Allow me to begin this story with a disclaimer: If you’re here looking for a cast-iron solution to what’s going on with the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes, for a fearless prediction on how it all shakes out, for all the answers to whether the unexpected weirdness percolating at Arrowhead should be seen as glass half-full – or half-empty – sorry, we can’t help you. The odd slump that has befallen the team that was the best, then the second-best in the National Football League these past two seasons is a development no one anticipated and is a truly confounding one, with plenty of compelling evidence and opinion that things could either get markedly better or significantly worse. The half-empty train of thought centers on concerns around Mahomes, who around this time last year was looking like an All-Eternity quarterback for whom there could be no effective defensive antidote. This season has been an unquestionably different story, with the 26-year-old posting numbers right around the NFL average or even below, leaving the Chiefs wondering what it will take to even get into the postseason, let alone do any damage once there. “Their greatest asset has become their greatest weakness, and that’s Patrick Mahomes,” Super Bowl champion and two-time Pro Bowler Greg Jennings told FS1’s “First Things First.” “The miscues, not only in the throwing but the reads, his inability to just throw to the open receiver. We saw (tight end) Travis Kelce and the frustration. ‘Dude, what is going on?’” The Chiefs are 5-4 and it could have been far, far worse. Two weeks ago, a face mask call on the final drive handed the Chiefs 15 key yards against the New York Giants. Also, critically, Giants lineman Oshane Ximines jumped offside on a play where Mahomes was picked off, which momentarily looked to have sealed a road win for the Big Blue. Then, this past weekend, a 13-7 victory over the Green Bay Packers was far from convincing, the result salvaged by a clutch late third-and-10 throw to Tyreek Hill that looked very much like the old Mahomes. Yet even so … “Chances are you found the win unfulfilling and otherwise unsavory,” wrote Vahe Gregorian in the Kansas City Star. “It’s hard to believe the Chiefs would have won if Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers hadn’t been out after testing positive with COVID and … Mahomes continues to befuddle and even exasperate.” Amid the falloff, the Chiefs have plunged down the odds list, to ninth favorites at +1200 with FOX Bet. Some fantasy owners are dropping Mahomes, previously a slam dunk blue chip for any virtual squad. A rather spurious online petition sprung up floating the demand for Mahomes to be benched in favor of backup Chad Henne – yes, really. It got a few hundred votes too, although you suspect some of them might have come from mischief-making supporters of rival teams. And FiveThirtyEight believes there is a 44% chance the team fails to make the playoffs, while giving them a 22% shot at winning the AFC West and a 3% likelihood of lifting the Vince Lombardi trophy. Yes, the Chiefs are playing poorly and it is hard to think of a team in recent memory that is currently performing at a level so far below their provable peak. But – and here is where the glass half-full bit comes in – isn’t a team that has weathered the storm of what should be their lowest point as dangerous as any? Kansas City got lucky the past couple of weeks. If Ximines doesn’t jump and if Rodgers’ COVID saga had played out, say, a week later, the campaign could have had the stamp of doom etched upon it at 3-6. Instead, Mahomes and company are firmly in the mix in the extraordinarily egalitarian AFC, where they are among 10 teams within two games of the Derrick Henry-less Tennessee Titans. Doubling Hill and making Mahomes grind his way up the field with short passes has been the most efficient method of putting the brakes on the Chiefs’ offense to this point, but remember who this is, and what he’s done since coming into the league. “Obviously we are not playing offensively the way we want to and expect to, but we are finding ways to get wins,” Mahomes told reporters. “Until we find that same mojo we’ve had for so long we are still battling through and guys are finding ways to win games. I’d rather be walking away with a win than a lot of yards.” Next up is a visit to the Las Vegas Raiders, who have played them as tough as anyone the past couple of seasons. The contest should theoretically be a solid barometer of where they are at, but such has been the level of inconsistency, it’s hard to know what’s up from one week to the next. FOX Sports’ Nick Wright believes Sunday may have been a turning point. “Guess what?” Wright said. “That (third-and-10) was Mahomes getting back to being Mahomes. If he can get back to who he was four weeks ago, this division is the Chiefs’ for the taking.” As things stand, they are only a half game out of the division lead, though the Los Angeles Chargers have a remaining schedule that looks to be one of the softest in the league. Even so, we’ve seen too much of the Chiefs before this season to write them off – and too much of them this season to avoid the pressing question marks. When it comes to the Chiefs, firm answers about what happens next simply don’t exist, leaving just the NFL’s biggest current mystery, one that might shape the rest of the campaign more than any other. Here’s what others have said … Nick Wright, First Things First: “What makes the Chiefs great is Mahomes. And I’ve been watching someone else play QB since Week 7.” Ryan Clark, ESPN: “Patrick Mahomes is broken and he’s broken because he’s the same as he’s always been, but that’s no longer good enough.” |
