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The Kansas City Chiefs lost a tough Week 17 matchup against a very good Cincinnati Bengals team, 34-31. This game had a playoff feel as it is certainly two teams that could meet down the road in the playoffs. The defense wasn't able to step up for the Chiefs on Sunday and that resulted in them losing this game.
Let's take a look at four takeaways from the Chiefs Week 17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Chiefs Week 17 Takeaways
4. Already won the division, it isn't that huge of a loss
The Chiefs have already won the AFC West and at the end of the day, that is all that really matters because they are guaranteed a playoff spot. They do want to get the number one seed in the AFC so this does hurt them a little bit because now they're going to have to win next week and hope for a few other things in order for them to get that number one spot.
3. Mahomes did what he always does
There wasn't a ton of positives from the Chiefs' perspective this week because they did come away with the loss and that is never something that a team that is as good as the Chiefs want to happen. There were some concerns that Mahomes was turning the ball over at too high of a rate, and he actually was. If the Chiefs wanted to have any success towards the back end of the season and into the playoffs, they were going to need Mahomes to limit his turnovers and he's done exactly that the past two weeks.
Mahomes didn't exactly have the craziest game of his career, but he was still able to go 26-35 with 259 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions. He did what he had to do on Sunday but unfortunately, his defense did not step up and that resulted in a Chiefs loss.
2. Can still get the number one seed
The Chiefs have already clinched their division, so the only real concern that they necessarily have at this point is making sure that they can get the number one seed so the playoffs run through their home field. Kansas City still has an opportunity to get the number one seed and that's all that matters at the end of the day. It's not going to be as easy as it would have been if they would have won this game, but they still do have a great chance of getting the number one seed and just need to take care of business in the final week of the season.
The number one seed isn't necessarily the biggest thing in the world, but it is certainly something that the Chiefs are going to hope that they can get because the playoffs will certainly be much easier if they can take care of business at their home field.
1. Defense can't play like this in the playoffs
The biggest question going into this week for the Kansas City Chiefs was clearly if their defense was going to be able to get stops when they needed to. It is clear that they weren't able to get stops on Sunday but the defense also might have looked the worst that it has all season long. Joe Burrow went 34-39 with 446 yards and four touchdowns. They also allowed a rookie wide receiver, to have 266 yards on only 11 receptions for three touchdowns. Ja'marr Chase is definitely one of the best wide receivers in all of the NFL but giving up 260-plus yards to a wide receiver is completely unacceptable. If the Chiefs continue to allow that to happen, they will not find much success in the playoffs.
The Bengals do have an explosive offense and that is something that every team is always going to struggle with. The reality of the situation is that if the Chiefs want to win in the playoffs, they're going to need their guys on the defensive side of the ball to get stops. Patrick Mahomes and this offense can clearly go out there and go into a dog fight against any team in the NFL. In the playoffs, one or two stops can win you a game and the Chiefs were unable to do that on Sunday against a playoff team.
At the end of the day, it shouldn't be too much of a worry for the Chiefs because they do still have arguably the best offense in the NFL. They do need to eventually get some stops in the playoffs and there isn't exactly much time for them to work on their defense because it is going to be the last game of the season next week. If they do want to win a Super Bowl, however, they are going to eventually need to get stops and if they don't, they will lose in the playoffs
