Kansas City has once again made it to another Super Bowl. While the wait for Chiefs Kingdom was a significantly shorter three years compared to the 50-year wait last time around, it’s still as meaningful as ever for the Chiefs.
Going into the season, there were doubts about their ability to reach a fifth consecutive AFC championship game in various members of the NFL community. They faced the losses of wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who was the main receiving target in the offence, as well as safety Tryann Mathieu who led the team in interceptions.
Many thought it would mean a downfall in offensive production and thus unable to score as readily as they did which had been the key to their success. Also, add in the hype surrounding the AFC West was going to be the hardest division in football and suddenly it looked no longer a certainty that they could run it back.
However, a 14-3 season managed to secure them the No. 1 seed in the AFC and suddenly it appeared that Kansas hadn’t lost a step at all but merely reloaded.
Kansas brought in wide receivers Juju Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling from Pittsburgh and Green Bay respectively who have both returned to some of their career-best forms since signing with both combining for 1,620 yards which more than made up for the loss of Hill. Add in the consistency of tight-end Travis Kelce who for a seventh straight year has received over 1000 yards and also added 12 touchdowns which saw him ranked No. 2 for receiving touchdowns. With more options available for Patrick Mahomes to work with meant that the offence has improved. This is demonstrated by Kansas leading in most passing touchdowns (41), receiving yards (5,250) and in turn average receiving yards (297.8) within the NFL.
The most important aspect of this team is undoubtedly Patrick Mahomes who has a career-best season and appears to be the favourite for MVP. He has set career-best results in yards passed (5.250), and percentage of completions made (67.1%) and was near equal to his record of completions made (435) within the regular season.
An important addition for Mahomes this season has been the appointment of former Bears head coach Matt Nagy as quarterback coach. Nagy returned to Kansas this year after being the offensive coordinator there five years previously where he turned the Kansas offence from 20th in 2016 to 5th in 2017. His return has been an asset in helping Mahomes further develop in the role through his previous experience with Mahomes in his rookie year as well as his experience in coaching within an Andy Reid offence.
In their offence, the issues are mainly contained in their running game. With Clyde Edwards-Helaire being out since Week 11, rookie Isiah Pacheco has taken over the main position of running back. Pacheco has done well in this role rushing for 830 yards for the season.
But besides him, there isn’t much depth to help with the load. If they can’t get the passing game to get going in the Super Bowl, then they will be in some strife as to where they are scoring from as they only average 116 yards which ranks them 20th league-wide particularly when the 49ers or Philadelphia are way superior within this area of the game.
Whilst not as defensively strong as compared to the offence, there are still strong features within the defence to look out for. For instance, Kansas City does well in the tackling department. They finished second in total sacks for the regular season with 55 with defensive end Chris Jones leading the way with 15.5. Alongside that, linebacker Nick Bolton and cornerback L’Jarius Sneed both achieved 100+ tackles showing that the Chiefs can put pressure on teams through their physical presence defensively which in big games like the Super Bowl can be the difference between winning and losing.
They are also efficient at stopping the run game allowing for 107.2 rushing yards per game which is above the league average and the same applies to the passing game only conceding 328.2 yards which put them in the top 10 for both.
The defence issues mainly lie in dealing with scoring. For as good as they are, they do concede more than most teams of a similar calibre with 21.6 points allowed which is in the bottom half of teams. If they struggle to get going offensively, then it might result in the Philadelphia Eagles getting the jump early and resulting in Kansas City chasing their opposition.
Super Bowl 57 will be extra special for Andy Reid as the Kansas City head coach will get to go against the team that he coached for 12 years and lead to five NFC conference games in the Eagles. It will also be special for the Kelce family which will see brothers Travis and Jason play against one another for NFL supremacy as well as deciding who is the better Kelce.
It does not get much better in terms of clashes when both the AFC and NFC No.1 play off against one another to decide who lifts the Lombardi into the Arizona night sky.
The Kansas City Chiefs have proven to be one of the most consistent teams that we have seen over the last three decades and they have a real shot at securing their legacy as a football dynasty if they win on the first Sunday in February. It will likely take an SB MVP performance from Mahomes to secure the second Lombardi in the space of four years and likely his place as the greatest quarterback in Chiefs history but he is more than capable of that if the last five years are anything to go by.
For a preview of the Philadelphia Eagles, you can read that article here.
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