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The Kansas City Chiefs enter the final quarter of the season with a league-best 12-1 record, but countless down-to-the-wire wins that, let's just say it, have been fluky as hell, have cast some doubt on how legitimate of a threat the Chiefs are to win their third consecutive Super Bowls. For the record, I'm on record saying that calls of the Chiefs demise are premature. I even went as far as suggesting that the Chiefs' ability to win these sorts of games over and over again strengthens their three-peat chances.
With that being said, what's happened to the Chiefs offense over the course of the last couple of seasons does feel problematic. Right now, Kansas City is outside of the top ten in both points per game and yards per game. Suffice to say, this is the first time in the Patrick Mahomes-era that this has been the case. We can point fingers at Mahomes' sloppy play, Travis Kelce's age, or Matt Nagy's overall incompetence for this trend, but let's not forget that the Chiefs offense has been ravaged by injuries this season.
Leading receiver Rashee Rice was sidelined for the remainder of the season after a Week 4 knee injury. Two weeks prior, starting running back Isaiah Pacheco was sent to the injured reserve after suffering a fracture fibula. And then there's Marquise Brown, who was placed on the IR before he even had a chance to step on the field for a Chiefs regular season game.
Fortunately, the man who has come to be known as “Hollywood” appears to be gearing up for a return that may propel the Chiefs toward their own Hollywood ending.
Per NFL on Prime insider Albert Breer:
“The Chiefs are opening WR Hollywood Brown’s practice window today, per source. Hope has been he’d return this week or next, so he’s right on time. First step in getting him back into game action.”
With the losses of Brown — who was looking for a bounce back season in Kansas City after career low production in 2023 — Rice and Pacheco, the Chiefs traded for DeAndre Hopkins to account for that missing production, and thus far, the 12-year veteran has been able to provide Patrick Mahomes with a reliable target. In just seven games, DeAndre Hopkins has caught 30 of the 45 targets that have come his way for 357 yards and four touchdowns.
The Chiefs are currently two games in the loss column ahead of both Buffalo and Pittsburgh, though the Bills do have the tiebreaker over Kansas City. Three of KC's final four games of the season are on the road — against Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Denver — with a Week 16 matchup with the Texans serving as their regular season home finale.
