Chiefs Offense Looks To Work Through Kinks Vs Bears

Embed from Getty Images
The Kansas City Chiefs are coming off of a key win on the road against the Jacksonville Jaguars. While the strong defensive performance is exciting, the Chiefs offense is still looking to get rolling. Kansas City once again entered the year with questions at the wide receiver position. Overall, the potential of that group is still very admirable. The Chiefs are still looking to find rhythm with their passing attack, nevertheless.

In other moments, the use of the rushing attack has been a fascinating topic to follow among Kansas City fans. Some people think that they need to run it more often. Elsewhere, there is a distinct difference that could be made with how the running game is being utilized. That is especially true, depending on the current situation or down and distance within the game.

Certainly, you never want to take any opponent for granted at the NFL level. The Chicago Bears pose plenty of weaknesses, both in the secondary and on the defensive line, as their defense enters the matchup with the Chiefs offense. What are some items to monitor, in terms of why the Kansas City Chiefs offense has sputtered? We will look into some recent quotes about the offense from Kansas City themselves. Let’s kick it off.

Chiefs Offense Seeing More Zone Coverages

After the game against the Jaguars, Patrick Mahomes discussed the changes that Kansas City has seen from opposing defenses. Obviously, defenses are going to be forced to change and evolve in a league that gives many advantages to the offense. Mahomes mentioned that the Chiefs are seeing “a lot more zone coverages, a lot more deeper coverages.”

The safeties, in particular, have been playing against the Chiefs offense at an even deeper depth most of the time. Jacksonville made it a point to not get beat deep. Moreover, their attacking style of pass rush truly led to plenty of hurried decisions for Mahomes last Sunday. “In previous years, that safety on the back side is not that deep, and not able to get back there,” Mahomes said.

The Chiefs offense has the receiving room to potentially test opponents vertically. Though, as Mahomes mentioned this week, Kansas City is being forced to be patient and decisive. It is not that we have never seen that before from a Patrick Mahomes-led offense. We just have yet to see that with most of these younger receivers that the Chiefs offense possesses. With a Bears defense that is largely inexperienced in the secondary, perhaps Kansas City can get in a greater rhythm this week.

Mahomes Still Believes In Wide Receiver Group

After both of the first two games, Mahomes has been steadfast in his belief that the Chiefs wide receiver group will figure it out. When it comes to any possible frustration, the KC quarterback actually believes “the frustration is more of me about myself and how the offense has been doing.” He does not sense any frustration from the wide receivers themselves.

On the flip side, the Chiefs offense showed a bit more urgency against Jacksonville. Even though not everything was going to how they had hoped, Kansas City was still able to make necessary gains on third down or in the red zone. As this wide receiver group, and Chiefs offense overall, continues to gel, you will eventually see how much more well-rounded this receiving corps truly is.

In terms of getting going against Chicago this week, the Chiefs have an opportunity to hit on throws more consistently in the intermediate to deeper portions of the field. Against both Green Bay and Tampa Bay, the Bears busted coverages far too many times against vertical routes. Once again, this is a Chicago secondary that lacks much experience. The Bears are also looking to get into their dime package often in obvious passing situations. Nonetheless, Chicago truly lacks the speed that other teams possess on the back end. This could open up free shots for the Kansas City wide receivers, as a result.

Does Run Game Need More Opportunities Or Slight Adjustments?

Of course, Andy Reid has been someone who has passed to set up the run. He has been a play caller that has aired it out all over the yard for seemingly his entire head coaching career. As mentioned above, some Chiefs fans believe that the offense should run the ball more often. You could argue that this Kansas City offensive line is built to where run blocking is actually a strength. However, it is challenging to see consistency in the running game for the Chiefs.

That is not to say that the running back room or blocking unit cannot be a leading force on the ground. Yet, the Chiefs offense has a unique set of runners. Someone like Isiah Pacheco will specifically rely on power and winning against contact. Others like Jerick McKinnon or even Clyde Edwards-Helaire has to usually rely on quickness or making defenders miss.

Perhaps, it is not necessarily that Kansas City needs to run it more. The Chiefs offense could simply adjust to a more basic rushing attack. Running sideways out of shotgun just seems to lead to a minimal impact. It seems like this group has more comfort when running with simple handoffs from under center. But at the same time, the Chiefs offense could definitely adjust to running with more misdirection, compared to what they have shown recently.

Be on the lookout for more FPC Chiefs articles and analysis in the upcoming days. For more great sports and NFL content, stay tuned to Full Press Coverage.

– Braden Holecek is the Kansas City Chiefs managing editor for Full Press Coverage. He covers the NFL. Like and follow on Follow @ebearcat9//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js Follow @FPC_Chiefs//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js and Facebook.