Chiefs 2022; A Season to Remember AND Forget!!

by JH34_1 | 4 years ago | 0 Comments

The Chiefs 2021 season ended on a dark note.  KC won the AFC West and had the top seed in the AFCplayoffs, but lost Mahomes to a PED suspension.  Still, their first game was against the 7th seeded Bengals who also had a backup QB due to their own PED issues.  An early injury to the Bengals QB left them playing with a punter for most of the game.  The Bengals managed to pull off the win and eventually won the Super Bowl.  The Chiefs were shell shocked following that loss and it seemed to still be haunting them at the beginning of the 2022 season.  

The Chiefs started the season by trading the 49ers for Kwon Alexander.  A move that the team hoped would solidify the middle of their defense and shore up the team's biggest weakness.  Bringing in Alexander was a gamble because his hefty contract would strain the already razor-thin Chief's salary cap, but management felt like this was the missing piece to put them over the top.  The offense was a top 5 offense the last 2 seasons and all of the major contributors were still in place.  The defense now looked to be on par with the offense, but many people felt like 2022 was a must-win season because maintaining all these high-priced players would be impossible.

The season started out 0-5 and looked like the team was still reeling from the playoff loss.  The team managed to beat an unimpressive Raiders team in week 7, but at 1-5 the season looked lost.  The team lost the following game to the Jaguars and traded All-Pro SS Tyrann Mathieu to the Bears at the trade deadline.  A trade that signaled the Chiefs were already starting their rebuilding phase and looking to 2023. 

However, the next 9 weeks saw the Chiefs come to life on both sides of the ball.  Everything seemed to click and the Chiefs went on an 8 game winning streak.  The defense came to life and Chris Jones went on a tear during the streak with 11 sacks during the winning streak.  The team also forced multiple turnovers and was playing like was envisioned with the Alexander trade. 

Going into week 17, the team was in control of their own playoff destiny.  A simple win and you're in scenario against the 14-1 divisional rival Chargers.  The Chargers had beaten the Chiefs 4 of the last 5 meetings, but were already guaranteed the #2 seed and decided to rest several big players on both sides of the ball.  The recipe seemed perfect for the Chiefs to complete the greatest turnaround in team history.  From 0-5 to 10-6 and a guaranteed playoff spot with a win.

Unfortunately, the pressure of 9 straight must-win games caught up to the Chiefs.  Even against mostly backups, KC couldn't come up with the plays when they needed them resulting in a 29-24 loss and a 9-7 record.  A win by the Cleveland Browns over the Baltimore Ravens provided the 9-7 Browns with the better conference record and thus the tie-breaker over the Chiefs.  

Now the front office must turn its attention to the off-season.  An off-season that will certainly see some big name cuts and releases.