State of the Chiefs, Pt. 1 - S37

by kohkaynerain | 7 years ago | 0 Comments

As we enter week 15 of the 2018 season, Coach Ian Johns of the Chiefs is looking towards the future. After making his RedZone debut during season 36, the Chiefs have gone 15-14 to date, but will miss the playoffs for the second year in a  row. Let's take a look at the current state of the team, what needs to be improved, and where this team may go down the road.

 

Quarterbacks -

Once he took over the team, Coach Johns immediately named QB Patrick Mahomes II his starter under center. Mahomes showed that he could lead the team, though his decision making and accuracy on the deep ball both needed much improving. Unfortunately, he has suffered from the dreaded sophomore slump, being out 4 weeks with a broken thumb not helping matters. This year, he has completed 60% of his passes for 2,960 yards, while throwing 11 touchdowns and 19 interceptions.

 

What Must Improve - If this team wants to win, Mahomes must learn how to make better decisions with the football. This will be the second year in a row where he has thrown more INTs than TDs. That has to change or the Chiefs won’t go very far at all.

 

Running Backs

Kareem Hunt was also asked to take the reins once Coach Johns took over the team, and so far he has had a rough stretch. While being a reliable red zone option during his rookie season, he was expected to carry a larger workload this year. He started the year strong, gaining 361 rushing yards and 6 touchdowns in the first 4 games, but fell off soon after. In the 6 games following that stretch, he did not score or run for more than 67 yards. During the week 11 win vs. Arizona, Hunt went down with a dislocated hip that would end his season.

 

What Must Improve - Hunt and the Chiefs other HBs have shown that they are able to make defenders miss in open space. The issue is getting to that open space and getting to the second level, which brings me to…..

 

Offensive Line

The Chiefs offensive line is not bad, but at times they seem to not be good enough. While they have only given up 21 sacks while Mahomes is under center (about 1 sack for every 15 attempts), Kareem Hunt and Charcandrick West were only able to average 3.7 and 3.5 YPC, respectively.

 

What Must Improve - The line needs to improve across the board. While they aren’t giving up a ton of sacks, they still need to keep the QB healthy, or they’ll have another injury situation like the one this season. More importantly, they need to be able to open up more lanes for the running backs. With the exception of a few games, the line almost forces KC to be a pass first team.