Let’s Argue: “The Chiefs did not deserve to beat the Lions”

Welcome to this week’s edition of Let’s Argue!

Inspired by a video series created by music reviewer Anthony Fantano, Robert Rimpson’s weekly series takes a look at hot takes, unpopular opinions, wacky predictions and more from Kansas City Chiefs fans.

The Chiefs did not deserve to beat Detroit

It is true that the Chiefs may have had their worst game of the season on offense and special teams on Sunday against the Detroit Lions, but I think saying they didn’t deserve to win is going a bit too far.

The Lions played well — and even outplayed the Chiefs in certain areas of the game — but they had their share of mistakes as well. The Lions lost two fumbles — one of which was returned for a touchdown — and only scored seven points on the Chiefs’ three turnovers. The Chiefs made their share of mistakes, too — but the 100-yard fumble return, Chris Jones’ performance on the defensive line and the final game-winning drive showed that the Chiefs were able to make plays when they were absolutely necessary — which in my book, is more than enough to deserve the win.

The linebackers are the biggest problem on defense

This actually something I’ve been keeping an eye on for several weeks — but as of right now, I don’t agree with this take.

The linebackers are the key to stopping the run, and the Chiefs have allowed the third-most rushing yards per game in the NFL with 149.8. While that isn’t ideal, the Chiefs’ biggest concern should be not allowing big plays through the air. As evidenced in the Detroit game (and against the Baltimore Ravens last week), even if teams run the ball extremely well against Kansas City, they need to gain big yards through the air to keep up with the Chiefs offense.

The biggest plays in Week 3 for the Ravens were two pseudo-Hail Mary throws that converted third-and-longs and extended important drives that kept Baltimore in the game. Likewise, many of the Lions’ biggest plays were long completions through the air where Chiefs cornerbacks had chances to make a play.

The Chiefs are going to have a lot of leads this year. While stopping the run would be nice, stopping deep passes are even more important for holding on to those leads.

The Lions gave the blueprint on how to beat the Chiefs

This is an interesting take because I both agree and disagree with it.

I agree that Detroit showed that the Chiefs offense is beatable (without Tyreek Hill at least) and that putting pressure on Patrick Mahomes — along with forcing turnovers — can give teams a good shot at defeating Kansas City.

But this isn’t new information. Pressuring the quarterback and forcing turnovers will give you a good chance against any team in the league. The problem is that making those things happen against Kansas City is no easy task.

The injury to left tackle Eric Fisher does make pressuring the quarterback easier, but Mahomes’ ability to extend plays with his feet can (and have) made up for a lack of protection. While the fumbles were plentiful in the Detroit game, Mahomes has still yet to throw an interception this year — and three of the Chiefs’ four lost fumbles this season happened in one game. My guess is that the team will make protecting the ball a focus during practice this week — making forcing turnovers that much harder.

Chiefs fans need to R-E-L-A-X

For the most part, I agree with this take. While I don’t think the game against Detroit meant nothing, Chiefs fans who believe that sky is about to fall because of one bad offensive performance are overreacting a bit.

Think about it this way: on their worst game of the year, the Chiefs still managed to score 34 points (27 on offense) and Mahomes engineered a game-winning drive when it was needed most. If you can do that on a bad day, your team is in pretty good shape.

But I understand the worry. Chiefs fans are conditioned to believe something bad is going to happen sooner or later — especially when the team has a good record; as the this tweet put it, fans are “waiting for the other shoe to drop.” Patrick Mahomes changes things, so Chiefs fans should get used to this new way of life — where the team can play badly and still come out with a win.

Morris Claiborne will save the Chiefs secondary

I strongly disagree with this. To put it plainly, I think the Chiefs secondary — particularly the cornerbacks — needs a lot of help. They give up big plays often. The best of the bunch has arguably been Bashaud Breeland — which isn’t great.

Claiborne may be a good player, but I’m of the opinion that nothing short of an All-Pro cornerback will improve the secondary a significant amount. Could Claiborne turn out to be good? Sure. Do I think that Claiborne will be the All-Pro CB the Chiefs need? No. I do not.