The Chiefs’ first matchup against the Broncos in Week 14 was one of the best games of the season for Kansas City’s special teams unit.
In Week 17 vs. Denver, it was one of the unit’s worst games. It was so bad that the unit dropped from 18th to 24th overall in Football Outsider’s special teams DVOA rankings.
It’s not even due to poor play across the board, either, but rather silly mental errors that seem to be easily fixable. Some of these frustrating issues have been a problem for the Chiefs all season long.
Thankfully, the unit wasn’t all bad. We’ll start with the biggest positive — that rookie safety Nazeeh Johnson has been impressive on special teams in the second half of the season. Then we’ll dive into the issues that plagued the team in Week 17.
Additionally, be sure to check out my special teams stats, snap counts and grades for individual players via Google Sheets for a closer look at player performances.