I recently saw a snippet on the internet where Colin Cowherd was summing up each team in the NFL in three words. When it came to the Chiefs he said “Good, but boring.” Naturally this made me think.

Are the Chiefs boring?

What Makes an NFL Game Exciting?

You can agree or disagree with me, but I think on offense the following plays are exciting:

• Touchdowns
• Passing Plays of 25+ Yards
• Rushing Plays of 10+ Yards

We’ll call the bottom two in that list big plays.

On defense I’d say the following are exciting.

• Defensive Touchdowns
• Interceptions
• Fumble Recoveries
• Sacks

So how do we go about using these exciting plays to see whether or not Colin Cowherd is right to accuse the Chiefs of being boring? I figured the easiest way would be to look at stats and rankings from the 2015 season .... so here we go.

The Chiefs Offense ‘Doesn’t Make Big Plays’ is a Myth

In 2015 the Chiefs offense ranked 12th in big pass plays (passing plays more than 25 yards), and 7th in big run plays (run plays more than 10 yards.) This alone should make people think the Chiefs offense is less ‘boring’ than half of the teams in the NFL.

All of these narratives surrounding the Chiefs offense and their inability to create big passing plays is a myth.

Actually the Chiefs had the most big plays in the AFC West in 2015.

If you look further, the Chiefs offense scored the 8th most offensive touchdowns in the NFL in 2015. Once again, the Chiefs aren’t boring.

When you add the Chiefs ranking in total big plays and offensive touchdowns, and compare it to the rest of the league you get the following:

The Chiefs actually had the 6th most ‘exciting’ offense in the NFL in 2015.

As of now, I think Andy Reid has the right to pull a Maximus from Gladiator and scream “ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!” to any of these pundits who claim the Chiefs offense is boring.

What About the Chiefs Defense?

We all know the Chiefs defense is awesome, who doesn’t? So it’s no shock to see the following from the 2015 stats:

• The Chiefs had the most defensive touchdowns
• They had the second most interceptions
• They had the 21st most fumble recoveries (OK we need to work on that)
• And they had the fourth most sacks.

Using the same trick I used for the offense, again I added all the defensive rankings for each team in the NFL to see how ‘boring’ the Chiefs defense was.

According to the exciting stats, the Chiefs had the 4th most exciting defense in 2015.

So the Chiefs defense isn’t boring, we all knew that though.

Why Does the Chiefs Are Boring Narrative Exist

Oh sure, we could float a lot of conspiracy theories around, like:

• We’re in the Midwest, and an NFL team can only be exciting if they’re on the east or west coast.
• Some type of alien brain leech has infected Colin Cowherd and it’s controlling his mind to force him to think that big plays and scoring touchdowns are boring.
• Or perhaps, for some reason, the fact Alex Smith doesn’t throw tons of interceptions makes our entire team boring.

Does anyone else think it’s sickly for a fan to think their team is exciting because their starting quarterback throws interceptions?

So, Wait ... The Chiefs Aren’t Boring?

When you take the Chiefs 2015 exciting offensive play ranks, defensive play ranks, and toss in their wins; the Chiefs are the 6th most exciting team in the NFL.

All of this, of course, is by my humble evaluation. And if you’d like to see the rankings I used for this article you can get them here. Just in case you didn’t believe me.

The 2016 Chiefs most likely won’t be a boring team, no matter how hard the narrative is pushed. — That is of course if the 2016 Chiefs are anything like the 2015 Chiefs.