The Kansas City Chiefs are in a weird spot entering their Week 12 matchup against the Indianapolis Colts.
The Chiefs have been the AFC's dominant powerhouse since Patrick Mahomes took over as the starting quarterback in 2018, advancing to the AFC Championship Game in every one of those seasons since then. Kansas City has won three of those Super Bowls and has been to the Big Game five times.
In fact, they've won the AFC West every season since before Mahomes took over, dating back to the 2016 season.
This time around, they're 5-5, and not only are they unlikely to win the AFC West — the Denver Broncos are 9-2 and hold a win over them — they're behind the 6-4 Jacksonville Jaguars for the final AFC Wild Card spot in the playoffs. It's worth mentioning that the Chiefs also previously lost to the Jaguars, meaning they lose the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Even so, Dick Vermeil, who coached the Chiefs for five seasons from 2001 until 2005, says Kansas City will be “dangerous” in the playoffs and offers a solution to their woes: they need to start executing on big plays. The 89-year-old former head coach says that's the difference between winning and losing for the Chiefs, who have gone 0-5 in one-possession games a year after going an NFL-record 11-0 in those same situations.
“Right now, they're not hitting the big plays down field like they have in the past,” Vermeil said in a one-on-one interview with ClutchPoints. “You got to give the credits to some defenses. I think once they get those issues lined out, because they're healthy with the receivers, they've got speed with the receivers now, and lately Patrick has been overthrowing those guys.”
Vermeil knows a thing or two about a big-play offense, having coached the Greatest Show on Turf Rams to a Super Bowl victory in the 1999 season. The high-octane Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV over the Titans on an Isaac Bruce 73-yard touchdown, and Kansas City needs to hit on those kinds of plays to realize its full potential.
The Chiefs still have playmakers on offense such as Xavier Worthy — the fastest player in football — Rashee Rice and Travis Kelce. However, Worthy has just 10.4 yards per reception and has missed a couple games due to injury, though he should be good to go for Week 12. Meanwhile, Rice was suspended for the first six games of the season.
Kansas City actually ranks first in time of possession and plays and second in points per game. That's a point Vermeil brought up during our interview, which is why he's so confident they can turn things around when the playoffs come around.
“In football, they're the most efficient offense per drive in football,” says Vermeil. “Last week they were No. 1 in terms of drive per efficiency.”
Chiefs Pro Bowl center Creed Humphrey recently echoed a similar sentiment, saying execution is the difference between Kansas City winning and losing games while trying to remain competitive in a tough AFC West.
“You're going to get everybody's best shot,” says Humphrey of the Chiefs having a target on their backs. “We've had a lot of success in the building over the years, and everybody's competing in the AFC and AFC West. So for us, it's just about being able to come in every week and be the best version of yourself.”
Vermeil has confidence that Andy Reid will lead the Chiefs into the playoffs for the 11th consecutive season, which is the longest current streak in the NFL. He also has confidence that Kansas City will be “a problem” for any team they match up against.
“I believe they will,” Vermeil says about the Chiefs bouncing back and making it to the playoffs. “I think once they get in the playoffs, they can be a problem for any team they're playing. Andy Reid is too fine of a football coach and they've had injury issues and all these kinds of different things. They've lost some tough ones this year that they won last year. I think everybody knows they weren't going to keep doing that. I really believe they're going to finish this season very strong and be in the playoffs, and then watch out from there.”
