The Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV, but that doesn’t absolve the team from making improvements for the 2020 NFL season. One measure that they can improve upon is penalties and penalty yardage.
In 2018, Kansas City was the most penalized team in the NFL, with over 20 more penalties and 100 more penalty yards than the closest opponent. They only made marginal improvements during the 2019 season according to data from NFL Penalties. That marginal improvement is with sweeping changes to the defensive coaching staff and personnel. It also includes all of the success they had through the Super Bowl. Take a look:
| 2019 | Penalties | Penalty Yards |
| Chiefs | 124 | 1,151 |
| Opponents | 136 | 1,061 |
The Chiefs earned 12 fewer penalties than their opponents in 2019 but had 90 more penalty yards. Their 1,151 penalty yards were good for the second-most in the NFL to only the Jacksonville Jaguars. To provide some important context on that number, Kansas City ran the most plays in the NFL last year with 3,336. The Jags ran over 500 fewer plays on the season because they didn’t make the playoffs.
Kansas City also had a total of 10 offsetting penalties, which was good for the most in the NFL. Their penalty count and yardage would have been even higher if not for those offsetting fouls.
It was practically an even split between home and away penalties. The Chiefs had just four more away penalties on the year to home penalties. So they’re no less or more disciplined at home vs. on the road.
It seemed like a near-weekly occurrence that Andy Reid said his team could improve in the penalty department. They’ll face some big challenges fixing the penalty issue this offseason because of the limited practice time due to the coronavirus pandemic. Practice makes perfect, but a lack of practice means mistakes.
The one thing they have going for them is continuity. There won’t be many new faces playing prominent roles on the offensive or defensive side of the ball. Until we know exactly what training camp will look like in the COVID-19 era of the NFL, it’s hard to say for certain that the Chiefs will be able to get their act together in 2020. The good news is that it didn’t prevent them from winning a Super Bowl last season, so if they’re even able to improve in the slightest, it should help their chances at a repeat.
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