Lost in the noise - Chiefs 0-2 for the first time in the Mahomes era

[Billl]

On 9/15/2025 at 3:09 PM, NewEra said:

@Billl thoughts on the chiefs being winless through 2 games?

 

my thoughts are:  they played 2 of the best teams in the league (yes, I think the chargers will be a contender this season) and almost won both.  They are banged up at WR and the OL looks just as bad as last season.  I don’t think  Mahomes running this much is wise, but it will continue until rice comes back. He’s had no option but to run.  Kelces blunders are hilarious.  
 

that said-  they just have to make the playoffs and they’ll be a top contender to win it all.  They have the track record to show that they get it done and luck is traditionally on their side.  

You pretty much nailed it.  There’s an incredibly fine line between winning and losing in the NFL.  They’ve been a team that’s made the play when the game was on the line for years, and so far this year they haven’t.  I don’t see some fatal flaw in the team, but I’m not sure I see the next wave of superstars either.  I’ll reserve judgement until Rice comes back and hope they find a way to get there at 3-3.  

 

The biggest reason for concern is that there has been a lack of difference-making draft picks since 2022.  Drafting at the bottom of the round for years catches up with you eventually.  It’s not enough to simply out-perform your draft slot.  If your goal is to win championships, you’ve got to do that and still get lucky.  Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy were great picks with star upside, but there hasn’t been enough production around them to backfill the outflow of talent via free agency and Father Time.

 

The flipside of that is Josh Simmons.  If you had told Reid and Veach that he’d be 100% healthy and gave them the first overall pick in the draft, that’s who they would have taken.  So far (and that term is carrying a ton of weight), he’s been completely healthy.  What’s more is he’s been everything we hoped he’d be and then some.  Injuries notwithstanding, he’s a franchise LT right now.  The early returns of the rest of the draft look promising, but I’m nowhere near ready to say that they’re ready to take the torch.

 

All that said, January is an eternity from now in football years, and I haven’t seen anything in the past 2 weeks that tells me they won’t be a factor when the playoffs come around.  Any team that thinks they’re going to win the AFC had better plan on knocking out Kansas City along the way.

[Mister Defense]

Probably been said on this thread, but with the Ravens, Jags, Lions, and Commanders all coming up for the Chiefs before the Bills,  and we all know the Biils' much easier schedule (an understatement) it sure looks like the Chiefs may be out of the running for a  top playoff spot by then, with the Bills 4 or more games up on them by then. 

 

It is hard to imagine this current Chiefs' team overcoming their weaknesses, and their high level opponents, and being any factor at all in the fight for the top seed this year.

 

Bills, Ravens, Chargers?, Broncos? Still catching up on weekend NFL games, so likely a few more in there too.

 

 

[ganesh]

6 hours ago, Mister Defense said:

Probably been said on this thread, but with the Ravens, Jags, Lions, and Commanders all coming up for the Chiefs before the Bills,  and we all know the Biils' much easier schedule (an understatement) it sure looks like the Chiefs may be out of the running for a  top playoff spot by then, with the Bills 4 or more games up on them by then. 

 

It is hard to imagine this current Chiefs' team overcoming their weaknesses, and their high level opponents, and being any factor at all in the fight for the top seed this year.

 

Bills, Ravens, Chargers?, Broncos? Still catching up on weekend NFL games, so likely a few more in there too.

 

 

As long as the Chiefs have Mahomes at Center and Reid calling plays, they are going to be in the ball game and win many of them...They were quite close to win those two games.  I simply don't see the Chiefs falling apart and being behind by 4 games when they come to Orchard Park.  

 

The Bills D has not shown that they can stop Lamar or Mahomes consistently in the playoffs.  Until that happens, the crown remains with the Chiefs.

[GunnerBill]

18 hours ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Wildcard is a tougher road to get in and much tougher path once you’re in.  And fighting for a division title/wildcard spot down the stretch takes a lot out of your team I think that gets overlooked a bit.  Look at what’s going on already mahomes is taking an obscene amount of hits.  They almost always have a bye and/ or just coast down the stretch but now they’ll pretty likely be playing playoff-style football for an extra month with no bye the first round of the playoffs 

 

I think 7 teams have won the Super Bowl as a wildcard in like 45+ years and two involving tom Brady were pretty much flukes 😂 that Bucs team was disgustingly stacked but it took Brady a bit of time to adjust to his new team so they probably should’ve been a division winner and I still have no flippin idea how the giants beat the pats in that 08 Super Bowl lol. 

the big thing for me and I’ve heard mahomes say it himself…he saves a lot of these big scrambling plays for the playoffs typically but this year he’s goin all out early to carry the offense and it’s still been a struggle so far 

 

While that wildcard stat is interesting I think it is correlation rather than causation. The 5th to 7th best teams in a conference rarely go on to win the Superbowl not specifically because it is a tougher road but, IMO, because they are rarely better than the top 4 teams in the conference (I know there might be some years going back where the seeding was different but you take the point). 

 

I think that is likely the same for the Chiefs this year. If they limp in as a wildcard it probably means they are fundamentally flawed compared to some of the other teams. 

11 minutes ago, ganesh said:

As long as the Chiefs have Mahomes at Center and Reid calling plays, they are going to be in the ball game and win many of them...They were quite close to win those two games.  I simply don't see the Chiefs falling apart and being behind by 4 games when they come to Orchard Park.  

 

The Bills D has not shown that they can stop Lamar or Mahomes consistently in the playoffs.  Until that happens, the crown remains with the Chiefs.

 

I mean they are 2-0 against Lamar in the playoffs and while the Ravens had plenty of offense last time, the first time the Bills shut them down. I get it that's 5 years ago, different personnel etc. 

[NORWOODS FOOT]

0-17 Baby!

[loyal2dagame]

 

[DaVinci]

[Scott7975]

On 9/16/2025 at 9:25 AM, Gregg said:

 

I wouldn't count them out yet. One thing about this past Sunday is the Chiefs defense played well. Holding the Eagles to 20 points and Barkley to 88 yards rushing. Their offense is concern. There will be tremendous pressure on the Chiefs this Sunday night at MetLife. I hope the Giants can pull off the upset. I do think the Chiefs run as division champs all these years will finally end. The Chargers look pretty good so far.

 

Might not mean much. The Cowboys held them to 24 and Barkley to 60 yards.

[dave mcbride]

On 9/15/2025 at 1:29 PM, Pine Barrens Mafia said:

I wouldn't say NONE of these games matter.

 

Beating the Ravens was big for us.

 

Of course they all matter. Cincy was one of the best teams in the league late last season. Does anyone think that opening-game loss to a terrible NE team didn't matter? They would have made the playoffs if they had won it.

[dorquemada]

1 hour ago, DaVinci said:

 

Whiteclaw, absolutely devastating 

 

lol.  lmao, even.

[KingBoots8]

I think I solved it, friends.  They’re going to struggle this year because Mahomes cut his hair.

[SoMAn]

The Bills are in the driver seat as far as any race for the #1 seed.

They already have (effectively) a 2-game lead on the Ravens, and if they can defeat the Chiefs in November, they could conceivably have what amounts to a 4-game lead in the race by matching W-L loss records with them until they faceoff.

 

Apart from home field advantage, it would be really sweet to finally get that extra week of rest while the others beat each other up in the wildcard rounds. Having to only win 2 games (at home) rather than 3 is huuuuuge.

 

The mission continues tomorrow with an early Friday-style fish fry. 

 

[mjt328]

The Chiefs offense has been on a serious regression for almost 3 years now.

 

From 2020-2022, they averaged 29.6, 28.2 and 29.2 points per game.  Among the very tops in the league.

From 2023-2024, they averaged 21.8 and 22.6 points per game.  Around middle of the pack.

And so far this year, they are at 19.0 after two games.  Ranked 24th in the NFL.

 

So we aren't talking about a "slump" they are in on that side of the ball.  We are looking at 2+ year sample size of them being an average to below-average offense.  Many football fans have been slow to recognize it, because of that team's reputation as a scoring powerhouse.  They have Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid, so they must be great.  And they keep winning games and even going to Super Bowls.  But it's really the defense that has been carrying them for a while now.

 

When the Chiefs were at their peak, defenses had to keep Tyreek Hill from killing them on the deep ball.  The more defenders played back, the more space it would give for Travis Kelce to beat them underneath.  After trading Hill in 2022, the Chiefs adjusted to a quicker and more efficient short passing attack.  It worked extremely well for about one season.  Then opponents started catching onto the fact they weren't really a deep threat team anymore.  Kelce has also started slowing down and showing his age.  Maybe they will get a spark when Rashee Rice comes back.  But I wouldn't expect them to suddenly go back to being a Top 5 offense.  This team is going to live and die on the defensive side of the ball, just like they have for the past few seasons.  

 

Last season, the Chiefs also got very lucky in several games.  They were a toenail away from losing the the Ravens.  A bad PI call away from losing to the Bengals.  A blocked FG away from losing to the Broncos.  A bad snap away from losing to the Raiders.  Not to mention several other one-score games that could have shifted on a play or two.  The record said 15-2, but it very easily could have been 10-6.  

 

At 0-2, the Chiefs still have very difficult games against the league's elite:  Ravens, Lions and Bills.  They still have another matchup with the Chargers.  The Commanders, Texans, Broncos (x2) were playoff teams last season.  The Colts started 2-0 and look pretty good.  The Raiders (x2) usually give them a tough matchup.  It's hard to count them out, but it's definitely not going to be an easy road.

 

 

[SoTier]

8 hours ago, ganesh said:

As long as the Chiefs have Mahomes at Center and Reid calling plays, they are going to be in the ball game and win many of them...They were quite close to win those two games.  I simply don't see the Chiefs falling apart and being behind by 4 games when they come to Orchard Park.  

 

The Bills D has not shown that they can stop Lamar or Mahomes consistently in the playoffs.  Until that happens, the crown remains with the Chiefs.

 

I don't see the Chiefs beating the Ravens, and probably not the Lions either.   That's 3 or 4 losses.   The Chargers look like legit division contenders, and the Broncos certainly a possibility.  It's going to be hard for KC to win their division if they lose 2 more games before they play the Bills. 

[dave mcbride]

47 minutes ago, SoTier said:

 

I don't see the Chiefs beating the Ravens, and probably not the Lions either.   That's 3 or 4 losses.   The Chargers look like legit division contenders, and the Broncos certainly a possibility.  It's going to be hard for KC to win their division if they lose 2 more games before they play the Bills. 

But someone above says early season losses don't matter!

[dorquemada]

The problem for the Bills will continue to be, even when KC's offense is less than stellar, they still seem to turn into the greatest show on turf when we have to play them in the playoffs.  

[dcinmuncie]

 

i was listening to first things first.  everyones favorite chief homer/troll, Nick Wright is now whining about the referees and the tush push. Hilarious

 

 

[Governor]

I’m amazed that Reid is still starting J. Taylor. He sucked even before he went to KC, and now he’s being nailed for his stance cheating on a weekly basis. 

[NewEra]

9 hours ago, DaVinci said:

They really should’ve included a wolf man mask

43 minutes ago, Governor said:

I’m amazed that Reid is still starting J. Taylor. He sucked even before he went to KC, and now he’s being nailed for his stance cheating on a weekly basis. 

He’s so friggin bad

3 hours ago, dorquemada said:

The problem for the Bills will continue to be, even when KC's offense is less than stellar, they still seem to turn into the greatest show on turf when we have to play them in the playoffs.  

Our problem vs KC is Andy Reid has McD’s in X’s and O’s while Spags is the best in the biz in playoff defensive play calling

[dorquemada]

15 hours ago, NewEra said:

Our problem vs KC is Andy Reid has McD’s in X’s and O’s while Spags is the best in the biz in playoff defensive play calling

 

Spags get the most out of his guys in the biggest moments.  I've said it before and hopefully wont have to say it again