An IMPORTANT reflection on our season.

[ctchiefsfan]

Thanks to TR's EXCELLENT game day thread I noticed some things that are REALLY CRAZY about this season. Thought I should pass them along....

#1) Alex has 3,239 yards passing on the season. That is only 263 yards short of his best ever for a 16 game season. So barring injury or him looking like poop for the next four games he will likely have the best season of his career, pass 4,000 yards passing for the first time in his career and is on track for about 4,300 yards passing for the season. That would be right about 800 yards BETTER than his previous best.

#2) Kareem Hunt has 930 yards rushing so again he'll probably go way over 1,000 yards rushing.

#3) Tyreek Hill has 911 yards receiving. So he is going to go over 1,00 yards receiving.

#4) Travis Kelce has 871 yards receiving. So he will likely have over 1,000 yards receiving.

So here is what all that means....Our QB is going to have FAR AND AWAY the best season of his career; we're going to have a WR and a TE with over 1,000 yards receiving each and we're going to have a RB with over 1,000 yards rushing.

And our season has been tanking. WELL...I sure as hell know whose fault it ISN'T. ​The fault does not belong to the offense.

[matthewschiefs]

Here's a reflection

Maybe that losing streak could be a blessing in disguise. Maybe it was needed to point out many of the weakness in our team. Today they came out a different team. They showed an attitude like we are to good to be messing things up early on. Often times in the NFL it's won by the team just just ends the season getting HOT. Maybe we can get hot. It's up to the Chiefs to do that. Next week will tell us a lot about that

[ctchiefsfan]

Here's a reflection

Maybe that losing streak could be a blessing in disguise. Maybe it was needed to point out many of the weakness in our team. Today they came out a different team. They showed an attitude like we are to good to be messing things up early on. Often times in the NFL it's won by the team just just ends the season getting HOT. Maybe we can get hot. It's up to the Chiefs to do that. Next week will tell us a lot about that

No doubt. It may sound crazy, but if we win out we'll win the division and if we go into the playoffs on a 4 game winning streak I think we have a decent chance of making some noise in the playoffs. And let's be honest....Reid has been a pretty "streaky" coach in KC.

[ctchiefsfan]

All very good points, but I would be interested in seeing what their numbers are during that four game loosing skid. I would look them up myself but I'm just too lazy.

Well...let's check it out. I'll give some numbers on each of the losses and we can discuss why we lost that game. Perhaps taking things game by game we can explain what was really an inexplicable losing run.

Steelers 19 Chiefs 13. Smith 19/34 (55.8%) 1 TD No INT. 246 yards Rating 88.6 Rushing 15 attempts for 28 net yards. Roethlisberger 17/25 252 yards (68%) 1 TD 1 INT Rating 97.4 Rushing 37 attempts for 194 net yards. Alex didn't have a great game but he didn't stink it up either. We lost this game because the Defense simply couldn't stop Le'Veon Bell who had 179 yards in 32 rushing attempts and they allowed the Steelers a total of 446 yards. But the Offense also gets some blame because only collecting 274 total yards just plain sucks. But on balance, this loss is on the Defense for being completely unable to stop Bell.

Raiders 31 Chiefs 30. Smith 25/36 (69.4%) 3 TDs 0 INT. 342 yards Rating 127.3. Rushing 94 yards in 23 attempts. Carr 29/52 3 TDs 0 INT. 417 yards. Rate 101.2. Rushing 88 yards in 21 attempts. Alex had an excellent game. Our rushing game was decent. As we all recall, the Raiders had a little help from the zebras at the end of this game, but the Defense gets most of the blame. It's a PROBLEM when your Defense gives up 505 yards in total offense.

Cowboys 28 Chiefs 17. Smith 25/34 (73.5%) 2 TD 1 INT 263 yards. Rating 102.9. Rushing 69 yards in 19 attempts. Dak Prescott 21/33 (63.6%) 2 TD 0 INT 249 yards. Rate 106.8. Rushing 131 yards in 31 attempts. Alex had good game. The rushing game was weak. Tough to really blame the Offense or the Defense for this one, but allowing Ezekiel Elliot 93 yards rushing surely didn't help. So I say this was a team loss with the Defense maybe getting a little more blame than the Offense.

Giants 12 Chiefs 9. (overtime) Smith 27/40 (67.5%) 0 TD 2 INT 230 yards. Rating 61.5 (his worst of the season). Rushing 134 yards in 28 attempts. Manning 19/35 (54.3%) 0 TD 0 INT 205 yards. Rating 71.7 Rushing 112 yards in 32 attempts. Can't blame this one on the Defense. Holding a team to 317 yards and 12 points ain't half bad. This loss belongs to the Offense and Alex Smith with his 2 INTs.

Bills 16 Chiefs 10. Smith 23/36 (63.9%) 1 TD 1 INT 199 yards. Rating 76. Rushing 55 net yards on 19 attempts. Taylor 19/29 (65.5%) 1 TD 0 INT 183 yards Rating 94.5 Rushing 104 yards on 37 attempts. Can't blame this one on the Defense either. They only allowed 287 yards and they were chasing Tyrod Taylor all day (he had 27 yards rushing on 9 attempts. Our Offense only had 254 yards offense and Alex threw a pick. This loss belongs to the Offense.

Jets 38 Chiefs 31. Smith 19/33 (57.6%) 4 TDs 0 INT 366 yards. Rating 135.9 Alex also had 70 yards rushing) Rushing...Outside of Alex's 1 attempt for 70 yards we only had 10 attempts for 42 yards, but total rushing yards was 112. McCown 26/36 (72.2%) 1 TD 0 INT 331 yards. Rating 109.8 (McCown also had 7 rushing attempts for 19 yards and 2 TDs.) Rushing...The Jets had 49 rushing attempts (including McCown's 7 attempts) for a total of 157 yards. This is a strange game. It was Nagy's first week calling the plays. The offense collected 478 total yards to the Jets 488 yards. That's great right? But they only held the ball for 17 minutes and 11 seconds while the Jets held it for 42:49. By the end of the game our Defense had been on the field for almost 3 full quarters. They were just plain GASSED. So who the hell do you blame for this loss? The Defense for allowing 38 points and 488 yards? Or do you blame the Offense for scoring TOO QUICKLY and thereby leaving the Defense on the field for WAY TOO LONG? All in all, I think most of the blame goes to the Defense. It is after all their job to get themselves off the field.

So to sum things up...IMO in the total of 6 losses I think the Defense gets the blame for 3 of the losses, the Offense get the blame for 2 and the Cowboys game loss get's divided fairly evenly between the Defense and Offense.

As to the 4 straight losses before yesterday's win over the Raiders.....IMO the Offense gets the blame for 2 losses, the Defense for 1 and the 4th (Cowboys) was a team loss.

[Chiefs4life24]

Still makes you wonder though why the hell are we 7-6??? When we should damn we'll be 12-1 right now

[ctchiefsfan]

Still makes you wonder though why the hell are we 7-6??? When we should damn we'll be 12-1 right now

JUST SO! But you asked so I will offer my theory.....

1) We lost 2 games (Giants and Bills) that were pretty much the fault of the offense. They have been GREAT this season but they have had a couple of lousy games. Happens. 2 losses.

2) While IMO the Defense has lost us 3 games this year (Steelers, first Raiders game and Jets) they have been NOTHING like we have come to expect the last 4 years. What they are really missing this year is turnovers. Last year I believe we were +19. Now we are +8. So the Defense has been OK most of the time but OK is all they have been.

So there you have 5 losses that IMO can be dumped squarely in the lap of poor play by the Offense or Defense. In the past when one side of the ball sucked the other usually did well enough to cover up for it. NOT this year. Offense hasn't been good enough to make up for the Defense's crappy days and the Defense hasn't been good enough to make up for the Offense's crappy days. End result...5 losses. Had we won those games we would be at the 12-1 you mentioned. And being honest we lave missed the spiritual leadership of Berry and Hali. Those are 2 guys that pick the team up when they are down. And being even more honest...our Special Teams have been decent this year but they have been NOTHING like we have come to expect. So the Offense is having to carry the team. They have mostly done it but when all you have is offense things aren't going to be great as MANY Chiefs and other teams have seen before.

What this should remind us is that a team that revolves around it's offense and a stud QB isn't going anywhere if the Defense and Special Teams aren't AT LEAST well above average. Let's remember....the Super Bowl the Broncos won in 2015 had NOTHING TO DO with Peyton Manning and the Offense. Their Defense is what won them that Super Bowl.

We MUST get the Defense and Offense both running on at least 6 out of 8 cylinders ALL THE TIME.

[Chiefster]

Well...let's check it out. I'll give some numbers on each of the losses and we can discuss why we lost that game. Perhaps taking things game by game we can explain what was really an inexplicable losing run.

Steelers 19 Chiefs 13. Smith 19/34 (55.8%) 1 TD No INT. 246 yards Rating 88.6 Rushing 15 attempts for 28 net yards. Roethlisberger 17/25 252 yards (68%) 1 TD 1 INT Rating 97.4 Rushing 37 attempts for 194 net yards. Alex didn't have a great game but he didn't stink it up either. We lost this game because the Defense simply couldn't stop Le'Veon Bell who had 179 yards in 32 rushing attempts and they allowed the Steelers a total of 446 yards. But the Offense also gets some blame because only collecting 274 total yards just plain sucks. But on balance, this loss is on the Defense for being completely unable to stop Bell.

Raiders 31 Chiefs 30. Smith 25/36 (69.4%) 3 TDs 0 INT. 342 yards Rating 127.3. Rushing 94 yards in 23 attempts. Carr 29/52 3 TDs 0 INT. 417 yards. Rate 101.2. Rushing 88 yards in 21 attempts. Alex had an excellent game. Our rushing game was decent. As we all recall, the Raiders had a little help from the zebras at the end of this game, but the Defense gets most of the blame. It's a PROBLEM when your Defense gives up 505 yards in total offense.

Cowboys 28 Chiefs 17. Smith 25/34 (73.5%) 2 TD 1 INT 263 yards. Rating 102.9. Rushing 69 yards in 19 attempts. Dak Prescott 21/33 (63.6%) 2 TD 0 INT 249 yards. Rate 106.8. Rushing 131 yards in 31 attempts. Alex had good game. The rushing game was weak. Tough to really blame the Offense or the Defense for this one, but allowing Ezekiel Elliot 93 yards rushing surely didn't help. So I say this was a team loss with the Defense maybe getting a little more blame than the Offense.

Giants 12 Chiefs 9. (overtime) Smith 27/40 (67.5%) 0 TD 2 INT 230 yards. Rating 61.5 (his worst of the season). Rushing 134 yards in 28 attempts. Manning 19/35 (54.3%) 0 TD 0 INT 205 yards. Rating 71.7 Rushing 112 yards in 32 attempts. Can't blame this one on the Defense. Holding a team to 317 yards and 12 points ain't half bad. This loss belongs to the Offense and Alex Smith with his 2 INTs.

Bills 16 Chiefs 10. Smith 23/36 (63.9%) 1 TD 1 INT 199 yards. Rating 76. Rushing 55 net yards on 19 attempts. Taylor 19/29 (65.5%) 1 TD 0 INT 183 yards Rating 94.5 Rushing 104 yards on 37 attempts. Can't blame this one on the Defense either. They only allowed 287 yards and they were chasing Tyrod Taylor all day (he had 27 yards rushing on 9 attempts. Our Offense only had 254 yards offense and Alex threw a pick. This loss belongs to the Offense.

Jets 38 Chiefs 31. Smith 19/33 (57.6%) 4 TDs 0 INT 366 yards. Rating 135.9 Alex also had 70 yards rushing) Rushing...Outside of Alex's 1 attempt for 70 yards we only had 10 attempts for 42 yards, but total rushing yards was 112. McCown 26/36 (72.2%) 1 TD 0 INT 331 yards. Rating 109.8 (McCown also had 7 rushing attempts for 19 yards and 2 TDs.) Rushing...The Jets had 49 rushing attempts (including McCown's 7 attempts) for a total of 157 yards. This is a strange game. It was Nagy's first week calling the plays. The offense collected 478 total yards to the Jets 488 yards. That's great right? But they only held the ball for 17 minutes and 11 seconds while the Jets held it for 42:49. By the end of the game our Defense had been on the field for almost 3 full quarters. They were just plain GASSED. So who the hell do you blame for this loss? The Defense for allowing 38 points and 488 yards? Or do you blame the Offense for scoring TOO QUICKLY and thereby leaving the Defense on the field for WAY TOO LONG? All in all, I think most of the blame goes to the Defense. It is after all their job to get themselves off the field.

So to sum things up...IMO in the total of 6 losses I think the Defense gets the blame for 3 of the losses, the Offense get the blame for 2 and the Cowboys game loss get's divided fairly evenly between the Defense and Offense.

As to the 4 straight losses before yesterday's win over the Raiders.....IMO the Offense gets the blame for 2 losses, the Defense for 1 and the 4th (Cowboys) was a team loss.

Good analysis, and while I agree with your reasoning I think that even though you can point to one side of the ball or the other the losses I think they are split nearly evenly between both offense and defense thus making it a team losing streak overall (IMO). I think that the Cowboys and Steelers just lined up and beat us; the others we more or less beat ourselves. Interesting read, even if it is about our losses.

[ctchiefsfan]

Good analysis, and while I agree with your reasoning I think that even though you can point to one side of the ball or the other the losses I think they are split nearly evenly between both offense and defense thus making it a team losing streak overall (IMO). I think that the Cowboys and Steelers just lined up and beat us; the others we more or less beat ourselves. Interesting read, even if it is about our losses.

Chiefster....

With VERY FEW EXCEPTIONS every win is a team win and every loss is a team loss. In wins there is always plenty of credit to spread around and in losses there is always plenty of blame to go around. When I blamed these losses on the Offense or Defense, I did not mean to suggest that the Offense or Defense was solely at fault. What I meant was that the Offense or Defense was entitled to noticeably more than 50% of the blame. Using the Jets game as an example, when your Offense gets 478 yards total offense and scores 31 points you are damned well supposed to win the game--especially when the game is against a mediocre team like the Jets. But we didn't. Therefore, in that game the Defense gets more than 50% of the blame--especially when they allow the mediocre team to get 488 total yards and allow the enemy to control the ball for 42:49. So IMO the Defense in that one has noticeably more than 50% of the blame. Not 100%, not 80% but IMO certainly more than 55%. So again IMO that means that loss should be classified as a Defensive loss.

I agree on the Cowboys game. Pretty much a 50-50 loss IMO. If the Offense or Defense is going to be blamed for that loss then I think that perhaps the Defense get 51%. But like any election, anything that close to 50-50 is subject to a recount. LOL

The Steelers game I again agree they just beat us. But again, in any game where a Defense that is supposed to be very good allows 1 running back to get 179 yards that does kind of stick out like a pimple on a debutante's nose. Add to that the Defense allowing 446 total yards and I think that tips the blame ratio to over 55% on the Defense.

But if you toss out the Cowboys and Steelers games as being "too close to call" as far as blame is concerned that leaves us with 4 losses--2 of which seem to clearly be Offensive losses and 2 of which seem to clearly be Defensive losses. And the last time I checked 2-2 was the same as 50-50 which as mentioned above is subject to recount. So all in all I don't see any way to lay the blame for the 6 losses or the 4 game losing streak on either the Offense or the Defense.

I suppose I should probably now do a similar analysis of the 7 wins but I don't really have the time just now. I'm not too "computer-smart" so doing an analysis like I did for the losses takes a couple of hours. But I'll try to get to it. It's fun even if there is some work involved.

[Chiefster]

Chiefster....

With VERY FEW EXCEPTIONS every win is a team win and every loss is a team loss. In wins there is always plenty of credit to spread around and in losses there is always plenty of blame to go around. When I blamed these losses on the Offense or Defense, I did not mean to suggest that the Offense or Defense was solely at fault. What I meant was that the Offense or Defense was entitled to noticeably more than 50% of the blame. Using the Jets game as an example, when your Offense gets 478 yards total offense and scores 31 points you are damned well supposed to win the game--especially when the game is against a mediocre team like the Jets. But we didn't. Therefore, in that game the Defense gets more than 50% of the blame--especially when they allow the mediocre team to get 488 total yards and allow the enemy to control the ball for 42:49. So IMO the Defense in that one has noticeably more than 50% of the blame. Not 100%, not 80% but IMO certainly more than 55%. So again IMO that means that loss should be classified as a Defensive loss.

I agree on the Cowboys game. Pretty much a 50-50 loss IMO. If the Offense or Defense is going to be blamed for that loss then I think that perhaps the Defense get 51%. But like any election, anything that close to 50-50 is subject to a recount. LOL

The Steelers game I again agree they just beat us. But again, in any game where a Defense that is supposed to be very good allows 1 running back to get 179 yards that does kind of stick out like a pimple on a debutante's nose. Add to that the Defense allowing 446 total yards and I think that tips the blame ratio to over 55% on the Defense.

But if you toss out the Cowboys and Steelers games as being "too close to call" as far as blame is concerned that leaves us with 4 losses--2 of which seem to clearly be Offensive losses and 2 of which seem to clearly be Defensive losses. And the last time I checked 2-2 was the same as 50-50 which as mentioned above is subject to recount. So all in all I don't see any way to lay the blame for the 6 losses or the 4 game losing streak on either the Offense or the Defense.

I suppose I should probably now do a similar analysis of the 7 wins but I don't really have the time just now. I'm not too "computer-smart" so doing an analysis like I did for the losses takes a couple of hours. But I'll try to get to it. It's fun even if there is some work involved.

Agree with every bit of that bud! I appreciate the hard work to provide the stats! A very good read! As far as the wins are concerned I'd be very surprised if about 50% of the credit didn't go to both side of the ball as well; although it is possible to win in spite and not because of one side or the other. Although, In both wins and losses I believe that Coaching bares some of the blame/credit as well.

[ctchiefsfan]

Agree with every bit of that bud! A very good read!

Thank you Sir.

In both wins and losses I believe that Coaching bares some of the blame/credit as well.

Excellent points. Coaches are kind of like QBs. Mostly when things go badly they get a disproportionate share of the blame. But when things go well the congratulations get spread all around. You have to be a special kind of masochist to get into coaching at the level of Head Coach or Defense or Special teams coordinator. I know Reid is getting very well paid for his efforts but I hope Sutton and Toub are too. I don't really know why any of them do it. I'm older than Reid or Toub and only a few years younger than Sutton. I've spent many years in management but I wouldn't much want to walk into the type of pressure-cooker they live in anymore. That kind of poop excited me when I was in my 20s, 30s and 40s but not so much any more.

As far as the wins are concerned I'd be very surprised if about 50% of the credit didn't go to both side of the ball as well; although it is possible to win in spite and not because of one side or the other.

I'm looking forward to looking at the stats for the 7 wins. Looking at the numbers helps me get past the emotion of the game and keep a somewhat "level head". I hope to do it tonight, but I've got a few more hours of work to do before I can clear the time to sit down and "git-r-done".

[Chiefster]

Excellent points. Coaches are kind of like QBs. Mostly when things go badly they get a disproportionate share of the blame. But when things go well the congratulations get spread all around. You have to be a special kind of masochist to get into coaching at the level of Head Coach or Defense or Special teams coordinator. I know Reid is getting very well paid for his efforts but I hope Sutton and Toub are too. I don't really know why any of them do it. I'm older than Reid or Toub and only a few years younger than Sutton. I've spent many years in management but I wouldn't much want to walk into the type of pressure-cooker they live in anymore. That kind of poop excited me when I was in my 20s, 30s and 40s but not so much any more.

True; I'm as guilty as anyone to view losses through the fog of emotion and start calling for heads to roll. Like you, though, I would have zero desire to step into those shoes.

I'm looking forward to looking at the stats for the 7 wins. Looking at the numbers helps me get past the emotion of the game and keep a somewhat "level head". I hope to do it tonight, but I've got a few more hours of work to do before I can clear the time to sit down and "git-r-done".

Same here; it will be interesting to see how the numbers apply to our wins as well.

Take your time buddy.