The Kansas City Chiefs are 5-1 and currently the No. 1 seed in the AFC. But, if you let some media pundits tell it, the world is falling in because the Chiefs really haven’t played that well this season, and have yet to put together a full 60 minutes of football.
Even with that, the reigning Super Bowl champions are one fourth-down conversion in a Week 1 loss to the also 5-1 Detroit Lions from being undefeated.
For any other team that would be fine, but this is the Chiefs with head coach Andy Reid at the helm, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce, and defensive lineman Chris Jones leading the way on the field. The team that’s been to five consecutive AFC championship games and three of the past five Super Bowls, winning two. When they don’t play well it becomes a hot topic, even in victory.
Double Standard For KC?
In sports they say winning cures all, and while that may be true, it doesn’t stop the criticism. The Chiefs are dealing with that now despite being on a five-game winning streak with road wins at the Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets and Minnesota Vikings.
The criticism doesn’t seem to affect Mahomes, who’s unfazed by it. The two-time league and Super Bowl MVP also says he doesn’t believe they’re being held to a double standard.
“Our standard is high for ourselves,” Mahomes told Carrington Harrison on “The Dive” on 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City on Monday. “Even when we win games, we want to take out what we can do better.”
That seems to be what Mahomes is always focused on, what they can do better the next time out. That’s exactly what he and his teammates were saying following last Thursday’s 19-8 win over the Broncos, in which the team’s defense carried the night.
Little Things Holding Offense Back
In light of that ugly win, Mahomes mentioned that the execution needs to be better. During his Wednesday media session the always informative signal-caller expounded on this.
“I said after the game and even watching the film you see it even more,” Mahomes said. “It’s just the little stuff that we’re not executing at a high enough level. It’s not everybody, and it’s different people every single play, including myself.”
That’s why Mahomes teammates love playing with him, because he holds himself accountable as well. The silver lining in the Chiefs’ struggles offensively is their defense has become a strength for them. That should bode well going forward for a team looking to repeat as Super Bowl champions.
