The Kansas City Chiefs spent all offseason stewing over their disappointing loss in the AFC title game, but it didn’t do them any good. When they had their chance for redemption in Week 13, they dropped their first game since Week 6 and their third consecutive game to the Cincinnati Bengals.
It was another three-point loss, marred by mistakes and turnovers and perfectly reminiscent of the last two losses to this team. It makes you wonder what the team really learned from the two games they dropped to the Bengals last season.
What else did we learn about the Chiefs in their Week 13 loss? Here are four of our biggest takeaways after the game:
Abandoning the run cost Kansas City late
The Chiefs averaged 5.5 yards per clip on the ground on Sunday afternoon. Naturally, when K.C. needed three yards and the Bengals dared them to run the football with 4:09 left in the fourth quarter, they dropped back to pass. Cincinnati dropped eight players into coverage, rushed three and Patrick Mahomes took a sack. Mahomes suffered a foot injury on that play, leading to a long field goal attempt, which failed.
Rushing three and dropping eight wasn’t anything new, though. The Bengals had employed that strategy since last season. They’d been doing it and daring the Chiefs to run the ball all game long. For the most part, the team was willing to hand it off to Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon, except for the one moment that counted most.
I understand wanting to put the ball in the hands of your best player with the game on the line. The problem is that the Bengals wanted Patrick Mahomes to drop back and throw in that situation. So, why are you giving the opponent what they want and expect you to do instead of doing the unexpected?
Defensive line play must be better
The Chiefs’ defensive line didn’t meet the standard in Week 13. They notched a single quarterback hit and their first sack came in the 57th minute of the game. That’s all well and good if you’re playing against the top pass-blocking unit in the league, but they weren’t. They were playing a Bengals team that heading into Week 13 had given up the third-most sacks in the NFL season (33).
The Bengals O-Line is playing better as of late, allowing just four sacks in its three games leading up to Week 13. Still, it begs the question — what happened to the Chiefs’ pass rush? This is a group that hasn’t recorded fewer than three sacks in a game since Week 6. Taylor Stallworth had a sack wiped away by penalty. Frank Clark played through sickness. There are reasons that the team didn’t get much pressure on Joe Burrow, but they need to perform better against a team that has struggled to keep their quarterback upright.
There’s also something to be said about the struggles in the ground game, but I think that’s why you saw Kansas City add Brandon Williams to the practice squad. I suspect he’ll be a call-up sooner rather than later to help reinforce that interior defensive line.
Joshua Williams is a star in the making
Even though he surrendered the reception that would ice the game for Cincinnati, I was really impressed with what I saw from Chiefs rookie CB Joshua Williams on Sunday. On that specific play, third-and-11, Williams had perfect coverage against Bengals WR Tee Higgins. It was just a matter of the throw from Joe Burrow and the catch from Higgins being better.
Tee Higgins never had more than 2 yards of separation from corner Joshua Williams after crossing the line of scrimmage.
Higgins has gained 196 receiving yards on tight window targets this season, trailing only A.J. Brown (273) & George Pickens (200)#KCvsCIN | #RuleTheJungle
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) December 5, 2022
Outside of some really tight coverage against the most talented receiver group in the league, Williams was unafraid to come up and make a tackle. He was third on the team with seven total tackles and his six individual tackles were the third-most by a Chiefs defender.
It’s always good to see an encouraging showing from a young player in a big game.
Perfection reigns supreme against top-tier competition
When you’re playing against the best of the best, you need to be absolutely perfect and Kansas City was less than on Sunday. The Bengals have proven to the Chiefs three times now that they must be infallible when they play them in order to get a win. One small mistake like a penalty, sack, tackle for loss or even a turnover can be the misstep that costs you the game.
There will be a lot of talk from players and coaches about their lack of execution in Week 13. The turnover from Chiefs TE Travis Kelce, his first fumble of the season, feels like it was perhaps the biggest difference. Kansas City’s lone turnover forced this game was wiped out by a penalty on rookie CB Trent McDuffie. However, the Bengals had more penalties and penalty yardage against them. The inability to keep Patrick Mahomes protected on a three-man rush also looms large as a big mistake late in the game.
Execution and fundamentals will have to be the focus if K.C. gets a rematch with Cincinnati in the playoffs.
