INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The moment that saved the Kansas City Chiefs’ season happened at the most unlikely of times. The stunned Chiefs sat at their lockers in Nashville, Tennessee, during halftime of their Week 7 game against the Tennessee Titans down 27-0.
The Chiefs — with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and safety Tyrann Mathieu leading the way, the team that had played in the two most recent Super Bowl games, winning one — were staring at certain defeat and an un-Chiefs-like 3-4 record.
And they didn’t roar back to win that day. In fact, things barely got better in the second half. They wound up losing 27-3.
But they did come to an epiphany that helped them find their considerable swagger.
“We realized nobody was coming to save us,” Mathieu said. “We had to figure it out ourselves.”
It hasn’t always been pretty, but the Chiefs seem to have figured it out. Their defense, a pushover for opposing offenses through the first half of the Titans game, responded with a better effort than the Chiefs dared to hope. The Chiefs are allowing 11 points per game in the six games since.
The offense had two games of 40-plus points in two games against the Las Vegas Raiders. Otherwise it hasn’t resembled the powerhouse group it was the past three seasons with Mahomes at quarterback, but it has been plenty good enough for them to win six straight games, the last four by double digits.
Their string of seasons with a winning streak of at least five games, one that dates back to Andy Reid’s arrival as head coach in 2013, was extended to nine, this in a season where all looked lost.
“I’m proud of the guys for doing that,” Reid said. “Listen, it’s not one guy. It’s a combination of people, the coaches, the players. I mean, it’s everybody. It’s pulling together and not giving up on each other.”
More importantly, the 9-4 Chiefs can effectively — though…
Source : espn
