Despite sitting at 3-0, the Kansas City Chiefs' offense has gotten off to a slow start in 2024.
Many expected the Chiefs' offense to get back to pushing the ball downfield and producing explosive plays, but that hasn't come to fruition. There are multiple factors as to why, starting with the loss of wide receiver Hollywood Brown. Without Brown, Kansas City's only real deep threat is rookie receiver Xavier Worthy, but he's more of a gadget player at this stage early in his career.
Losing running back Isiah Pacheco has also been a blow as defenses aren't going to respect the Chiefs' running game as much as if he was there. Perhaps the addition of Kareem Hunt will give the backfield a boost and open things up for the passing game a bit, but only time will tell.
Another challenge the Chiefs' offense has had, and has maybe been the biggest of them all, is pass protection. Kansas City has already benched rookie left tackle Kingsley Suamataia after struggling to hold up through the first two games. The unstable performance of the offensive line has caused quarterback Patrick Mahomes to play out of synch and jittery.
It has to be accepted that the Chiefs' offense isn't going to be what it was during the days of Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins and prime Travis Kelce. That doesn't mean it can't still be a good unit, especially with Mahomes now as a veteran. Mahomes knows that there's one aspect of the offense that can improve and it will pay big dividends, which is fourth quarter execution - as he told reporters on Wednesday.
"I think, more than anything, for me, I think just executing at a higher level in the fourth quarter would be nice for the offense," Mahomes said. "Especially, if you look at that second half last week, those first few drives in third quarter we were moving the ball well, moving it right down the field. And then it's like, in the the fourth quarter, we didn't finish the game. And so, that's the next step for us. I mean, if you look back at our history, even in some of these close games, usually we get the ball in those four minute modes, we can kind of run the time off. And if we don't, we leave enough time where Spags (Steve Spagnuolo), they can close the door. And Spags and them have been doing that, but we've been doing it with a little bit, I would say, too much time, with five minutes on the clock and six minutes in the clock and stuff like that. And so, I think offensively, we got to help the defense out by running some of that time off the clock or scoring a touchdown to kind of put the game out of reach. And so, then the defense and Spags and be creative and get those game ending interceptions instead of having to really hold it down there at the at the end in the red zone."
The defense has had to close two of the Chiefs' three wins on the season, and both times the opposing offense was within striking distance of scoring a touchdown. The Chiefs' offense doesn't necessarily have to score a ton of points in the fourth quarter, but rather just possess the ball for long drives by consistently picking up first downs.
Given the issues it has had with pass protection, establishing a power running game with Hunt and Carson Steele may need to be the offense's new identity, with Mahomes getting the ball out quickly in the passing game. That could then open up a few calculated deep shots down the field.
