity -- just that feeling that these guys deserve to be doing well simply on a moral plane. You know over the past two years in every game before the Super Bowl, you could see the Chiefs players have that assurance, that confidence in their authentic merits. I'm sorry, but if you're convinced there is some moral issue weighing on you, it can impede anything you do well.
You may disagree with this assessment, but the fact is the Chiefs are still led by Andy Reid. They take their cues from Andy Reid, their very character as a team is formidably shaped by Andy Reid and who he is and what he does, not just with football. Maybe the thing with his son doesn't have anything to do with it, okay.
But the truth is Andy Reid has just not been himself. After a game this season he even went to the hospital for a health scare. I hope he's okay, always, in every circumstance. Nothing against him personally, he's amazing. He may have made restitution or been genuinely apologetic and made his peace with all of the stuff that happened. I do know it was his son and not him. It is not for me to judge.
But there is still the football stuff, and something related to Andy Reid is not good for this team.
Frankly, all the football stuff has just not been what is had been, this Chiefs team is simply not the team that was last seen in the AFC Championship Game against the Bills. Every single game since then, every single one.
Maybe it will be addressed. Maybe I'm totally wrong, that's cool. Maybe it is something completely not-that and they'll address it, and we'll see the pre-last-Super-Bowl Chiefs out there again. Maybe Andy Reid will get back to his good ol' spectacular opponent backbreaking playmaking.
But I'm telling you I won't believe it until I see it. Until I see again those plays drawn up, run with confidence, and the players' thrill at doing it all shines in their eyes, I just don't think we've got anything for this season unless the thing that needs to be addressed gets addressed.
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