The Kansas City Chiefs, a team that has been to the Superbowl in each of the past two years and came out as champions in 2020, and a favorite to make it back to that point again this season, have started to show cracks in what was thought to be a dominant football team. As I write this, they come off a win in Washington to move to a respectable 3-3, but this lies well below their expectations coming into the season. What has gone wrong? Are they no longer the favorite in the AFC? Let’s examine the possible reasons as to why the Chiefs have not returned to form yet. 

On the offensive side of the ball, injury and inconsistency has riddled Kansas City early on. Although Tyreek Hill is doing his thing, and Patrick Mahomes continues to be a top quarterback in the NFL, there are problems to look at. Injuries to the offensive line and a new injury to young running back Clyde-Edwards Helaire (one that will keep him out for an extended period of time), have certainly not helped this offense return to superstardom. Another thing to point out, however, is Mahomes’s play at times. At this point we are all accustomed to watching him make his usual dazzling and acrobatic plays, but he has gotten somewhat careless at times. He has thrown as many interceptions through 6 games this year as he did in 16 last season, and is often trying to extend plays a bit too much. Should we be worried about Mahomes? Certainly not. But this is affecting the Chiefs at this moment

Now, on defense, they have been struggling mightily. Although they have star talent such as Chris Jones and Tyrann Mathieu, the Chiefs have let up at least 29 points in all but one of their games. Their offense can compete, but this is no recipe for success. This is a cause of worry, as they say, “defense wins championships”, but the Chiefs do not look to have a championship defense at the moment. It is important that they limit the big plays and the late scoring by opposing offenses in order to return to championship caliber. 

Can the Chiefs turn it around? Their offense is there, their defense is not so much, and they have to clean up some inconsistencies, but there should be no worry here. Look for them to rattle off wins in an easy stretch of schedule, and we will all be forgetting I even tried to doubt anything about them. Find out as the NFL season continues.