Everybody knows about the Chiefs’ offense and Patrick Mahomes. But it’s the defense that could be the key to multiple Super Bowls.
At the end of the 2019 season, the Chiefs won Super Bowl LIV — the franchise’s first Super Bowl win in exactly half a century — with an offense that ranked third overall behind the Ravens and Cowboys in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted efficiency metrics. Kansas City’s defense ranked 14th in those same metrics, which was a serious jump from the Chiefs’ rank of 26th the year before. The switch in defensive coordinators from Bob Sutton to Steve Spagnuolo was a major part of the improvement, as were the signings of cornerback Bashaud Breeland, defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, edge-rusher Alex Okafor, and linebacker Damien Wilson, as well as the trade of the team’s first-round pick to Seattle for defensive end Frank Clark.
Breeland, Mathieu, and Clark were specific difference-makers. Clark totaled 13 sacks last season, including five in the postseason, and had 64 total pressures and 35 stops. Breeland, one of my top 11 outside cornerbacks in the 2019 season, allowed allowed just 34 receptions on 73 targets for 546 yards, 204 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, three interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 68.6. Breeland had an interception in the Super Bowl, but there were plays that were even more impressive.
Charvarius Ward, Breeland’s bookend on the outside, allowed 48 catches on 100 targets for 796 yards, 249 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 73.6. Ward was an undrafted free agent who joined the Chiefs in 2018 out of Middle Tennessee State, and he’s ascended to help Kansas City’s defense put one of the more underrated cornerback tandems on the field. Breeland’s April arrest and possible suspension for violating the NFL’s policies on substances of abuse complicate that story, but when Breeland and Ward are on the field together, they are a duo on the rise.
Then, there’s Mathieu, who I believe should have been named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year after a season in which he played 92 snaps on the defensive line, 388 in the box, 31 at wide cornerback, 205 at free safety, and 561 in the slot. When in the slot, perhaps his most impactful position, Mathieu allowed 42 receptions on 61 targets for just 297 yards, 174 yards after the catch, one touchdown, two interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 69.1. But wherever he lined up, Mathieu was a true five-tool weapon and schematic difference-maker. Add in the return of safety Juan Thornhill, who was enjoying a fine rookie campaign before he suffered a torn ACL in December, and you have the basis of a formidable secondary.
Now, on to Tuesday’s news. The Chiefs signed defensive lineman Chris Jones to a four-year, $85 million contract extension with $60 million guaranteed — a deal brought about in part with the cap flexibility allowed by Patrick Mahomes’ recent monster deal. Jones has been one of the most dominant interior defensive linemen in the league over the last few years — in fact, his performance in Super Bowl LIV was so transcendent, I argued that he should have come away with the game’s MVP award. Last season, he ranked fifth in the league among players aligning inside with 64 total pressures, and though he logged just one pressure in the Super Bowl, his presence was undeniable, and allowed the Chiefs to negate several big play attempts from Kyle Shanahan’s 49ers offense. Jones had three passes defensed, all came late in the game, and all were crucial.
The first deflection came with 5:27 left in the game, and the 49ers up 20-17 with second-and-5 at their own 25-yard line. Jones (No. 95) isn’t going to get to 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in time to create pressure, so instead, he drops and deflects.
The second deflection came with 1:49 left in the game and the Chiefs ahead, 24-20, as the 49ers had first-and-10 at their own 49-yard line. Once again, Jones is a primary point of focus for the 49ers’ offensive line, preventing him from collapsing the pocket. So again, Jones gets his hand up, and San Francisco has to go back to the drawing board.
The third deflection came on the very next play, and this one almost ended the game for good. Jones got the heel of his hand on a Garoppolo burner, and cornerback Kendall Fuller nearly came away with an interception.
The 49ers failed to score on either of those drives, while the Chiefs were busy scoring three touchdowns in a five-minute stretch. Without Jones’ efforts, it could have been a very different story.
The linebacker position was not a relative strength for the team, especially in coverage, but general manager Brett Veach and his staff endeavored to change that with the second-round selection of Mississippi State’s Willie Gay Jr., who has the athleticism and fluidity to affect offenses at a different level.
In total, the Chiefs have done a ton since the 2019 offseason to revise a defense that was in desperate need of improvement. It’s a defense that now travels with an attitude pointed at anybody who would doubt it, and for good reason.
“I’ve had a chip on my shoulder since I came into this league,” Jones told me in the week leading up to the Super Bowl. “That’s what gives me an edge, and what keeps me going. The doubters. The naysayers. The people who don’t believe. The critics. The analysts who say the Chiefs don’t have enough — that’s what keeps me going.”
Jones kept going all the way to a monster contract. The Chiefs could well keep going with this defense, and the offense everybody already knows, all the way to a Super Bowl re-run — and championships to come.
