During the 2018 regular season, the Kansas City Chiefs had to outscore opponents to get where they are. The teams they lost to, also had good offenses. The problem was that the Chiefs left too much time on the clock and the defense couldn’t stop anyone. To add fuel to the fire, they couldn’t “bleed the clock” by running the ball, so they had to rely on Mahomes magic to make big plays in “clutch time”.
Enter week 17. The Chiefs were tied with the Chargers for 1st place in the AFC West. They held the “tie-breaker” against LA, so they HAD to win, to remain AFC West champions and the #1 seed in the playoffs. A loss and a Chargers win, would place them in the Wild Card round, with the #5 seed and no home games in the playoffs. So what did they do? They shut the Raiders out(except for a garbage time field goal), by stopping the run, taking away their best receiver and picking off Derek Carr twice. Carr hadn’t thrown an interception since week 5.
The question Chiefs fans were asking: “Did the defense actually play well, or are the Raiders just that bad?” Anyway, the Chiefs squeaked out the AFC West championship and the #1 seed in the playoffs, but the defense was still a huge concern. Could they beat the top caliber teams with this defense? The answer came during the divisional game, against the Colts.
The “experts” said the Colts had a top offensive line, a great running game and a great Tight end in Eric Ebron. Luck and TY Hilton were killing teams with the deep balls. It’s no secret that the Chiefs had a great offense, so this game was going to be a “score fest”, right? As the old guy on College GameDay says, “not so fast, my friend”.
Someone flipped a switch on the Chiefs defense. I’m guessing that most of the country didn’t think KC could win, if Mahomes didn’t throw for a TD. Well they did and Mahomes didn’t. Mahomes directed great drives, but only scored 1 touchdown, by running it in. Enter the Chiefs’ defense. The great Colts’ O-line got handled by the lowly Chiefs’ defense. The Colts’ O-line had allowed the fewest sacks and Mack had been running like his tail was on fire, the past few weeks. Someone poked the sleeping bear. The Chiefs defense suddenly came alive.
The Chiefs pass rush was onto Luck like feathers on a duck (I’m also a poet). They sacked Luck 3 times and forced 1 fumble, along with numerous hurries. The Chiefs defense allowed just 49 yards rushing from Mack and only 51 yards for Ebron. Andrew Luck was allowed 203 yards on 36 attempts and a QBR of 78.8. The Chiefs defense totally dominated the Colts’ offense.
To rub salt into the wounds, the Chiefs rushing attack tallied 180 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns. Travis Kelce added 108 receiving yards. But this game was won by the #31 defense in the league. In the past 2 games, the Chiefs have allowed only 9 points, all in garbage time. Has the defense turned the corner, or were the past 2 games a fluke? If the defense is for real, the league is gonna have a very hard time keeping Kansas City out of games like Sundays’ AFC Championship, for years to come. Stay tuned!!!
