Kansas City Chiefs: Three reasons for defensive success in 2019
By Kole Berrey
Coaching Change
The first building block of this new defense started when the Chiefs decided to fire former defensive coordinator Bob Sutton in the offseason. Sutton had success early in his run as the Chiefs DC.
For a few years, Kansas City was known as a defensive powerhouse with Tamba Hali, Justin Houston, Derrick Johnson and Eric Berry roaming the field. Often times, the Chiefs would win in spite of its offense, which is what led to the Chiefs drafting Patrick Mahomes in the first place.
In the last year of the Alex Smith and the first year of the Patrick Mahomes eras, the defense unraveled. Despite having stars like Chris Jones, Marcus Peters, and Justin Houston, the defense just couldn’t get it done.
Last year in particular was horrible for the defensive unit. A lack of depth at safety and linebacker led to the Chiefs having the worst defense for the team in recent memory. Last year, the Chiefs finished 26th in DVOA defense. DVOA is a metric that stands for Defense-adjusted Value Over Average.
Basically, they don’t just base their rankings on pure yardage or points given up, but when those yardage and points occurred and how impactful they were on the game. That is a super short summary, but basically DVOA is a trusted metric when it comes to evaluating football teams.
Being 26th in DVOA in 2018 means the Chiefs were ranked worse defensively than bottom barrel teams like the Miami Dolphins, New York Giants, and New York Jets. The Chiefs offense was ranked first in the league, which should come as a surprise to no one.
After going 12-4, but falling to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game, it was clear a change was needed. The Chiefs weren’t able to get a stop when it mattered most, and Tom Brady routinely carved up Kansas City in the fourth quarter of that game. Patrick Mahomes left the field after every drive in the fourth quarter with a lead or the game being tied.
Bob Sutton had to go.
Enter Steve Spagnuolo.
The coach affectionately known as Spags came to Kansas City with a fresh new outlook. Some fans were apprehensive because Spags had fielded some less than desirable defenses in the past, but there was optimism around the hiring nonetheless. Spagnuolo brought with him not only decades of coaching experience, but a desire to change the defensive culture in Kansas City.
From the jump, it was obvious Spags coached with intensity and passion. He brought a hands on approach to training camp, taking the time to individually coach players throughout drills. He also brought an “attack” mindset, encouraging players to play with aggression and passion that was often times missing from the unit the previous year.
Before Spags could do any of this, however, he needed “his” players, meaning guys he knew who would fit with what he was trying to do in Kansas City. That led to the number two reason why this Chiefs defense has turned around in just a year, and that is the talent and leadership that was brought in.