The Kansas City Chiefs once again look like one of the best teams in the NFL. However, they are finding their success this season in a different way than we have become accustomed to seeing on the field.
For the last five seasons with Patrich Mahomes as the starting quarterback, it has been the Chiefs offense garnering all of the attention. Under Andy Reid, they are regularly near the top of the offensive rankings in the league.
This season it has been more of the same, as the Chiefs are inside the top 10. However, based on their high standards, this has been an underwhelming offensive season in Kansas City. If they remain in the same position for points scored and yardage, it will be the lowest finish in the Mahomes era.
Most teams would take that kind of offensive performance in a heartbeat, but this has been a down year for the Chiefs. How have they made up for it to still be 7-2 on the season? They can thank Steve Spagnuolo and his defense.
Kansas City currently sits second in the NFL in points allowed and fourth in yardage. They are making it very difficult for their opponents to move the ball, which plays into the statistic that most defines their first half of the 2023 season in the opinion of Adam Teicher of ESPN.
“The Chiefs are allowing 15.9 points per game. That’s the team’s best through nine games since the Chiefs started 9-0 in 2013. Those Chiefs collapsed down the stretch, but don’t expect that to happen this time. The Chiefs are solid defensively at all three levels. There has been no weakness for opponents to pick on and consistently make gains,” Teicher wrote.
With a championship-caliber defense, this could be the most well-rounded, dangerous Chiefs team in the Mahomes and Reid era. 2015 was the last time they had a defense in the top 10 of yardage and points allowed and have only been top 10 in either stat once with Mahomes as a starter.
That has put a lot of pressure on him to score points every week, but that pressure has disappeared this season. Even with some issues to iron out offensively, the Chiefs are finding success on the back of a very strong defense.
However, it is fair to question whether or not there will be a regression to the mean. Over at PFF, the Chiefs don’t grade out in the top half of the league in any defensive metric; their tackling grade of 58.9 is the closest to the top half, coming in at No. 18.
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