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KC Chiefs No. 1 Problem Is Turnovers

DETROIT, MI - SEPTEMBER 18:  Calvin Johnson #81 of the Detroit Lions catches the ball for a touchdown against Jon McGraw #47 of the Kansas City Chiefs at Ford Field on September 18, 2011 in Detroit, Michigan.  (Photo by Dave Reginek/Getty Images)
DETROIT, MI - SEPTEMBER 18: Calvin Johnson #81 of the Detroit Lions catches the ball for a touchdown against Jon McGraw #47 of the Kansas City Chiefs at Ford Field on September 18, 2011 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Dave Reginek/Getty Images)
Getty Images

The Kansas City Chiefs have a lot of problems right now. We know that, we've talked about that and we have plenty of statistical evidence to prove that.

The one area, though, that's hurting them the most is turnovers. Going minus seven in the first two games of the season is a miserable number. In fact, it's the worst in the NFL, tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers who put up seven turnovers against the Baltimore Ravens. (I don't even want to guess how many Baltimore would have created against the Chiefs.) The good news is that the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos are second to worst, and third to worst, respectively, in the NFL. So the rest of the division isn't looking a whole lot better.

That said, if you want to point to one area the Chiefs have to improve in to even make games look closer than these 30-plus point blowouts we've been seeing, it's turnovers. In my opinion, this is the single biggest problem with the Chiefs right now and if they continue at this rate they won't win a game all year. But they were too good last year at hanging onto the ball for me to believe they've lost their ability to avoid fumbles or interceptions. They can do it. We know they can. It's just a matter of watching them go through an entire game being careful with the ball.

Here's a list of every team in the give-away/take-away category this year:

TAKE-AWAYS GIVE-AWAYS
Rank Team Int Fum Total Int Fum Total Net Diff
1 Detroit 4 4 8 2 0 2 = 6
2 Baltimore 4 4 8 2 1 3 = 5
3t New England 3 2 5 1 0 1 = 4
3t San Francisco 3 2 5 1 0 1 = 4
3t Green Bay 3 2 5 0 1 1 = 4
6t New York Jets 5 2 7 3 1 4 = 3
6t Buffalo 2 3 5 2 0 2 = 3
6t Cincinnati 1 2 3 0 0 0 = 3
9t Chicago 1 3 4 1 1 2 = 2
9t Tennessee 2 2 4 2 0 2 = 2
11t New York Giants 0 3 3 2 0 2 = 1
11t Houston 1 3 4 2 1 3 = 1
11t Oakland 2 2 4 1 2 3 = 1
11t Minnesota 3 0 3 1 1 2 = 1
15t Arizona 3 0 3 1 2 3 = 0
15t Cleveland 1 1 2 1 1 2 = 0
15t Washington 2 1 3 2 1 3 = 0
15t Indianapolis 2 2 4 1 3 4 = 0
19t New Orleans 0 1 1 0 2 2 = -1
19t St. Louis 1 1 2 0 3 3 = -1
19t Philadelphia 2 1 3 1 3 4 = -1
19t Atlanta 2 2 4 3 2 5 = -1
19t Tampa Bay 1 1 2 2 1 3 = -1
24t Dallas 2 1 3 3 2 5 = -2
24t Jacksonville 3 0 3 4 1 5 = -2
24t Miami 1 0 1 2 1 3 = -2
27t Carolina 0 2 2 4 1 5 = -3
27t Seattle 0 0 0 1 2 3 = -3
29 Denver 0 1 1 1 4 5 = -4
30 San Diego 1 0 1 4 2 6 = -5
31t Pittsburgh 0 0 0 3 4 7 = -7
31t Kansas City 2 0 2 4 5 9 = -7
Totals 57 48 105 57 48 105 = 0

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