Grab your morning cup of coffee as we recap and react to the Chiefs’ Week 10 loss to the Titans.
Grab a cup of coffee and join us as we start off dissecting the fourth loss of the season on Monday.
Every morning following a Kansas City Chiefs win or loss, a few of our writers here at Chiefs Wire will provide their post-game thoughts and quips. It’ll let you know how we’re all feeling about the Chiefs after covering them on gameday. Gather around and be sure to share your thoughts on the Chiefs with us on Facebook and Twitter.
Charles Goldman
This has to be one of the most frustrating Chiefs’ teams in recent memory. One week the defense is playing solid mistake-free football, the next week the special teams are the saviors of the game, another week the offense looks unstoppable. For whatever reason, they can’t seem to have all three of these things happen at the same time. It’s a full-on failure to play complementary football and it’s sapping the life out of this team and the fanbase.
I don’t know if Kansas City got caught looking ahead to the showdown in Mexico City for Week 11, but they fumbled away a golden opportunity against the Titans. They let a winnable game slip out of their grasp and now it leaves little room for error down the stretch. The Raiders are closing in on them and they still must travel to Foxboro and play the Patriots.
Look at the strength of win and strength of schedule for the Chiefs and you can tell this is still a really good football team. They just need to get out of their own way and rally together to find some consistent success throughout all phases.
Mitch Carney
The Chiefs just can’t get a break. Patrick Mahomes returns and has a fantastic game throwing three touchdowns for over 400 yards, but due to bad special teams performance and some poor run defense, he just wasn’t able to get the job done. It’s crazy to think that he did everything right including getting the Chiefs into field goal range to tie the game, but a blocked kick would end it.
I still believe that the Chiefs are a good team and have a good chance to win the Super Bowl, but they need to fix the sloppy play. I personally can’t wait until the bye week, so that the Chiefs can finally get everyone healthy and just prepare for the final stretch before the playoffs.
Max Ramsey
Patrick Mahomes came back from his injury this week, but unfortunately so did the early season issues that plagued the Chiefs. The defense was burned on the run on several occasions, but the biggest issue with the team in this game was the special team’s units. You can bring up the offense being unable to finish drives, you can bring up the explosive plays allowed by the defense, but the special teams for the Chiefs had some sloppy returns and two late botched field goal attempts late.
It’s going to be tough to come away from this game with any positives, but clearly, the concerns people had about Mahomes coming back early were proved to be unnecessary as Mahomes did some work on the field in this game. This was a game they should have won, however, and it will be hard for the team to get over this week. All we can do is hope that they move on and fix the issues in time for the Chargers game.
This was pretty much the definition of an inexcusable loss. I’ve been consistent in saying that the Chiefs just need to get healthy to get back to being a Super Bowl contender, but I’m less sure of that now. I would have expected the Chiefs to win this game with Matt Moore at quarterback.
To squander this game away despite having Patrick Mahomes back, who looked very healthy, throwing for 446 yards and three touchdowns, is embarrassing. The team is openly admitting its effort isn’t what it should be. The Chiefs are playing horrible special teams despite supposedly having a great ST coordinator. Oh, and then a head coach who consistently retraces his mistakes since the first year on the job.
The Chiefs will bounce back from this. I believe they’ll win the AFC West and perhaps win a playoff game. What reason do we have, however, to believe that this season is going to end any differently than every other season under Andy Reid? Blowing double-digit leads and losing close games due to sloppy, undisciplined football is getting really old.
Vinciane Ngomsi
Well, that was a disappointing performance by the Chiefs. After dominating nearly the entire game, they absolutely collapsed in the final minutes and now add another loss on the season. I wish I could say it’s quite shocking, but it’s reminiscent of the Chiefs of seasons past. With all due respect to Andy Reid, he’s got to be much better at clock management. Calling a timeout before a two-point conversion to essentially hand the Tennessee Titans a win is perhaps the most creative avenue he has used to bottle a game.
At this point, it’s unclear where the Chiefs go from here. Not sure if it’s a roster concern or a managerial issue, but this isn’t the kind of team ready to battle New England in a few weeks. This isn’t even a team that could win a Wild Card game in the playoffs.
With so many healthy components, it confuses me how they don’t all mesh together. It’s even more frustrating because Kansas City was supposed to build off of last year, but it seems like they’re just regressing further and further.
Danilo Di Julio
In what should have been a hard-fought well-earned road victory for the Kansas City Chiefs, this writer found himself having to take some time as he walked away from Nissan Stadium to breathe and reflect. Why? Because our beloved Chiefs found a way to waste a 446 yard 3 touchdown effort by the reigning MVP. They snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
Two major missed calls greatly affected the outcome of this game. First, on a long Derrick Henry touchdown run, Charvarius Ward was held for about 15 yards rushing down the field or very likely would have tripped up the large back. A holding call on that play changes things quite a bit. Then, near the end of the game, the Chiefs defense allowed Tannehill to drive the Titans down the field and score quickly, adding a two-point conversion to take a three-point lead. Within a few plays, Mahomes had KC in field-goal range but a Titans player jumped offsides and blocked the kick. There was a flag, people came out on the field. Ultimately, the officials explained nothing and they announced, Titans Win over the PA.
The fatal error by the Chiefs was calling a pass on third-and-2 in the red zone. You have to run the ball and get the first down. Some offensive linemen were knicked up but hey, next man up. If you get the first down there you can continue to bleed the clock and get out of the stadium with the win. It’s not rocket science, it’s football. And sometimes, I think the offensive geniuses of the league overthink things.
