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Very few preseason projections had the Kansas City Chiefs at 1-2 heading into their week four matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles. Turnovers on offense and weak showings defensively have the team at the bottom of the AFC West, and with a losing record for the first time since 2015. With Super Bowl or bust expectations and a target on their back, every game on their schedule this year will be crucial for the Chiefs’ path back to February.
One of the most talented rosters in Chiefs’ history, this 2021 team has underperformed on both sides of the ball. Speaking to the media, players openly admit they’re both surprised and motivated by their recent struggles, aiming to prove something new every week in pursuit of getting back to .500.
As they prepare to travel to Philadelphia, Kansas City is working to enact their latest bounce-back plan, with the incentive of getting Andy Reid his 100th win as Chiefs’ head coach. Veteran safety and 2020 All-Pro selection Tyrann Mathieu told reporters before Thursday’s practice that the team is getting back to basics defensively, focusing on communication and unit cohesion rooted in the team’s work in the preseason.
“You deal with different things throughout the course of a season,” He said of the juncture Kansas City has found itself at three weeks in. “Obviously, coming into training camp, we had a couple points of emphasis, things that we really wanted to get better at, things that we worked on getting better at. It really hasn’t gone away, not necessarily disappointed or discouraged, we just know there’s a lot more work for us to do. So, just consistently trying to put a group together, keep the group together. I think that’s the most important thing.”
Mathieu continued, pointing out the strength of the Chiefs’ coaching staff and the vision they’ve shown for the team moving forward as part of the equation in battling through the struggles against Baltimore and Los Angeles.
“We’ve got some great coaches. We like to take their word,” Mathieu said. “Obviously, every week in the NFL, you have to have a sense of urgency. Every game is important, especially divisional games, but you’ve got to just keep chipping away. You can’t necessarily change the things that had happened. You’ve just got to paint a clearer picture of how you want things to go going forward.”
The picture that’s been painted so far hasn’t been pretty, but it is a long season and Kansas City has plenty of time to find solutions to their issues defensively, especially in the red zone. Speaking on what it’ll take to get the Chiefs’ back into their championship form, Mathieu was confident as ever that the bonds formed in the locker room and sacrifices players were willing to make for each other would be key in a defensive turnaround.
“[We are] just playing for each other,” Mathieu explained. “I think anytime you have great success in this league as a team, individually, it’s a lot of outside noise, a lot of outside opinions, expectations. People want you to play how they expect you to play, but at the end of the day it’s all about the guys in the locker room, coaches, and as long as we keep that mentality, I think being 1-2 won’t necessarily stop us from getting to our ultimate goal, and that’s to win the championship and obviously win the division.”
Mathieu will make his third start of the season against Philadelphia on Sunday after missing Week 1 on the COVID list. Major contributions by him in the form of third down stands, red zone coverage and forced turnovers could be the difference in getting Kansas City back on track, or suffering another defeat.
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