Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs haven’t fully looked the part of being the defending Super Bowl champs this season, but virtually everyone feels they will find a way to be there in the end this winter.
They’re 4-1 so far this year and are on a four-game winning streak, yet they have won only one game by double digits — that was their 41-10 Week 3 win over the Chicago Bears. They don’t have a reliable or consistently productive wide receiver as they did in previous years, and perhaps Mahomes hasn’t always been at his best this year.
He completed 31 of 41 pass attempts for 281 yards and two touchdown passes in Sunday’s win over the Minnesota Vikings, and afterward, he professed confidence in his wideouts while seeming to warn the rest of the NFL.
“There’s a lot of young guys out there [in the receiving corps] and we’re going to keep everybody moving and going in the right direction,” the Chiefs QB told reporters after the win in Minnesota, warning: “And I think by the end of the year we’re going to be dangerous because you’re not going to know who’s going to get those opportunities throughout the game.”
Through five games, Kansas City’s most productive wideout is Justin Watson, who has a modest 219 receiving yards. Travis Kelce has just 222 yards in four contests, and one has to wonder if the lack of a bona fide threat at WR may render him a little less effective than usual since defenses will have more of a liberty to key on him.
Still, the team’s offensive ranks are fairly solid: ninth in points, seventh in total yards and receiving touchdowns and sixth in passing yards.
When it traded star wideout Tyreek Hill prior to last season, some thought it couldn’t possibly win it all again without him. But the Chiefs did exactly that, and it was thus confirmed that it isn’t wise to bet against Mahomes.
Yet even a quarterback as great as he is, and he may be as great as any who has ever played the game, or only as great as the skill players around him. Patrick Mahomes can make his teammates better with some of phenomenal passing skills, but as the old saying goes, you cannot get blood out of a turnip.
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