Chiefs look to continue surge after extending win streak to 5
Dec. 7—Six weeks ago, the Kansas City Chiefs were in disarray. In a loss to the Tennessee Titans at the end of October, the Chiefs mustered just three points in a 24-point slashing.
Since then, things look to have turned around. The Chiefs have rattled off five wins in a row, capped off by 22-9 victory over the Denver Broncos Sunday night.
With a record of 8-4, the Chiefs now sit in first place in the division and a tie for the best record in the AFC, though they currently remain the fourth seed due to virtue of tiebreakers.
Sunday's win was the fifth in a row for the Chiefs. During head coach Andy Reid's nine-year tenure in Kansas City, the Chiefs have had a win streak of at least five games in each season.
"I'm proud of the guys for doing that," Reid said. "It's not one guy, it's a combination of people. The coaches, the players, it's everybody. It's pulling together and not giving up on each other."
Despite the five-game win streak, the Chiefs have plenty of room for improvement, particularly on offense.
"We're not perfect, so we're striving for that," Reid said, "and we wanna make sure that we work through all that."
Omitting the Chiefs' 41-point outing in Las Vegas three weeks ago, the Chiefs are averaging just 18.5 points per game in their four other wins during the streak.
In contrast, the Chiefs averaged 29.5 points per game in their 2020 run to the Super Bowl. That's four tenths more than the Chiefs' 29.1 points per game during their Super Bowl-winning campaign in 2019.
Reid said the offensive decline can be attributed to a lot of little mistakes that the team needs to clean up.
"Last night, it was drops and penalties that were drive stoppers, so we've gotta make sure we get rid of those," Reid said. "Earlier, it was turnovers, so we gotta make sure we don't do that."
Despite their mistakes, quarterback Patrick Mahomes said the team is just happy to get back to winning.
"You win football games, you win football games, at the end of the day," Mahomes said. "For us, if we keep winning football games, defense keeps playing the way they're playing, and the offense, we really become who we know we can be, we'll be a hard football team to beat."
While the offense is slumping, the defensive unit has stepped up its game along the five-game win streak.
In the five victories, the Chiefs are limiting their opponents to just 11.2 points per game. That comes after the Chiefs allowed an average of 29 points per game in the first seven contests of the season.
Safety Tyrann Mathieu said the defense has banded together to push the Chiefs to success.
"Most of it's just been a commitment to each other," Mathieu said. "Just believing in each other, not letting outside noise kind of dictate the way we feel, dictate the way we approach this thing."
As the Chiefs look to continue the surge and make another Super Bowl push, Mathieu said they need to continue leaning on each other to get there.
"We're just trying to play our best ball knowing that we're in December," Mathieu said, "and this is when it really counts."
The Chiefs return to the field Sunday as they host the Las Vegas Raiders. Kickoff is set for noon at Arrowhead Stadium.
Jacob Lang can be reached at jacob.lang@newspressnow.com. Follow him on twitter: @NPNowLang.
