NFL Open Thread: What’s wrong with the Chiefs?

There are multiple things wrong, but one issue is that like a lot of even very good player’s coaches, Andy Reid’s teams to seem to lose attention to detail as his tenure proceeds:

what’s wrong with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense?
They let all of their fundamentals slip in the offseason. For all of his merits, Andy Reid loses sight of the details after his teams peak. It happened in Philly, and it’s happening in Kansas City.

We could cite a hundred little stat splits or measure Mahomes’ footwork with a micrometer. We could explain away all of Mahomes’ flaws by blaming them on his receivers, the game plans, the protection, two-high safety looks (LOL) or by claiming that he has become so talented that he has transcended the need to complete passes or score touchdowns. (There are some wacky theories circulating on the Interwebs). But the bottom line is that the whole organization bought into the “just fix the offensive line and everything will be perfect” offseason storyline, and they are paying for it.

What about their defense?
About one-third of the starters should not be starters. Daniel Sorensen is just the flagbearer.

Can these problems be fixed in the second half of the season?
No. There’s not enough practice time to correct the offensive errors and no one on the practice squad or waiver wire who can fix the defense. The best the Chiefs can do is keep everything duct-taped together while the car is barreling down the freeway.

The team with the best roster in the conference just lost to Jacksonville, so things are wide open enough that the Chiefs could still make a run by getting hot at the right time, but you wouldn’t want to bet on it.

Speaking of genuine (as opposed to the Adam Gase class) offensive gurus, Kyle Shanahan may yet prove to be a top-tier head coach but he really does need to start winning more games at some point:

decided to look up which coaches have better career winning percentages than kyle shanahan. not disappointed pic.twitter.com/dtJIFsEwyE— explaining “dragula” lyrics on genius (@Yelix) November 7, 2021

Mike Tice! Norv! Dave Wannstedt! Eeee-yow.

Granted, he’s been to Super Bowls as both a high-autonomy OC and a head coach. He also world-historically screwed up the first one and wasn’t a lot better under pressure in the second one, so the paradox continues.