Chiefs flaws exposed vs. Bengals | KCSN Daily 12.5
Plus Week 14 stat preview, KCSN podcasts, quotes and more Chiefs news.
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The Chiefs fell to the Bengals 27-24 in Week 13. It marked the third time they’d lost to Cincinnati in the same calendar year. It was a disappointing loss, but also one that magnified some of the team’s most glaring weaknesses.
The defensive line recorded just 11 total pressures on the night against a team surrendering the third-most sacks in the NFL entering the week. The team’s linebacker group was challenged in coverage by Bengals QB Joe Burrow and no adjustments were seemingly made. Nick Bolton, Willie Gay Jr. and Darius Harris were targeted a combined 10 times. According to PFF’s charting, they surrendered all 10 receptions for 113 yards. That’s over a third of Burrow’s total passing yardage.
Generally speaking, Burrow was able to get whatever he wanted on throws between the numbers.
On the offensive side of the ball, struggles in pass protection loomed large, especially with Mahomes taking a sack in the biggest moment of the game. The Bengals sent pressure often on third down, but when the Chiefs adjusted they switched to the three-man rush and dropped eight into coverage. In total, Mahomes had 31 true dropbacks in Week 13. He was pressured on 39% of those dropbacks, with six total pressures and two sacks coming by the way of LT Orlando Brown Jr. and RT Andrew Wylie according to PFF’s charting.
Now that these flaws have been exposed against a team bound for the AFC playoffs, finding ways to correct them will be paramount with the postseason fast approaching.
KCSN Live Postgame Show:
KCSN’s BJ Kissel, Kent Swanson, and more go live following the Kansas City Chiefs game against the Cincinnati Bengals to break it all down.
Stats to know ahead of Week 14 vs. Broncos:
Series history: Kansas City leads the all-time series with Denver 69-55. The Broncos have lost the last 13 consecutive games they’ve played against the Chiefs. To put that number into perspective, the last time Denver got a win against K.C., Barack Obama was in the midst of his second term as president of the United States.
Broncos offense with Russ: Denver sold the farm to buy Russell Wilson from the Seattle Seahawks this past offseason and it hasn’t worked out. The Broncos are 3-9 through 12 games this season. They’ve only scored more than 30 points in a single game once and they’re averaging just 212 passing yards per game.
Denver's defense is still solid: Lots of people thought there would be a big drop-off for the Broncos’ defense when they fired head coach Vic Fangio. That hasn’t been the case. Through 12 games they rank second in points allowed (204), third in yards allowed (3,655) and the fewest red zone touchdowns in the league (32%). If the Chiefs aren’t careful, they could find themselves in trouble against this group.
KCSN Daily:
KCSN’s BJ Kissel sits down with ESPN's Matt Miller to get his stock-up and stock-down reports from the Kansas City Chiefs loss to the Cincinnati Bengals
Quotable:
“Well, listen, you learn from every game, but when you have a young team – that was a pretty good football team you’re playing – so you learn from your experience out there against good skill players. How you have to handle them. You learn that every opportunity you got to take advantage of. And I know the punters didn't have a big day, but you want to keep them off the field as much as you possibly can from your offensive side. And then, touchdowns obviously become important. Turnovers become important while your situational football is magnified when you have two good teams playing against each other.” - Andy Reid on the young defenders learning from this loss
“First off, they have a great quarterback, and a guy who’s won a lot of football games, even if that was in college, and now he’s won a lot of football games in the NFL. He’s someone that competes to the very end too. They’ve got playmakers all over there, they’re well-coached, have a good defense. At the end of the day, they’ve executed at a higher level in the critical situations. We started off slow, we got back in the game in the flow of things, and we had a turnover late, and the missed kick. If you just try to take away those two things in the fourth quarter, and if you’re playing good teams and you make those turnover on downs basically in the fourth quarter, those are the things that kind of bite you in the end.” - Patrick Mahomes on what makes the Bengals so tough to beat
Quick Hits:
From Mitchell Schwartz: The former starting right tackle for Kansas City weighed in on the final play for the Chiefs’ offense. He felt that the pressure eliminated the only two good options for Patrick Mahomes.
From Justin Reid: Reid’s pregame comments riled up the entire Bengals offense. He ate some crow after the game, explaining he’d apologized to Hayden Hurst for not paying him the proper respect.
From KCSN: Just a few more days to get in on the Soul of KC Holiday Raffle & Toy Drive. Find more details below.
Important dates ahead:
Sunday, Dec. 11 at 3:05 p.m. CT - Week 14: Chiefs vs. Broncos - Empower Field at Mile High Stadium - Denver, Colorado
The Soul of KC Holiday Raffle & Toy Drive is back for another year. Through your raffle ticket purchases, the KCSN foundation will be able to get presents for Operation Breakthrough’s Christmas Store. Last year, we raised nearly $14,000 to benefit kids in the Kansas City community.
Raffle tickets can be purchased through the @KCSportsNetwork Venmo. You can find a list of prizes in the graphic above.
1 ticket = $20. 10 tickets for $100. Tickets will be on sale through December 6. Winners will be drawn LIVE on the KC Sports Network YouTube channel at halftime of the December 11 game when the Chiefs take on the Denver Broncos.