Kansas City Chiefs: Midterm grades for 2019 season

Through eight games in 2019, the Kansas City Chiefs are 5-3 after having gone 1-3 in their last four games with all three losses coming at home.

Like I did when the season reached its quarter point, I’m handing out grades to Kansas City Chiefs coaches and players for how they’ve performed through the first half of the season.

This time, players like quarterback Matt Moore, defensive tackle Khalen Saunders, and corners Morris Claiborne and Rashad Fenton make the list while others, like De’Anthony Thomas (released) and Eric Fisher (hasn’t played since a brief appearance at the start of Week 2), are left off.

Let’s get to it, starting with Big Red.

Reid & His Coordinators

The past four games have been rough for the Chiefs, and that all starts at the top, with Andy Reid. The Chiefs looked ill-prepared for the Colts and then dropped another winnable game against the Texans.

Reid, who calls the offensive plays, made a questionable decision when he called a sneak against the Broncos with his hobbled quarterback, and we all know how that ended. Then, against the Packers, he made the grievous error of punting it back to Aaron Rodgers while down seven with just around five minutes left to play.

As always, he calls a great offensive game plan while making some otherwise head-scratching decisions.

Against Indianapolis and Houston, the offense let the defense down. Against Denver and Green Bay, the offense showed signs of life. The run game is still dormant, and while a lot of that has to do with a beleaguered offensive line, some of the blame lies at the feet of the offensive coordinator.

In the past four weeks, the defense gave up a bunch of yards on three occasions, all of which ended with a Chiefs defeat. And yet, the defense kept the team in the first two games while the unit absolutely crushed it against Denver. For the most part, Spags’ group played a pretty good game against the Packers before running out of gas at the very end.

Special team penalties are down, and youngsters Mecole Hardman, Darwin Thompson, and Byron Pringle look better suited for the return game that did Thomas, who’s been released by the team. Harrison Butker‘s still struggling a bit, but Colquitt is as cool and as professional as ever. This unit, like the defense, is improving as the season marches on.