Kansas City Chiefs: Time to admit this team’s got some issues to fix

Grab your torches and pitchforks, and heat up the tar, because I’m fixing to make a lot of people mad with what I’m about to say. It wouldn’t be the first time, and with that warning being stated,  here goes:

The first five weeks of the NFL season are in the books, and a lot of questions are currently surrounding our Kansas City Chiefs, but in my humble opinion, one thing that is a certainty, at least where we stand at this point, is that we need to pump the brakes on the Chiefs, because they are not a great team.

To explain myself: I was joking about the tar and torches, just hear me out.

First and foremost, Cameron A Black is no fair weather fan. I love my Kansas City Chiefs, and I will wave my Chiefs flag, wear my Chiefs shirts, hats and jackets, never miss a game and scream my fool head off every time the Chiefs take the field until I am 6 feet under a Chiefs headstone.

But one thing I will not do is entertain delusions and be one of these sports fans who avoids the reality of his team.

Confessing the truth about your team doesn’t make you a bad fan. In fact, it makes you an even more devoted fan, because you recognize your team’s flaws and stand by them anyway.

The Chiefs don’t stink, they’re just not great either

In no way shape or form am I saying that the Chiefs now stink, or that they are even just average. I still firmly believe that when you have Patrick Mahomes at the helm and his full complement of weapons such as Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce as well as coach Andy Reid calling the plays, the Chiefs will never be an “average” team.

I still firmly believe that the Chiefs are a very good team, and them finishing the regular season with a winning record and making the playoffs is all but a certainty. I even think there is a chance of them winning the AFC West, but at this moment in time, they are not as great as maybe we all think they are or wish they were.

The Chiefs are currently sitting on three losses, and while those three losses were to three good teams, all three of those teams are still teams that the 2019 and probably 2020 Chiefs would have definitely beaten.

As long as we are being honest and not looking at things through red and gold colored glasses, the Chiefs are very lucky they are not 1-4 right now, because they could have, and probably should have, lost to the Browns to open the season.

Really the only definitive win the Chiefs have had yet this season was against the Eagles.

Chiefs defense, Mahomes both struggling

When your defense is giving up big plays left and right and you’re losing points because your defense can’t stop the common cold, then you can’t be called a great team.

The only team to not score 30 points or more on the Chiefs this season is the Eagles.

The Chiefs defense has always been called into question, that isn’t exactly a breaking news story. But what is surprising is the struggles on the offensive side of the ball.

Mahomes, while I still believe him to be one of the best quarterbacks in the league, is not connecting like we have come to expect him to. For the love of all that is holy, can we stop with the turnovers? The Chiefs have more turnovers than Arbies.

The Chiefs have 15 turnovers on the season so far and have only played five games. Some of these turnovers are fumbles and some of them are on Mahomes.

Now, we cannot fault Mahomes too much for all of his turnovers. One of the reasons we all love Mahomes is that he takes those risks and throws those passes that other QBs can’t or won’t throw. We can’t talk about the brilliance of Mahomes when those passes are caught and then dash him on the rocks when they are picked off.

That said, there is really no excuse for multiple fumbles a game.

Chiefs can still right the ship

Now, before everyone thinks I am all doom and gloom, let me just say I still believe the Chiefs to be one of the better teams in the NFL, and believe Mahomes to be one of the best, if not the best QBs in the league, if not of all-time. But neither of these things are true at this very moment.

The Chiefs still have flashes of the stunning brilliance that Chiefs fans have come to expect (and frankly been spoiled by) ever since Mahomes claimed the starting job. But unlike the prior years, those flashes are becoming fewer and further between and that is just not enough to beat good football teams.

The season is not even half over, and the Chiefs still have more than enough time to right the ship, but with the injuries sustained against the Bills, their backs are going to be up against the wall the next few weeks.

That caveat being stated, the Chiefs have Washington this week, which is a perfect opportunity to begin righting said ship and possibly jump starting this Chiefs team.

I have already said this several times in the paragraphs above, but it can’t be overstated. I am not giving up on my Chiefs, our Chiefs. They are still my team, and if my blood wasn’t red already, it would be anyway because of what a huge Chiefs fan I am.

I still believe the Chiefs to be a very good football team and I still believe they have plenty of time to right the ship, win the AFC West, get into the playoffs and erase this very forgettable start to the season, but we don’t want Chiefs fans to be known as that delusional fan base that thinks their team is better then they are just because of the pieces they have if those pieces are not as cohesive as they should be, and usually are.

For now, we must pump the brakes on them a bit and admit that perhaps they are not currently as good as we think they are or want them to be, but I have complete faith that they will address these issues and become the Chiefs team that fans have grown accustomed to these last few years.