After the Kansas City Chiefs loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 2, I said that the Chiefs defense looks better this year. Oops. That was ... not right. The Chiefs have given up 31, 38 and 36 points in the past three weeks.
So is the Chiefs defense broken? This is their worst three-game stretch since Andy Reid took over.
A few of the problems a non-expert like me has been seeing:
- If they don't get pressure on the quarterback, it's over. That's true of a lot of teams but we watch the Chiefs every week so we see it.
- Injuries are hurting them at whoever lines up as the third cornerback. The first three weeks, it was because Sean Smith was out. Last week, it was because Phillip Gaines was out. Gaines is out for the year so this problem isn't going anywhere.
- The Chiefs are giving up too many big plays down the field. Andy Dalton fumbling the snap and launching one deep to AJ Green (he completed it) is one I'm thinking of.
- Teams can force the Chiefs into their nickel defense and then run on them at a pretty good clip. They changed their defensive alignment against Cincinnati in those situations but it didn't help.
- The Chiefs have played really good quarterbacks in the past two weeks. Aaron Rodgers and Andy Dalton are both MVP candidates a quarter of the way through the season. The problem is, the Chiefs thought they would be at the level where they can compete with those teams.
I don't know the answer here but you have to look at Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton. The Chiefs have a lot of individual talent but they haven't been able to put it together in the past two weeks.