Kansas City Chiefs: Four biggest takeaways at the bye week

Run game is a rollercoaster

When the Chiefs opened the 2020 NFL season against the Texans, they did something we hadn’t seen them do in awhile – Run the ball like crazy. It was easier for them to do this, as they had spent their first round pick on LSU standout Clyde Edwards-Helaire, automatically upgrading their offense.

Running the ball was something Kansas City wasn’t great at in 2019 (though they were better at it when they needed to be, like in the playoffs), so it was an obvious area to improve over the offseason. Edwards-Helaire showed he belonged in this offense right away, rushing the ball 25 times for 138 yards and a touchdown.

It appeared that the Chiefs would finally have that explosive run game they were missing, but Edwards-Helaire wouldn’t rush for 100 yards again until five weeks later when the Chiefs played the Bills. That was his best game, as he had 161 yards on 26 rushes.

Since then, it’s been pretty downhill for the run game, and that’s with the addition of Le’Veon Bell, who hasn’t helped the run game at all since he joined the team. The lack of run game didn’t end up hurting the Chiefs last year, but it’d be nice to see these new weapons be effective in the big games down the stretch.