Chiefs Struggling To Stop The Run Against AFC West

While listening to Nick Wright on 610 Sports this afternoon I heard a great observation from a caller -- the Kansas City Chiefs are struggling to stop the run against the AFC West. The San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos have all had some degree of success against the Chiefs this year.

The Chiefs rank 15th in the league against the run giving up about 110 yards per game. Their top three worst rushing performances come last week against the Chargers, the week before against the Broncos and last month against the Broncos.

"They ran a couple of the same plays but we got beat," Haley said on Monday. "We didn’t do things that we’ve done successfully throughout the year on defense. We were in position and we missed tackles, which is not something we’ve done a lot of this year – when we’ve been in position, we’ve been a pretty good fundamental tackling team and we’ve tackled. Yesterday we did not do that."

Is it more than just failed tackling? Do the Chargers and Broncos do things that the Chiefs just can't stop? It's a concern because AFC West teams make up over a third of the Chiefs schedule every year. It's certainly something they need to identify and fix moving forward.

I'm not sure if those teams exploit the Chiefs a certain way or if they're just playing better. The Chargers game was the first 200-yard rushing game an opponent has had against KC this season so it's not a significant concern but something to keep an eye on.

Haley did say the coaching staff has to do a "much better job" in that area so we'll see what kind of changes they make moving forward considering the last two weeks have been the two worst of the year. The Chiefs will have one last shot to play well against against an AFC West team in Week 17 when Oakland comes to town.