The Kansas City Chiefs hosted the AFC title game for the fourth straight season. But Andy Reid’s team lost for the second time in four years.
Under the guidance of head coach Andy Reid, the Kansas City Chiefs have been in the playoffs seven consecutive years dating back to 2015. The franchise has won the AFC West six straight years dating back to ’16.
This year, the Chiefs wound up being the conference’s second seed in this year’s playoffs. There were wins over the Steelers and Bills in which the club scored 42 points in each contest. And Reid’s club owned a 21-3 second-quarter lead over the visiting Bengals in the AFC Championship Game.
But a third straight Super Bowl appearance was not in the cards. Patrick Mahomes and company managed only three points in the second half and overtime. And Cincinnati came all the way back to stun the Chiefs, 27-24, in overtime.
Four straight AFC title games at Arrowhead Stadium have resulted in just two Super Bowl appearances and one Lombardi Trophy. So what does the organization need to work on in the coming months?
3. Kansas City Chiefs must establish a workhorse in the backfield
Off a Super Bowl title in 2019, the Chiefs used the final pick in the 2020 NFL Draft to select running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire. He joined a team in which the head coach has had his shares of the backfield by committee with this team specifically.
Unfortunately, the former LSU product missed three games and the playoff matchup with the Browns during his rookie years. In 2021, Clyde Edwards-Helaire played in only 10 contests and was inactive for the wild card clash with Pittsburgh.
Regardless, the Chiefs have been a mediocre 16th in the NFL in rushing each of these past two seasons. No doubt the team needs to be a little more balanced offensively.
2. Chiefs must develop more consistency on defense
Talk about ups and downs? During the team’s 3-4 start, Steve Spagnuolo’s defensive unit was dreadful. Of course, this was a group that struggled during his first season as coordinator in 2019. After a sluggish 10-game stretch to open that year, the defense settled in and was a big reason the Chiefs went on to defeat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.
That momentum carried into 2020. But the Kansas City defense slumped late in the year. Andy Reid’s team still managed to each Super Bowl LV but the club struggled against the Browns and Bills in the playoffs. And Tom Brady and the Buccaneers picked Spagnuolo’s unit apart in a 31-9 victory on Super Sunday.
But after the team’s aforementioned seven-game struggle to start 2021, the Chiefs buckled down and the defense was a big reason for the team’s midseason eight-game winning streak. But Spagnuolo’s unit couldn’t sustain it and there was another late slump that carried into the postseason.
All told, Cincinnati Bengals’ quarterback Joe Burrow had his way with the Chiefs and Zac Taylor’s club beat them twice. In winning efforts, the Chargers’ Justin Herbert and Buffalo’s Josh Allen lit up Kansas City as well late in the year. The franchise needs to find some answers here.
1. Chiefs must re-emphasize taking care of the football
Andy Reid is one of the great coaches and teachers in the league. He ranks fifth in NFL annals with 252 total wins (including playoffs).
While he doesn’t have the postseason (19-16) and Super Bowl resume (1-2) of the likes of Bill Belichick, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, and Joe Gibbs (to name a few), he consistently has had teams in the playoffs. He took the Philadelphia Eagles to four straight NFC Championship Games and the Kansas City Chiefs have reached the AFC title clash each of the past four years.
But this was an unusual year for a Reid team in terms of ball security. A total of 25 turnovers in 17 regular-season games was easily the worst such performance by his current club since he arrived in Kansas City in 2013. There were a pair of miscues in the wild card rout of the Steelers. And in Sunday’s overtime loss in the AFC title game at Arrowhead Stadium, Patrick Mahomes was picked off twice in the 27-24 setback to Cincinnati.
Mahomes wound up with 20 of the club’s 29 combined turnovers in 2021. But the offense, in general, this past season was sloppy and only played well in spurts. It’s an area that must be addressed.