The Kansas City Chiefs enter the bye week at 5-2, what is the grade for KC at the bye and what should we expect from them in the second part of the season?
Grade: B+
The Chiefs exceeded some very low expectations this year, according to many this offseason the AFC was too loaded and the AFC West all got better. It was expected after the Chiefs lost Tyreek Hill in a trade and the Honey Badger to free agency, many believed losing these key players was going to take Kansas City out of contention. The Chiefs had a lot of questions and have been answering them week-by-week throughout the season, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdez-Scantling have started to find their roles in the offense and have been playing great. The receivers were always going to be a question mark and it seems like they are playing great and thriving in this offense. The running backs are still a huge question mark but have been playing solid in their opportunities.
Defensively, they have been better than what the team has had last year and some of those young players have been stepping up as the defense has dealt with some injuries. After the Chiefs traded veteran corner, Rashad Fenton, to the Falcons, it leaves one of the youngest groups of corners in the NFL to handle the best receivers in the league. Jaylen Watson, Joshua Williams, L’Jarius Sneed, and finally Trent McDuffie, coming off of IR, will be handling the pass coverage in the Chiefs’ defense for years to come.
Second Half Predictions
The Chiefs will start the second half of their season off against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday Night Football. After having an embarrassing loss last year in Nashville, the Chiefs plan to avenge that loss and keep themselves on track to earn the No. 1 seed in the AFC. The back half of the schedule for KC is not as hard as the first, but after having that loss to Indy in Week Three, it was made certain no team should be taken lightly this year.
The three games the Chiefs have to worry about in this back half of the schedule are the Bengals, Chargers, and the Rams. The Bengals and Rams were the two Super Bowl participants last year and the Chargers always give the Chiefs a hard time with Herbert. After losing twice to the Bengals last year, Kansas City will look to seek revenge and establish dominance over another budding conference rival.
After acquiring Kadarius Toney before the trade deadline, the explosiveness of the Chiefs’ offense might strike fear in defenses once again. With his explosiveness on the outside and being another potential deep threat for this offense, fans fully expect Mahomes to lead the NFL in touchdowns as he is doing right now and hope still to have one of the highest QBRs in the league.
Everyone expected the Chiefs to add an edge rusher before the deadline was up, however, the numbers do show that they are in the top 15 for pressures, sacks, and QB hits proving they are getting to the QB and making them feel comfortable going forward. There have been reports that Dunlap will start getting more reps as he was rested for the first half of the season nursing minor injuries, but will be at full go the second half of the season.
The Chiefs are playing great football right now, but they can be better going forward. They finally got over the worst part of their schedule and can now play more in their division. Watch for the Chiefs to be explosive and play hard to try to get the number one seed in the AFC Playoffs and try to reach their third Super Bowl in four years.
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