The good, the bad, the ugly: Week 5

The Chiefs lost their first game of the season in week 5 to the Las Vegas Raiders. Throughout the first couple of weeks, we have seen a lot of good, but there was plenty throughout the three areas in Sunday’s game.

GOOD: 

Like the Mahomes to Hardman connections mentioned in my week 2 article, Mahomes to Hill is one of the most lethal duos in the game. Both players have an unfathomable awareness on the field that is difficult to defend.

Hill’s performance in the game helped carry the offense throughout the first half with a 10-yard rushing touchdown, and three receptions for 78 yards. Consistently scoring on offense was a must with the connections that Carr was having on the other side of the field, but Mahomes and company could not get it done. 

The first half defensive performance was subpar at best, to say the least, but we’ll get to that later. Although there was not much productivity on defense, Bashaud Breeland had his first interception of the season after returning from a 4-game suspension.

After three straight games with a missed extra point, Butker nailed every ball he had to kick. Butker is such a crucial part of this team and the Chiefs are better when he is confident in his kicking.

**Notable good stats: Mahomes continued to show his ability to compete with records by recording his fifteenth consecutive game with a passing touchdown, while Kelce also recorded his 100^th straight game with a reception.

BAD: 

The defense let the Raiders have their way during too many drives. Carr threw a 72-yard and 54-yard touchdown, while also completing multiple downfield bombs. The defense looked sloppy and consistently got burned in the secondary. In both halves of play, the Raiders converted on too many third downs on mistakes made by the Chiefs. 

The offense is best when they start hot in the first quarter but apparently, the Raiders defense and the Chiefs’ mental mistakes were enough to slow them down. The offense looked like they were not on the same page, but they were still able to complete crucial plays to keep us in the game during the first half, but they wouldn’t find the endzone again. Coming out strong in the first quarter should be a must for week 6.

UGLY: 

Maybe we got used to the Chiefs playing clean football, but the Chiefs recorded way too many penalties both on the offense and defense. The penalties that the offense received took two touchdowns off the board. These are mistakes that cannot happen and the Chiefs must tighten up in this aspect as the season continues or they will continue to shoot themselves in the foot.

These penalties are often a result of miscommunications, which were blatantly an issue in the game for the Chiefs. These penalties and miscommunications have obvious consequences, but the most important might be the frustration that can be seen from Mahomes following said issues. Mahomes is the leader of this team and when he is frustrated the team is frazzled.

The Chiefs looked lost all game and simply got outplayed in every aspect of the game. The league has figured out how to slow down the Chiefs offense and our defense struggles when they are having to be on the field for a majority of the game, especially during a day in October that is exceptionally hot. That being said, there is no excuse for the performance put on by the defense. The Chiefs are Super Bowl LV contenders and they simply did not perform as such against the Raiders.