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Three Takeaways from Chiefs-Niners in Week 7

Chris Mitchell

The Kansas City Chiefs are 5-2 after beating the San Francisco 49ers 44-23. Here’s three takeaways from that ballgame:

 

The Chiefs Offense Got Back to Business

It’s not often you get NFL offenses operating at peak efficiency. With the level of talent on pretty much every NFL defense, there’s gonna be someone or something that throws a monkey wrench in your offense and forces you to adapt. This time around, the Chiefs got out to a sluggish start against one of the best defenses in the NFL, and they paid for it by turning the ball over and being down 10 to nothing before you could even blink. They played almost a step behind the 49ers throughout most of the first quarter, in a way that could make one ask the age-old question: Are the Chiefs kinda cooked?

And then, as it turned out, the Chiefs weren’t cooked. As the rest of the game unfolded the only team getting fried, pan-seared, sauteed, boiled, sizzled, cooked, was the team located in San Francisco by way of Santa Clara.

Despite the slow start for the offense, Andy Reid had the secret sauce in his playbook for getting one over on the 49ers defense. The screen game was on point, so much so it kept a drive alive with the Chiefs offense facing a 3rd and 20:

It wasn’t just matriculation and powerful screen work, Mahomes and his new receivers Marquez Valdez-Scantling and Juju Smith-Schuster successfully challenged the Niners defense downfield with deep passing plays.

 

There’s a lot of things responsible for the Chiefs racking up 529 yards on 58 plays, with 417 of those yards coming through the air. It was the offensive line having a bounceback game after last Sunday and keeping Mahomes clean to the tune of allowing just one sack, it was the newfound effectiveness of the run game thanks to the strong efforts of Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Isiah Pacheco averaging 5.3 yards per touch, but I’d like to think beyond all those on field factors, it was the off-the-field stuff that really got this offense to gel at the perfect time:

Maybe Kyler Murray was onto something…

Regardless of what was the real catalyst for the Chiefs having another field day on offense in hostile territory, if they continue to play like this they are going to be the most dangerous team in the playoffs, one seed or no one seed.

 

The Chiefs Defense Got Its Swagger Back

In the first quarter it appeared that the Niners were poised to give the Chiefs a long afternoon with the nearly unstoppable run game by way of Jeff Wilson Jr. and new addition Christian McCaffrey. Though the end of that first drive proved to be a more accurate herald of the Chiefs’ defensive performance to come, allowing just a field goal. When the Chiefs offense found their groove, the defense did their part to keep the Niners offense at arm’s length, forcing field goals and punts when San Fransisco needed touchdowns. . They did get close, 21-16 midway through the third quarter is by no means an insurmountable lead, and it could have been closer if Chiefs rookie Joshua Williams didn’t pick off Jimmy G before halftime, but once the Chiefs offense really turned the screws in the passing game, the Niners were just completely unable to keep up. Five sacks on the day in total for the Chiefs defense, one of which ended up as a safety and gave the Chiefs the opening they needed to get the game-ending touchdown and put all thoughts of a comeback to rest.

Even after the Chiefs got to 44, the defense stayed on that ass forcing two more turnovers, including an interception on Niners backup Brock Purdy.

It was a struggle in the early going, but key big plays by the Chiefs defense was what kept the Chiefs alive before the offense was able to bring the thunder, and once the tide shifted the defense kept Jimmy G and the Niners on the mat for the rest of the game. Both sides of the ball complimented each other and played to their counterpart’s strengths, and that’s something the Chiefs, like all Super Bowl hopeful teams, are going to need once they get into the winter months of the season.

 

The Vibes Going into the Bye Week are Immaculate

We talk a lot about Andy Reid’s post-bye week record being almost spotless, but by that same token Reid coached teams tend to do a little stumbling going into that bye week, signaling that the team could, in fact, really use that week off to recoup and get back in shape for the homestretch. That was honestly my biggest concern coming into this ballgame; that a combination of losing a close one to the Bills plus a tough road game against one of the better defenses in the league would lead to two weeks worth of Takes from Hell about a football team that still has a good enough chance to control its own playoff destiny.

After this game I still have a few concerns: How can the Chiefs speed up their slow starts? Are they gonna keep pushing the Skyy Moore button when it feels pretty clear that the dude isn’t quite ready to be a consistent contributor on offense and definitely not ready to return punts? Will the Chiefs make some moves at the deadline to fix their depth issues on defense, particularly on the defensive line? I don’t expect all of those questions to be answered in the next fourteen or so days, but when you’re 5-2 with the hardest part of your schedule in the books, these are questions that I am very much okay with asking as opposed to some of the more existential questions worse teams might ask heading into a bye week. For now, I’m gonna appreciate the fact that Patrick Mahomes does in fact still got it, the defense can still wreak havoc, and that the Chiefs should still be the favorites to win the AFC West and have a decent shot of getting that one seed back.

 

Up next…it’s the bye week so no column next weekend, but the Chiefs will be back against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday Night Football November 6th.

 

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