With the Chiefs one day away from potential immortality, I was debating whether to see how the Big Game plays and then write this. But it really doesn’t matter when it comes to discussing the Chiefs’ 2024 season. Simply stated, these Chiefs are the league’s best team, year in and year out…and that will be the case while Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Andy Reid are with the team…and DC Steve Spagnuolo can be included too. It will be interesting to see what happens during “Act 2” of Mahomes’ career after Kelce, Reid, and Spagnoulo leave. And make no mistake, this nucleus will only be together for a couple more seasons. Make no mistake about it: on paper, this should have been a slightly better-than-average team. But they are nowhere as good as a 15-2 team on the verge of three straight Super Bowl victories… “A Chief-Pete.”
QB
The team ended the regular season 15-2, and it was only due to the greatness of Mahomes. The team was only 22nd in rushing offense. They were 12th in passing offense, which was a pedestrian year by his standards. Mahomes did manage to put up decent numbers this year, completing 67.5% of his passes and throwing for 3928 yards. In 16 games, he finished seventh in passing yards…ahead of league MVP Josh Allen. If he played in wk.18 he surely would have broken 4000 yds and possibly cracked the top five. And he added 307 rushing yards.
RB
As I said earlier, this team should not have been 15-2; their roster does not have enough impactful players…especially on the offensive side of the ball. They were 22nd in rushing offense this season and lacked a 1000 rusher. The ghost of Kareem Hunt led the team with 728 yards. Coming back from injury, Isiah Pacheco only managed 310 yards in seven games. Neither man averaged four yds per rush.
WR
Again, this receiving core, not including Kelce, is mediocre at best. Kelce led the team with 97 catches and surely would have cracked 100 had he played in wk.18. He had 823 receiving yards, which also led the team. Think about that: they are in the Super Bowl again, having won 15 regular season games, yet they did not have one RB or receiver to have over 1000 yards. Their best WR was rookie Xavier Worthy. He scored nine total TDs, with three on the ground, and he gained 742 total yds. This team has a talent vacuum on offense…thankfully they have Mahomes at the helm. This run is so similar to the Patriots Dynasty, which was also often lacking in impact players, bailed out by Tom Brady’s greatness.
DEFENSE
The Chiefs’ strong suit this season was on the defensive side of the ball, led by DC Steve Spagnuolo. Bill Belichick is often considered the gold standard for defensive coaching, but especially if the Chiefs win the Super Bowl again, Spagnuolo will continue to inch closer to him. Some already say he has surpassed Belichick. The Chiefs ended the season ranked ninth in total defense. They had 39 sacks on the year, led by Chris Jones and George Karlaftis, who combined for 13 of them. Add Nick Bolton and his team-leading 106 combined tackles; this defense is truly stout. The Super Bowl will come down to this group. If they can contain Philadelphia’s RB Saquon Barkley, they will win. If they can’t, I don’t think that even Mahomes can pull this rabbit out of his helmet.
HEAD COACH
What more can be said about the greatness of Andy Reid? He has now surpassed 300 career wins, inching closer to Belichick. After the Super Bowl, he will have coached in more playoff games than any man in history. And unlike Belichick, he has a winning record with more than just Mahomes…he has proven to be a great coach, regardless of who his QB is. His health and Father Time will be all that does him in…because the rest of the league surely can’t. With 301 career wins (before Sunday’s Super Bowl), he is 32 career wins away from Belichick and 46 wins away from Done Shula. It will take two or three seasons to catch Belichick and three or four seasons to catch Shula. It will be interesting to see if he sticks around long enough to catch them.
