Chenal is a hero... and the 4 biggest issues the Chiefs must address (and how)
Looking at what playing a tough Denver team showed Reid and company what they need to shore up moving forward.
I have never seen anything like that in 30+ years as a Chiefs fan.
With the Broncos lining up to kick the relatively “gimme” game-winning field goal (or so I thought at the time), I’d figured that was it. 14 wins in a row, spanning back to last Christmas, was plenty. Divisional games are always tough, and the Broncos were a good enough team in areas the Chiefs have some weak spots that it looked like living on the edge had finally caught up with Patrick Mahomes and company. It’s the NFL, I thought to myself, and you can only win so many one-score games before it bites you.
Of course, you know what happened next.
I have never, even during this incredible stretch of being a Chiefs fan, replayed a game-winning play so many times in a row.
Everything about it is perfect. Absolutely everything. The 180-degree swing from certain defeat to certain victory. Arrowhead popping like I’ve almost never heard it pop before. Chiefs players pouring from the sideline to celebrate as Broncos players stared into space in utter shock. Patrick Mahomes jumping around with a disbelieving grin (whenever a three-time Super Bowl winner is flipping out, you know something amazing has happened). And of course, the always-perfect Kevin Harlan on the call with an, “OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! BLOCKED!!!!!! THE CHIEFS HAVE WON! THE CHIEFS HAVE WON!!!!”
On an unrelated note, there’s literally no one in sports I’d rather listen to in a big moment like that than Harlan. He utterly crushes the initial call every time, then always gives the moment space to breathe as you listen to the crowd go bananas. But I digress.
And then there’s the fact that the hero turned out to be Leo Chenal. I wrote earlier this year that Chenal has become one of the most important pieces of the Chiefs’ defense despite being a part-time player. And seeing him (with George Karlaftis right behind him, he might’ve gotten it if Leo didn’t) run over a would-be blocker to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat was perhaps a perfect encapsulation of the 2024 season; Violence, physicality, and an improbable win on the back of just wanting it more.
You’re going to hear (for about the 9th time this season) a lot this week about how the Chiefs just “know how to win,” and I think there’s a great deal of truth in that statement but it’s something of a cliche. A better way of phrasing is would be that the Chiefs have so MANY different ways to win that they almost always manage to pull it off. Their offense, defense, and special teams all have multiple elements that can grab just enough breathing room to get a W when zeroes are on the clock. And that means no matter what goes wrong, they’ve seemingly always got a chance in literally any situation.
It’s a great time to be a Chiefs fan. But.
BUT.
Grabbing a highly important division win (basically burying the Broncos in the AFC West) and keeping a 2-game lead on the rest of the AFC (with the Bills on deck and the Steelers on the schedule, Kansas City has a chance to seal up the AFC wildly early this year if they take care of business) is a good thing, to be sure.
But even more so than previous weeks, the win over the Broncos showed flaws in the 2024 Chiefs that need to be worked on by Andy Reid and company. Because this won’t be the last good defensive line they face, nor the last strong secondary, nor the last well-coached QB who makes the right throws on early downs.
And so, as much as I’m still celebrating the win (9-0… PHEW), it also makes sense to discuss the four largest issues the Chiefs have that were laid bare against Denver today. There are a lot of things that could be talked about that didn’t make the list (that’s what happens with close, ugly wins), but in my opinion these are the “big 4,” with 3 being on offense and 1 glaring issue (in my opinion) on defense. Fortunately, I think there are some potential solutions (or at least partial solutions) for all of them.
Let’s start off with the most obvious one to anyone watching today’s game.