Thursday night’s loss to the Detroit Lions opened eyes around the league regarding the Kansas City Chiefs’ strengths in 2023. The defense was the reliable option during the game, providing big plays and consistency, holding Detroit’s offense to 14 points.
One of the leaders on defense is linebacker Nick Bolton, who addressed the unit’s performance and lack of satisfaction after leaving Arrowhead Stadium with a loss during his post-game press conference.
“We lost the football game,” Bolton explained. “I think that’s where you measure yourself at – especially in this league. Games are won in inches and in a couple situations down the stretch, and we didn’t execute well enough.
“You can say that we gave up 14 points, and that’s a good start and all that, but ultimately we lost the football game. Our goal was to come out of here 1-0 this week, and it didn’t happen. Back to the drawing board, the guys will be better and ready to go for Jacksonville.”
The offensive side of the ball wasn’t as dominant as the team is used to, which made the defense’s outing get lost in the headlines. Bolton isn’t concerned by the offense’s uncharacteristic start, focusing more on what his unit can do better.
“Our offense has given us reason to believe that they are the best in the league at what they do,” Bolton said. “Regardless of how the game goes, whenever they have the football, they have a chance to score. We had 100 percent faith that we could get a stop and get the ball back to our offense – even in the last two minutes.
“They’re going to score the football, and we have a lot of faith that those guys are going to come back hungry next week and figure out what they have to do on that side of the ball. Now it’s up to us, on our side of the ball, to maintain what we did this week and also find ways to get better. Tackling is going to be at the top of the board.”
The Chiefs offense struggled without Travis Kelce who missed his first game due to injury since his 2013 rookie season.