Flaws exposed; The three major Chiefs offensive issues SB LIX exposed
When everything goes wrong, it's overwhelming to analyze. But let's talk about the biggest overarching issues the SB exposed that KC needs to address.
Welp, I suppose we need to start talking about the “why.”
There’s a reason the first piece I wrote following Super Bowl LIX was one more reflective on how such a stunningly bad performance made Chiefs fans feel. When everything (at least on offense) goes wrong, it’s borderline overwhelming to even think about, let alone analyze and intelligently talk about. And on Sunday, that’s exactly what happened to Kansas City’s offense.
Everything that we could have feared would go wrong, did go wrong. On top of that, even things we assumed WOULDN’T go wrong (like Patrick Mahomes’ level of play) went wrong. It was as thorough a beating as I’ve seen an offense take through three quarters, with Mahomes and company only grabbing chunk plays once the game was already decided (though there are some takeaways regarding Xavier Worthy that we’ll talk about eventually).
In other words, it was ugly. Ugly enough that it’s going to lead to a lot of conversation about the Chiefs’ roster construction, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. That conversation will come at a certain point. What I’d like to do today is talk about what issues were the primary driver of the failure against the Eagles, with an eye towards weaknesses that were already in existence that got exposed. Those are the issues that will eventually be forward-facing for the Chiefs this offseason, and are the issues most important to address once we start talking about next season.
And so, let’s talk about those issues. There are three in particular that I believe are important that will come back over and over as we talk about where the Chiefs need to go this offseason. The first is the longest and most complicated, and arguably the most important as Brett Veach heads into the most important offseason since 2021.
Pass protection’s complete failure… and the failure to have a plan for it (aka the hubris factor)
This is by far the largest issue that cropped up throughout the game, and everyone knows it. You don’t have to be an analyst or a film savant to recognize that the Chiefs’ inability to keep Patrick Mahomes remotely clean was the biggest problem the offense faced. However, to just say “they couldn’t block those dudes” doesn’t quite go far enough in describing the failure Sunday. Because it wasn’t just the failure of Joe Thuney (LT edition), Mike Caliendo, and Jawaan Taylor (by far the three worst-performing OL in pass protection. We’ll circle back to that in a bit.
First and foremost, though, it has to be noted that Thuney had the worst game of his career as a Chief. Frankly, I’m not sure it’s particularly close. I don’t need to show you very many clips (and probably won’t, because who needs to watch that again?), but the short story is Thuney got beaten multiple times in the same manner throughout the game.
The short story is that the Eagles came in with a clear gameplan against Thuney (as well as Jawaan Taylor, who we’ll come back to in a moment); Run right through his chest. Drive after drive, snap after snap, it was the same thing. The Eagles had clearly done their homework on Thuney, who plays at around 300 pounds (quite light for a tackle) and has arms that are barely over 32 inches long (VERY short for a tackle). Basically, from the edge, rushers have more room to “rev up” into a bull rush or long arm, and a tackle who lacks the physical tools to combat those looks can end up having a tough day against power-based rushers no matter how good his technique.
Look at how far into the backfield he’s been blasted here, and how easily that allows the rusher to get an angle on Mahomes.
Mike Caliendo fared even worse. PFF grades aren’t the end-all-be-all, but their grading system (just as one basis of reference) had him as the worst player on the field for the Chiefs’ offense Sunday. I could show you snap after snap of him getting bullied into the backfield and failing to provide any sort of pocket space for Mahomes, but like I said, no one wants to re-watch that. He also (like in the snap above) had multiple snaps in which he was the “uncovered” OL and he didn’t do a good job helping the blocker who needed it (in this case, Thuney).
Finally, there was Jawaan Taylor (Trey Smith didn’t have a great game, but he and Creed Humphrey were the least culpable of the OL from my quick review, particularly Creed). Taylor, who had a very solid playoffs until the Super Bowl, also struggled with power-based moves from the Eagles’ edge rushers. Taylor is guy who relies on his natural athleticism and length, but isn’t particularly powerful in his lower body. And he took vertical set after vertical set despite constantly getting bulled from it throughout the game, and it resulted in some real issues with the pocket being crushed at around the 8-yard “spot” for Mahomes (with nowhere to move up in the pocket).
All of that combines for a very, very bad day for the QB.
And frankly, a lot of it was predictable. Which makes it significantly more bothersome.