The Kansas City Chiefs are 12-1 on the 2020 season and the frontrunners to earn the top seed in the AFC. The Chiefs are having the best season historically, yet, I have read some pessimistic comments around social media about the team’s latest outing against the Miami Dolphins.
Although the Chiefs won their Week 14 matchup 33-27, they committed 4 turnovers in that game. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw an uncharacteristic three interceptions and wide receiver Mecole Hardman fumbled deep in Miami territory while on his way for what would’ve been a go-ahead touchdown.
In fact, Kansas City nearly had five turnovers because of a bad snap exchange from center Austin Reiter while in a shotgun formation. However, Mahomes was able to quickly jump on top of the football before any Dolphin defenders were able to carrol it.
Nonetheless, seeing the Chiefs commit this many turnovers in a single game was very eye-opening. Kansas City is a team that has become known for not turning the football over ever since Andy Reid took over as head coach.
The only other time a Mahomes-led team turned the ball over four or more times was during the Monday night thriller against the L.A. Rams in 2018, which the Chiefs lost.
Over the last few days, there were three observations that occurred to me after going over Kansas City’s latest victory:
One, is understanding the true greatness of Patrick Mahomes. Ok, duh, everyone knows that right? Every pundit and football fan that follows the NFL knows Mahomes is a rare specimen of elite talent that comes only once in a lifetime… But the reigning Super Bowl MVP showed us an element of his game that we don’t see quite often and that’s how turnovers affect him.
While a lot of young QBs, even veterans, can get rattled mentally after throwing three picks, Mahomes isn’t one of them.
The way he stays cool and collected when he’s down a couple of scores is already impressive enough. But for him to throw three picks and get hit 10 ten times, three getting recorded for sacks, and still not crumble under pressure is something else entirely.
While it’s hard to win in the NFL when your offense turns the football over once, it’s nearly impossible when it does it four times or more.
To understand the rarity of winning an NFL game after turning the ball over four or more times, consider this.
Through 13 games played this season, teams are 2-18 when committing 4+ turnovers, the Philadelphia Eagles being the only other team in 2020 to do what the Chiefs did last week.
In the last two seasons combined, teams went 5-63-1 after turning the football over four times or more; And go one more year, teams combined went 0-28 during the 2017 season by itself.
Kansas City defied all odds of losing that game. What is also amazing is, not only was the 25-years-old Mahomes virtually unaffected after throwing three picks, sacked three times, and fumbling a snap, is he also had a 390 plus-yard day with two TDs. This speaks a lot of volumes about the kind of football player he is. Patrick Mahomes is the kind of player that refuses to lose and doesn’t go down easy. As long as there’s time on the clock, he’ll use it to his advantage and find a way to come out on top.
That leads into my second observation, and that’s Kansas City’s ‘never say die’ attitude.
This team doesn’t quit. They understand the amount of talent that is in their locker room, and they trust one another to do whatever it takes to win a ball game. There isn’t a single team in the league right now that they’re afraid of, and they don’t care who they’ve got in front of them. Every opponent is just another barrier for them to smash in order to reach their goal, and that’s another Lombardi trophy.
That’s a scary thought if you’re any of the other 31 clubs in the NFL right now. The Chiefs have become the team that others do not want to play. They are the ones that keep head coaches and defensive coordinators up at night.
Honestly, the only team in the NFL that can stop the Chiefs at this point in the season are themselves.
The final observation I had was Kansas City’s defensive improvement that showed against Miami. While others might argue that it was more of a failure of execution, on Miami’s part, that resulted in the Dolphins’ inability to capitalize on four takeaways. However, I want to give the Chiefs’ defense some credit.
After all, when people talk about the Kansas City Chiefs defense, they usually aren’t exactly talking about how spectacular they are, but rather quite the opposite.
Personally, I thought the Chiefs made some real strides last week. Despite the four extra times, the Chiefs defense had to come back onto the field due to each takeaway the Dolphins made, Steve Spagnuolo’s defense only gave up a combined 10 points.
The first two picks Mahomes threw were converted into just three points for Miami. Hardman’s fumble in the second half resulted in DT Chris Jones sacking Dolphins QB Tue Tagovailoa in the end zone for a safety, and Mahomes’ third interception was the only K.C. turnover that was converted into 6 points.
While Tue Tagovailoa did throw for 319 yards, 2 TDs and a pick, the Chiefs pass defense made him work for every yard. The Chiefs held him to 6.4 yards per pass attempt and allowed him to finish with a 81.7 QBR.
Despite ranking 14th overall, the Chiefs’ secondary is still one of the best in business when it comes to breaking up passes. Kansas City ranks fourth in completion percentage allowed (62.4%) and passer rating allowed (82.4).
The Chiefs’ run defense also got some traction last week, holding Miami to a combined 80 yards on 24 carries. Even though they’ve got a much tougher task this week, going against Saints RB Alvin Kamara, they can use their performance last week as momentum when they head to New Orleans.
Front runners in the AFC standings, the Chiefs are determined to fulfill their goal to run it back. Three games are left in the 2020 regular season, and it’s hard to imagine that the best team in football will lose any more games after their performance last week. After these three observations, I doubt they will.
