Chiefs Chronicles: Accepting The Truth Of This Team- 2024 Season Week 4
Some Things Are Just Hard To Accept, The State of The Chiefs Receiving Corps, Kareem Hunt & My Fantasy Football Nemesis, Last Word on Pro Football is Trash, & Bunches and Bunches More!
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Some Things Are Just Hard To Accept
When we are faced with truths that we don’t want to believe, accepting them can be tough.
For example, the following was overheard (spoken by an early Star Wars superfan) outside of a theater in my hometown, just after the first screening of The Empire Strikes Back on June 20th, 1980:
“Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father? Yeah. Sure, he is. They expect us to believe that one of the most evil villains in movie history is Luke Skywalker’s dad? If you’re dumb enough to believe that, I’ve got some oceanfront property in Arizona I’ll sell you- real cheap. You remember Eddie Walker from metal shop? Well, his cousin works in Hollywood, and he said that Luke’s real dad is going to be introduced in the next movie, played by none other than the Bandit himself- Mr. Burt Reynolds!”
That same fan had some thoughts (whispered loudly to his buddy mid-movie) three years later, after seeing one of the big reveals in Return of the Jedi:
“Wait. They’re trying to tell us that Princess Leia is actually Luke’s sister? That can’t be true- they’ve kissed multiple times! It would be weird and gross if they were brother and sister. Trust me, in the next movie we’ll find out that they aren’t related. She’ll end up with Han, naturally, but all of the ‘Luke made out with his sister’ stuff is just there to fake out the Empire. Who does George Lucas think he’s fooling? Alright. Burt should be showing up any minute now!”
We know now, that nameless nerd (did you catch the unintentional alliteration at the start of the sentence?!) and so many others were wrong. Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker’s father (no epic Smokey & The Bandit/Star Wars crossover materialized) and, initial ickiness of their first few encounters aside, Princess Leia was Luke’s sister. It was very hard for a lot of Star Wars fans back then to process and accept the truth of those revelations.
As a Chiefs fan in 2024 who vividly remembers the high-flying offenses of the 2018-2022 Patrick Mahomes-led teams (which constitute 5 of top 7 all-time Chiefs offenses- including the top 3) that collectively averaged 30.1 PPG and 406 YPG, I’m pretty sure I know how those nerds felt. (Note: As a nerd, I can use the word. Wow! First I give you alliteration and then I follow it up with poetry?! It’s almost like you’re reading about sports on Substack AKA “The place where nerds gather to write.”)
BTW: In case you’ve forgotten, the Mahomes’ rookie season 2018 Chiefs offense was absolutely spectacular- to the tune of 35.3 PPG & 425.6 YPG. If Dee Ford lines up on the correct side of the line of scrimmage, the current Chiefs have four Super Bowl wins and Tom Brady has one less. That one still hurts.
Before last week’s game, full of unwarranted optimism, I predicted a blowout (38-17 with 55 total points scored) by the Chiefs. I figured that it’s been awhile since they had really roughed another team up and they were due a blowout win.
Unsurprisingly, I was wrong.
As the game went along Sunday night and I watched the Chiefs offense fail to pull away from the Falcons (ICYMI, I detailed my feelings on “close games” in the last Chiefs Chronicles), an all too familiar thought (going back at least a season) popped into my head:
“They’re going to lose to a team they should be blowing out.”
When the Chiefs defense stopped the Falcons on 4th down with 4:04 left in the game, I had some hope that the offense could simply run the clock out and secure the win. Just pound the rock with Steele, get a first down, and call it a night. Still, that negative thought was silently bouncing around my skull like an old-school text screensaver, and it was quickly joined by this one:
“Since when have these Chiefs taken the easy path to victory?”
This new thought was immediately proven true when Patrick Mahomes’ pass to Xavier Worthy fell incomplete on 3rd & 2. Since they were on their own 14-yard line, a punt made sense in the moment- unlike the two times earlier in the game that Coach Reid sent Harrison Butker out to kick FGs rather than go for it on 4th and short or 4th and goal. Matt Araiza (he seems pretty good so far) boomed a 51-yard punt, setting the Falcons up at the 35-yard line with 2:32 left in the 4th quarter.
That wasn’t the ideal situation for the Chiefs to win the game, no matter how well the defense was playing. Sure the Falcons needed a TD to take the lead, but if they did score the Chiefs would have little to no time to get into FG range to tie or win the game. I stayed standing in front of my TV, full of nervous energy, from that point of the game on.
Then the defense came out, bent (a little too much for my taste) but didn’t break, and stopped Bijan Robinson for a loss (on a baffling East/West run play-call by the Falcons) on 4th down to seal the victory. The Chiefs won but I felt less happy than relieved. Watching them struggle to finish off an inferior opponent on game day and writing about it now, I’ve come to this unpleasant realization:
At least for now, this is who the Chiefs are and this is how they win games. Close games, often decided on the last drive, sometimes decided by the defense, are what we can expect from this Chiefs team until further notice.
It won’t be easy but we will just have to accept it. I’m pretty sure I can do it.
So long as they keep on winning…
The State of The Chiefs Receiving Corps
So far this season, a lot of stuff (much of it bad) has been going on when it comes to the Chiefs group of pass catchers. To recap:
Hollywood Brown was lost to injury for at least the regular season and has yet to play a meaningful snap for the Chiefs. Since he only signed a 1-year deal, he may never play in a game that counts in KC. Not great.
Xavier Worthy, while exciting, is still a rookie WR in an Andy Reid offense and has come back to Earth since his 2 TD performance in Week 1. I think he continues to grow in the offense and his chemistry with Patrick Mahomes will improve.
Travis Kelce has gotten off to a very slow start by his (or any high-level TE’s) standards. People are freaking out and blaming everything from his advanced age (he’ll be 35 in about a week- oh, the humanity!) to his acting gigs to Taylor Swift. IMO, he’s going to be just fine.
Juju Smith-Schuster is back and looks to be working himself into game shape, but how much he has left in the tank is unknown. He had 2 Receptions and a TD on Sunday night. My hope is that he gets close to what he was two years ago in KC.
Justin Watson has been targeted just 5 times on the season and has 4 Receptions. He’s a good depth guy but that’s about it.
Skyy Moore hasn’t been on the field much and has not been targeted this season. He isn’t going to be a factor on offense.
Isiah Pacheco, who has turned himself into a reliable pass catcher, is out for 6-8 weeks and Carson Steele is an unknown quantity as a receiving back on the pro level.
That is a whole bunch of not great news, along with some question marks. While there are glimmers of hope scattered throughout, seeing a list like that could give any NFL fan indigestion and it has definitely given Chiefs Kingdom a lot of reasons to be worried about the passing offense this season.
The one guy we don’t currently have to worry about (at least on the field) and the main reason I have confidence the offense will just keep getting better is Rashee Rice (as seen in the above GIF). He has looked nearly unstoppable in every game this year.
He is currently 4th in the NFL in receiving yards (two players ahead of him have already played their Week 4 games) and 3rd in YPG amongst players who have played every possible game this season. He leads the league in YAC and is 3rd in receptions behind Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson of the NY Giants, who have played one more game.
When defenses start shifting their focus to Rashee, I believe Travis Kelce will start seeing less double teams (and attention in general) and Patrick Mahomes will start looking his way a lot more often. Plus, you know Travis is going to bust out at some point- probably against the Chargers (and I just realized that it’s 2 AM on gameday- I’d better start wrapping this thing up).
Once both Rashee and Travis are rolling and an ascending Xavier Worthy plus a rounding into shape Juju Smith-Schuster are added in? That transforms Patrick Mahomes’ receiving corps from a nightmare for the Chiefs into the horrifying monster in the closet that keeps other teams (and their defensive coordinators) awake at night.
All that doesn’t even include the return of this guy (⬇️), who knows a little bit about catching passes from Patrick Mahomes…
Got something that you want to say? What are you waiting for? Go ahead and comment, already!
Kareem Hunt & My Fantasy Football Nemesis
When I first heard the update on Isiah Pacheco’s injury, I texted my good friend (and fellow football fan) Nick to tell him the bad news, as you can see in the top half of the above screenshot. After doing that, I finished my increasingly slow morning routine, exercised a little bit, did some chores around the house, and then jumped in the shower.
When I got out, I checked my phone and saw an alert from my fantasy football league:
Nick knew Pacheco was hurt (because I told him), heard Kareem Hunt was signing with KC, and picked him up before I could. The signing announcement and Nick grabbing him off of waivers all happened during my late shower. That’s what I get for bathing.
My discovery of all these things is what led to the flurry of messages in the lower half of the screenshot. I had made the classic fantasy football error of telling a friend something about my favorite team (most of my friends and acquaintances will tell you that I talk about the Chiefs way more than they want me to), while forgetting that in the realm of fake football he is my enemy.
My nemesis. The Moriarty to my Sherlock Holmes. The Joker to my Batman. The ice cream to my lactose intolerance. The Raider fan to my Chiefs fan (this one would work a lot better if he were an actual Raider fan).
You get it.
Lesson learned.
My team name for Week 4 is:
Last Word on Pro Football is Trash
I use the Bleacher Report app to get some of my Chiefs news and lately the feed has been cluttered up by lots of alleged “news” from Last Word on Pro Football. They almost always have headlines like these:
These “articles” do not qualify as news. They are nothing but speculative, clickbait garbage that feels like it was written using AI. Half of my Chiefs feed on Bleacher Report are from Last Word on Pro Football and it’s a chore to have to wade through them every time I’m using the app.
They do seem to be pretty popular, though. Maybe I should just start making things up for clicks…?
On an unrelated note, here are a couple exclusive stories I’ll be writing about in the coming weeks:
Kelce Brothers to Star in Dinosaurs Reboot on ABC
All of those online petitions by bored Gen-Xers have finally paid off. It’s the Dinosaurs you know and love- with a twist. A decidedly Kelce-flavored twist. “This has been a dream of mine for a very long time,” says the elder Kelce brother, Jason. (Read More)
Barry Sanders Ending Retirement To Play For KC Chiefs
The most elusive running back in NFL history has decided to come out of retirement and take one last run at a Super Bowl with the reigning champs. “I keep myself in great shape and could play a game tomorrow,” Sanders said. (Read More)
With scoops like those, I’ll be making actual sports fans miserable and angry in no time flat! Now to wait for the money to start rolling in…
Alright. It’s about 3:30 AM and I need to sleep. There will be no read-through or additional editing this week (at least until tomorrow), so you’re getting the real, raw Chiefs Chronicles. Which is, in essence, also this:
Enjoy the game (which will have a final score of 31-10 in favor of the Chiefs, in case you were wondering) and, as always…
You know Gary, we've always had this weird dynamic of despite you being the Chiefs fan in the chat, I've been the one taking up for how great Rashee Rice is, meanwhile you try to convince me Patrick has been dealing with historically bad receiver groups last year and this. To me, any receiving group with a player that good on it must stop short of historically bad. From here on though, if Rashee is out for any significant amount of time, I will be dramatically easier to convince.
This hurts Patrick Mahomes specifically, as a man who (according to NGS) has always struggled throwing into tight coverage, he relies on his receivers a lot. This is not part of the popular Mahomes narrative, and I've never really been sure why it's not part of the Mahomes narrative. His skill is surveying the field and finding a receiver that's actually open to throw to, and never forcing the ball into coverage. He's prodigious at that. What he's not great at is throwing balls into tight windows.
Just to be clear, Pat's skillset is the much better to have than to have some wicked arm but throw into traffic all the time, but that's why this situation is beginning to scare me. A man whose main skillset is surveying the field and finding the right place to put the ball, but lacking some in the arm talent category (his pass accuracy stats have never been particularly impressive) is more prone than most to struggle if his receivers cannot find any open space.
The Chiefs' pass offence has looked putrid ever since Baltimore, with Pat putting up about five points below expectation since then, and that was with Rashee Rice. Hopefully, a suitable replacement is on the way, because if it isn't, it's possible we could be looking at a legitimately bad Chiefs' pass offence for the first time in a while.
I don't think Substack is where nerds go to write. After all, I have a Sub...oh no.
Anyway, I believe the Chiefs have secret deals with many, many heart doctors. Because they do this every week. You'd think we'd learn not to stress about it, but I for one am a very slow learner.