It wasn’t the comprehensive victory that the Chiefs Kingdom is used to, but a win is a win, especially in November. Early on, the AFC leading Kansas City Chiefs looked to land knock out haymakers as they made consistent forays into the red-zone against the Rams at will. However, the red-zone production was not their usual elite best. There was a bit too much settling for field goals for Andy Reid’s taste. Four times to be exact. He said as much in the post-game. “Got to do a little better in the red zone. That’s a place where we’re normally pretty good,” said HC Reid. “We were off a tick tonight. We’ll get back to the drawing board and take care of that.”
Indeed, they will. I have no doubt about it. Coaches like Reid don’t rest on their laurels because of a positive result. Reid is an all-time great head coach because he wants the process to be performed at peak efficiency as often as possible and a while today was a 16-point win that improved the Chiefs to 9-2 including a dominant six of their last seven over the defending champion Los Angeles Rams, there was a lot that can be cleaned up and improved upon. That’s a good thing if you ask me. If you can win decisively in the NFL and still have plenty of things to correct, that is the perfect situation in November for a coach of a team that aspires to be playing in February.
Mahomes and Kelce Magic
Mahomes was his usual brilliant self, with 27 completions on 42 attempts for 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Mahomes was brilliant, but he was not perfect. Travis Kelce firmly has his hands on the title of best tight end in the league with another jaw dropping run after the catch for a touchdown. Last week he victimized Derwin James and this week he bodied Jalen Ramsey, both players are undisputedly top 5 in their positions, and some could argue the best in the game at their positions. Defensive coordinators are scheming up ways to get their best coverage guys with speed on Kelce and their efforts have proven useless as Kelce has taken on and bested all opponents who dare step into the arena of gladiators with him.
Offensive Production
Isaiah Pacheco ran hard 22 times and chipped in 69 yards on the ground and 1 rushing touchdown. Mecole Hardman was missed. His speed on the outside would have dissuaded or discouraged the Rams from playing so much man coverage which could have opened up things more in the running game and quick passing game. Nevertheless, Mahomes still threw for over 300 yards and connected with 10 different receivers in the game. Talk about sharing the wealth and getting everyone involved like a basketball point guard!
Defense Held the Line
The Chief’s defense is the underrated underappreciated unit because they play in the shadow of this world-famous Chiefs offense. However, it was definitely the defense that carried the day on Sunday. Sure, it was the lowly Rams who are banged up and a shell of their former super bowl winning selves but holding a team to 10 points in the NFL is an accomplishment no matter who you’re playing against. Winning should not be taken for granted and neither should good defensive play. Especially considering that the Chiefs defense held the Rams to only 198 total yards and a mere 82 yards passing after subtracting sack yardage. Keeping a passing game in check like that is a major accomplishment.
Rams Woes
Sean McVay had a very rough day on the sidelines as Arrowhead was rocking and his players were knocking him over while he watched the Chiefs defense docking his offense and tearing them to tatters. Bryce Perkins himself only had 100 yards passing and was running for his life all day. Perkins was sacked 3 times despite his elusiveness and was harassed all game long. The constant pressure caused him to throw 2 costly interceptions, and all hope the Rams had of shocking the world in Arrowhead died a quick and painless death right after the halftime intermission as Mahomes led his squad on a 71-yard touchdown drive with Pacheco finishing it off with a 3-yard touchdown run to go up 20-3 and all but slamming the door on the Rams and their pipe dream of making this game competitive.
A Look Ahead
The Chiefs did what they were supposed to do. They beat a bad Stafford-less Rams team decisively and will work on correcting the red-zone mistakes that they made on Sunday because they know they can’t afford to make those same mistakes against an interconference rival like the Cincinnati Bengals next week. The Rams have now lost six in a row, meanwhile the Bengals have won 7 of their last 9 since starting the season 0-2. The Bengals have the belief that they can beat the Chiefs because they did it last season on the road in the playoffs in the AFC Championship game. Next week the Bengals will be at home with the stakes being much less but this is still a very important matchup for them and for the Chiefs.
I believe this is a must win game for the Chiefs to keep their lead for home field advantage throughout the playoffs with the Dolphins and Bills breathing down their necks. The AFC is such a stacked conference with so many teams only 1 or 2 games behind the Chiefs. In the AFC you can go from a 1 seed to a 7 seed in two weeks if you’re not exceedingly careful. The Chiefs will have to be super careful during these next 3 weeks where they will be the visiting team in each game starting with the Baby Bengals on next Sunday. Go Chiefs!
