Kansas City Chiefs: Three reasons for defensive success in 2019

New Attitude

The coaching staff had been assembled. The players were all set. Now came the actual games being played.

The results themselves started off, well, very poorly. The Chiefs were shredded by a rookie sixth round pick in the home opener, as Gardner Minshew took over for an injured Nick Foles. They also gave up 30 points to a lowly Lions team early in the season, and couldn’t stop Deshaun Watson in a home game at Arrowhead, as the Texans put up 31 points on the Chiefs.

Things didn’t look any better after the Chiefs allowed Ryan Tannehill to drive late for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, and after that Titans loss, the Chiefs were at 6-4 and looking a little lost. The context, however, tells a little different story.

Let’s look at a few games mentioned above, shall we?

• In the Lions game, the Chiefs may have given up 30 points, but that was a game in which the Chiefs offense and special teams kept fumbling, putting the defense in tough spots and with terrible field position. They even had a fumble recovery for a 99 yard touchdown that day to help lift the offense up.
• They also may have given up 35 to the Titans, but once again, a fumble that was taken to the house, this time by Tennessee, made those numbers look worse than what they are.
• Against the Texans, the Chiefs didn’t have Anthony Hitchens or Chris Jones, allowing Carlos Hyde to run roughshod over them en route to an upset win.

Early season defensive struggles should have been expected; Eight new defensive starters in a new system was bound to take time to gel. The biggest difference in this year’s defense is the way the leaders of the unit are playing a part in all this.

Frank Clark, Chris Jones, and Tyrann Mathieu are very vocal locker room presences. They also all play with a high motor and demand excellence from their teammates. This type of attitude and energy is infectious in the NFL, as the defense is now flying around, making plays, and refusing to be the footnote in a Chiefs Super Bowl run.

Instead, they want to be the reason this team wins. They no longer sit on the notion of “Our offense will carry us”, but rather they play with the mentality of “Let’s carry this offense.”

This new attitude and mindset is starting to take hold, and the defense is starting to play with an attitude that was just missing in 2018.