Successful teams in NFL history have seen a boom time end for a variety of reasons:
- Team ages out and great veterans retire
- Slew of injuries
- Hall of Fame QB retires or his talent declines
- Salary cap kills roster
- Consecutive years of bad drafts
- Their division improves dramatically
- Ownership, management or coaching changes for the worse
- Team turmoil or unforseen events/tragedy
The Chiefs are facing several of these as we begin the offseason.
Since Mahomes, no team has played more games or has longer seasons than the Chiefs. It seemed to show a little this year as the regular season came to a close.
We have become so spoiled since PM III that the idea of not making the playoffs or the AFC Championship game seems laughable.
With so many challenges of trying to sign all our FA's, the fatigue of all these long seasons, the strong possibility of Travis Kelce's retirement and all the roster holes like our Oline, what is the likelihood we have a setback this year and either miss the playoffs, not win the division or get knocked out early?
Would it be a tragedy to have a short season for the year and not deal with any extra games?
Could this be our first BIG reset year? We did reset after Tampa Bay in some ways and it worked out with no disruption to our making the playoffs.
I would rather a year of completely fixing our entire Oline at the expense of the making the playoffs vs having Mahomes suffer another year of the beating he took in 2024. The 6 sacks and complete destruction of him during the Super Bowl was the culmination and cherry on top of what was a real setback year for him. Yeah we made the Super Bowl and that sounds crazy picking on Patrick but numbers don't lie.
Don't want to see him suffer a major injury due to the failure of the Oline. That strip sack and hit he took was scary. Looked like his arm was nearly ripped out of the socket and then he was smacked in the face hard.
So here is the multiple choice question:
A. Do you think we get worse and miss the playoffs or early exit?
B. Do you think we get better and WIN the Super Bowl?
C. Same 'ol same 'ol cause Reid and Mahomes
D. We do.a one year rebuild and take a mini-break from the playoffs
I would be perfectly OK with a 1 year reset if we came back "stronger, better, faster", just like the Six Million Dollar Man. :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Womble:
We already tried that by going into a season with Skyy Moore, Kadarius Toney and MVS as our top 3 WRs. We ended up with pick 32.
We got beat by a very good football team that had a solid game plan and better execution. I agree that we have a lot of problems to fix and that we’ve gotten a little long in the tooth at some positions and salary heavy at others, so a reset makes sense. We definitely don’t need a full rebuild though. This could cause us to not win the division next year, but that’s not a given with the QB and coach we have. [Reply]
What we do is harder than what most teams do. We genuinely compete for a Super Bowl every single year w/ Mahomes. Most teams gear up...ratchet down the next year or two and than gear up again. Eagles won't be in the Super Bowl next year. That's not a cope. That's just what most teams do. It's hard to beat teams year after year that have geared up to win just ONE Super Bowl. [Reply]
I do however think the season will be an overall hangover. It’s just going to happen. Hard to stay motivated on another level after this run and coming so close and not getting there.
My prediction is we lose a divisional game of playoffs for the first time with Mahomes to Pittsburgh. [Reply]
Originally Posted by smithandrew051:
I’m probably in the minority but I don’t think the OL is the disaster that some believe it is.
It was an awful awful game. No doubt.
Still though, Creed is as good as they get at center. Same with Thuney at left guard. In 6 of the 7 postseason games he’s played here, Taylor has been perfectly fine at RT.
Trey Smith will be replaced, likely with someone already on the roster. Maybe Kingsley, Wanya, or Nourzad. The other two are fine depth.
Really just leaves LT. Fix that and the whole OL looks night and day. Obviously, that’s easier said than done.
I think most people agree that getting a new LT and RG will fix the offensive line for the most part. But it was a disaster in the super bowl. [Reply]
Originally Posted by wannaGOback:
I don’t think we will miss the playoffs.
I do however think the season will be an overall hangover. It’s just going to happen. Hard to stay motivated on another level after this run and coming so close and not getting there.
My prediction is we lose a divisional game of playoffs for the first time with Mahomes to Pittsburgh.
THis is a veteran team that knows how to win playoff games and bounce back. They are mentally tough. NE lost the super bowl in 2017 to these same Eagles and then went onto win it again in 2018. For most other teams, I would agree that there will be a hangover, but not this crew. [Reply]
Originally Posted by smithandrew051:
Trey Smith will be replaced, likely with someone already on the roster. Maybe Kingsley, Wanya, or Nourzad. The other two are fine depth.
I’m not sure a guy with minimal experience playing in the NFL, or even at he guard position, is a sure thing next to the unique style of Taylor. Even a great guard like Trey struggles to make up for Taylor. [Reply]
