The Kansas City Chiefs had their third big blowout loss of the season on Sunday when the Miami Dolphins cruised toa 31-3 victory at Arrowhead Stadium, moving their record to 4-4 on the season.
What did we learn after the game on Sunday? 1.) That we don't really know anything about the Chiefs, 2.) apparently no one wants to win the AFC West and 3.) Jon McGraw might be an important part of the Chiefs.
Here are the top story lines to come out of this game. Chime in on the comments if you think I missed some.
The Chiefs are the Jekyll and Hyde of the NFL. Some people disagreed with me last night when I made this comment on Twitter but I really do think it's the case. They are 4-4 at this point of the season and, of those eight games, three have been embarrassing, ugly blowout losses while the five other games they've played well enough to win (or, in the case of the first game against San Diego, almost well enough to win). What do we know about this team? That they can string together wins but can also get blown out by bad teams? I don't really know what to say. It's odd to see a team play so poorly some weeks, and well enough to win in other weeks.
The AFC West is still wide open. As bad as the Miami game was, the Chiefs are still right in the thick of things in the AFC West. Three teams -- Chiefs, Raiders and Chargers -- are tied for the division lead at 4-4. All those teams, particularly the Chiefs, have some tough games ahead so it's impossible at this point to predict how the Chiefs, and the rest of the AFC West, will do.
The Miami loss isn't the same as the first two blowouts of the season. That's one of the questions I asked a few players after the game -- is this game like the first two games of the season that saw the Chiefs lose by a combined 89-10? The answer was a resounding no. The players pointed out that they're 4-4 right now, not 0-3, and this doesn't feel anything like the first part of the season when they started 0-3.
The Todd Haley script is to take the blame after a loss. The fourth loss of the season and Haley takes the blame for the loss once again. He said the Chiefs coaches probably worked the players too hard after the Monday night game. Maybe he's telling the truth. Maybe he's not. But we do know Haley at least tries to take the heat after big losses.
Jon McGraw is an important part of the Chiefs. Yeah, that's weird to type considering what some people say about him but the two guys behind him, Donald Washington and Sabby Piscitelli, aren't proven backups. Kent Babb of the KC Star reported that players have said privately McGraw is one of the more underrated players on the team. This isn't so much about McGraw and his play -- it's just as much about the inability of the guys behind him. (To be fair, everyone, including Brandon Flowers struggled yesterday. It's not on just Washington and Piscitelli.) Let's hope McGraw is back next week.