The Kansas City Chiefs have made it through a quarter of the 2019 NFL season.
The early schedule has been a bit tough on the Chiefs, starting out 3-of-4 games in hostile road environments. At the same time, it also helped them make a little piece of history. They became the sixteenth team since the merger to open the season with a 4-0 record with three of those wins coming on the road. They also became the only team start 4-0 with three road wins in back-to-back seasons. Consistency is a good thing to carry over into this season.
Typically, people wouldn’t be so critical of an undefeated team in these circumstances. However, after being an inch away from a Super Bowl berth in 2018, this team is under the microscope as they seek to finish the job in 2019.
I’ll spare you my rant on letter grades and get right into our quarter season grades for the Chiefs:
Offense
Grade: A+
What the Chiefs have done on the offensive side of the ball in 2019 is nothing short of remarkable. Why do I say that? For starters, typically teams can’t handle the early attrition that the Chiefs have gone through on the offensive side of the ball and continue to win games.
Teams that have the QB hobbled, lose their top WR, starting LT and starting RB in the span of two games don’t do what the Chiefs have been doing. Instead, they lose games and have a convenient excuse, but not the Chiefs. This just goes to show the leadership on the offensive side of the ball and the depth that they have.
On top of that, Patrick Mahomes has somehow managed to improve from his 2019 season. It’s just hard to fathom how he could possibly improve on his 2018 MVP campaign, but he looks much improved.
The Chiefs currently rank second in the NFL in total offense with an average of 475 yards per game. They’re first in the NFL in passing offense with a 373 yard per game average through the air. They’re only 20th in rushing offense at 102 yards per game. If they keep this up, they should still be the most dominant offense in the NFL for the course of the 2019 season. As they get Tyreek Hill, Eric Fisher and Damien Williams back they should only improve.
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Defense
Grade: C+
Believe it or not, this defense has improved but I understand Chiefs fans being frustrated because this doesn’t feel like the defense that they were promised. Fans expected clear improvements to the secondary and clear improvements to the run defense. So far, they just haven’t been there for the Chiefs.
Through a quarter of the season, the Chiefs are giving up the fourth-most yards per game of any team in the NFL at 408.5 total yards. The only team giving up more rushing yards than the Chiefs are the Miami Dolphins and no team is giving up greater yards per carry than the Chiefs at 5.9 yards per tick. Shockingly, the passing defense has improved as the Chiefs are ranked 14th in passing yards at 258.8 per game.
Contrary to popular belief the Chiefs are getting good pressure, this season as they’re tied for 9th with 11 sacks on the season. It’s less from star power and more from scheme this time around. However, they’re still allowing too many first down conversions with 56 on the season.
There’s obviously some optimism that Mo Claiborne can come off of suspension and help this defense, but the problem is deeper than simply getting another good corner on the field. I’m interested to see how much the next four games improves things on the defensive side of the ball as the Chiefs begin a two-game homestand and play 3-of-4 at home.
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Special teams
Grade: C
Special teams has typically been a boon for the Chiefs, but this season it hasn’t been all that special, at least in the return game. De’Anthony Thomas and Mecole Hardman each have four kick returns for over 90 yards. Byron Pringle has two returns for 41 yards. The punt return game has been similarly unproductive. When the Chiefs do happen to break off a big return in 2019, it’s always been followed with a flag. They just don’t seem to have anyone who can do what Tyreek Hill once did for this team in the return game.
Not everything has been bad as Harrison Butker leads the NFL in extra points made and extra-point attempts. He’s 8-for-9 on field goals with 3 coming from 40+ yards. Meanwhile, Dustin Colquitt has just 10 punts on the season and punt coverage has been quite good with just three yards allowed on average per punt.
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Coaching
Grade: B-
There haven’t been any notable coaching lapses in-game. In fact, there are a few great coaching moments we can point to. For instance, when Mecole Hardman called for a fair catch on the onside dropkick from the Ravens. That was a heads up play and Andy Reid specifically mentioned Toub teaches the players to fair catch in weird situations like that.
One thing that has seemingly improved is in-game adjustments on the defensive side of the ball. Bob Sutton was notoriously bad at this during his career with the Chiefs. Meanwhile, Steve Spagnuolo seems to excel at making these changes on the fly. If the defense starts out rough, they usually stabilize by the third or fourth drive. He doesn’t even need to wait until halftime to get his guys on the same page.
I think there’s still a lot of improvements to be made from a coaching standpoint, and I fully expect those things to be worked on as the season goes on.
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