What the Chiefs Have to Find Before the Playoffs

What the Chiefs should try to establish before the playoffs start

I hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas. I know I have.

I’m finally getting a chance to really let some feelings out about the broken Chiefs’ offense since I’ve been off this week of shows. In the most challenging season of the Patrick Mahomes era, Christmas Day was a new low.

Mahomes completed more passes to the Raiders than Aidan O’Connell did for the final three quarters of the Chiefs’ embarrassing 20-14 loss. Two defensive touchdowns wasted a brilliant defensive performance that saw them surrender only six points — and again NO PASS COMPLETIONS FOR OVER 45 MINUTES OF FOOTBALL.

For crying out loud, Tommy Townsend had more completions in the final three quarters against the Raiders.

The back half of the season has been grappling with disbelief in what we’re saying on a weekly basis with the offense. The goodwill will never be gone with Mahomes, and once changes are made for the 2024 season, the belief in this offense will ride high yet again. We’ve seen Mahomes work miracles with little — or on a high ankle — but what’s been going on around him has been too much to overcome to this point.

Receivers, pass protection, inconsistencies in the run game, and in some cases Mahomes himself have created a dim outlook for the season. Confidence is waning — and that’s not something I ever anticipated with Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Andy Reid in the building.

But here we are two weeks from the regular season over, the Chiefs still yet to guarantee a spot in the playoffs or an AFC West title, and an anemic offense that’s been unfamiliar since Reid got into town.

Time is all but up. There’s a realistic scenario in which the key players on the Chiefs play only one more game this week against Cincinnati with their seeding locked in and they can use week 18 as a chance to regroup, refresh, and hope to put their best foot forward with their season on the line in the Wild Card Round.