The Kansas City Chiefs Defense Continues To Struggle Early In Contests

Much of the focus of the Kansas City Chiefs’ 20-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills will be on how an offside penalty by Kadarius Toney wiped out a potentially spectacular game-winning touchdown.

But the Chiefs’ defense put the team in a hole early.

A stout unit that entered the game ranked fourth in yards allowed and third in points has been showing cracks — especially early in games, which is when the defense used to deliver early knockout punches.

The Chiefs went from Week Two to Week Seven without allowing a first-quarter touchdown. But now they’ve allowed opposing offenses to score a first-quarter touchdown in five of their last six games.

“We went from one extreme to the other,” Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said.

With the offensive missing No. 1 running back Isiah Pacheco (shoulder) and left tackle Donovan Smith (neck), this is a game the Chiefs needed to lean on their defense.

Buoyed by the return of star linebacker Nick Bolton from an injured wrist, the defense did play well, limiting Bills quarterback Josh Allen to 233 passing yards and one passing touchdown.

And twice the Bills took over with good field position (on their own 47-yard line in the first quarter) and (the Chiefs’ 48-yard line late in the third quarter) after turnovers, and neither time did the Chiefs defense allow any points.

However, the Chiefs struggled to stop running back James Cook, who had 141 total yards and a touchdown, which helped stake the Bills out to a 14-0 lead with almost 12 minutes left in the first half.

“We came out early and just didn’t execute the gameplan the way we wanted to,” Bolton said. “They got a couple explosive passes.”

Fortunately for Kansas City, the Bills, who desperately needed a win to stay in playoff contention, inexplicably stopped giving the ball to Cook, and the Chiefs defense stiffened.

But then another ugly trend reared its head.

The Chiefs have trailed five times in the final quarter this season and haven’t won any of those games.

And that’s despite having Patrick Mahomes, the current quarterback almost anyone would pick for that situation.

This is the player who launched fourth-quarter comebacks in both of his Super Bowl wins, and that’s why he earned MVP honors after Super Bowl LIV and LVII.

It’s part of the reason he had the must lucrative contact in the four major sports before Shohei Ohtani’s new 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers surpassed his.

Mahomes and the Chiefs had a chance to change their 2023 luck late in this game.

But with 1:25 left in the game, a 25-yard completion to Travis Kelce followed by Kelce’s lateral to Toney for a 24-yard touchdown was wiped out after officials called offside on Toney.

Both Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and Mahomes noted you typically get a warning from referees if receivers are offside.

Then, following three consecutive incompletions that ended the game, the normally unflappable Mahomes threw his helmet in disgust.

“To take away greatness like that,” he said, “you want to see the guys on the field decide the game.”

What really made things boil over for Mahomes is the call came a week after officials didn’t call a flag despite an obvious pass-interference penalty on Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

“It’s another game where we’re talking about the refs,” he said. “It’s not what we want for the NFL.”

But a better performance from the defense early on would’ve prevented the game from coming down to the Chiefs needing a last-minute drive — and depending on a referee to make a call or put a flag back in their pocket.