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The Sunday night matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens lived up to all the hype. Before the game, the story was Lamar Jackson never being able to defeat the Patrick Mahomes-led Chiefs. In the end the Ravens somehow pulled off the win with one of the more gutsy fourth down calls in recent memory. Timely turnovers and excellent execution helped the Ravens, but what happened to the Chiefs? They had the momentum for most of the game but just couldn't pull out the win. Here are a few takeaways for Kansas City.
1. The defensive line has been extremely disappointing
The Chiefs defense is usually overlooked because Patrick Mahomes and company can just take over and win most games, but the defense gets exposed after a loss like this one. All night long, the Chiefs had zero issues running the ball or just finding extra time for Lamar Jackson to make the right pass and the defensive line deserves blame. This line consists of Frank Clark and Chris Jones as the two big headliners. Those two are taking up $32 million of the cap and are leading a group with just three tackles for loss this season.
Getting Tyrann Mathieu back in the secondary had immediate value for the Chiefs and made this defense look almost like a whole new unit at times but Mathieu can't do everything. If the defensive line can't consistently create some pressure or really do anything to slow down the run then even Patrick Mahomes will have trouble winning games against good teams like Baltimore. Ultimately this loss came down to a bad turnover from the Chiefs offense so they still had a shot despite the defense in the end.
2. Tyreek Hill was kept in check but it didn't matter
Whatever the Baltimore Ravens did to keep the ball away from star wide receiver Tyreek Hill, it worked. Hill caught just three passes for 14 yards on the night so one might think the Chiefs offense was quieter than usual. Of course, that was not the case and the Ravens found out that if you take out one head two more will somehow emerge. Hill was kept quiet but Mahomes still threw for 343 yards and found his other receivers all night long vs the Baltimore defense.
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We all expected at least one of Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce to have a big game and it was Kelce in Week 2. He was unstoppable, running through defenders all night including an absolutely absurd 46 yard touchdown with 41 yards after contact. After Kelce, the Chiefs secondary wide receivers all had nice games. Mecole Hardman caught five passes for 55 yards while Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle combined for five more catches and 109 yards. There truly is no way of containing this Chiefs offense unless the defense can match them in skill.
3. The Chiefs fixed their only weakness on offense
We all watched the Super Bowl last season between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs. Everyone saw the offensive line for the Chiefs basically melt down and have trouble all game long and ultimately be the reason the Chiefs lost. In the offseason, the KC went out and brought in two stars and it looks to be paying off already. Bringing in Joe Thuney at guard next to Orlando Brown Jr. at tackle was probably best case scenario and things have seemingly gone well.
Mahomes will always be able to create some extra time but having these two guys on the line makes the best offense in the league somehow even better. The Chiefs are simply unfair and they are the model organization for what to do while in a Super Bowl window with an elite quarterback. Teams like the Minnesota Vikings or Chicago Bears have avoided upgrades on the offensive line with their franchise quarterbacks and the Chiefs are doing exactly what needs to be done.
