Success

Fully agree w/ the OP. I think the better QB's and offenses can pick apart the kind of zone we play fairly easily. It's troubling, because obviously, once you get to the playoffs - it's mainly better QB's and offenses.

I love how Rapp has been playing - but I'm ready for a full Cole Bishop game. It's like any other rookie w/ this team. Bernard hardly had any snaps his rookie season, then he's amazing in year 2. He could have started his whole rookie season - I'm sure there would be mistakes, but these guys are talented. McD is way too conservative w/ that. He wants it to be too perfect.

I don't see it as THAT unlikely. The law of averages & all that - every game for them has been tight. Maybe it's a "they know how to win the close ones!" thing, but I don't see how they make a guy's foot go out of bounds by an inch, or make a FG kicker miss a chip shot.

Is it me, or has Douglas not been playing as well as he did last year? I'd actually be kind of interested to see what Elam can do in a full game, if that's their plan. Rapp is the only big loss here if he can't play, imo. He's a real playmaker. But I'd also love to see Bishop get some more experience.

I'm starting to get a complex & think that every team happens to have their best game against us.

We got the right Josh.

Yes, for sure. I don't want to avoid them. We have to slay that dragon - doing that will make a title much more likely, imo. It would instill so much confidence, like, we finally did it - let's close the deal now.

I'd love the 1 seed - but what a season. We were such an afterthought in the offseason, and even I (hopeless homer here) had some doubts. Then, that 1st half against the Cards - I was like, well, looks like everyone was right. In many ways, this looks as good as any team we've had. And it's just a fun, fun season - Allen keeps raising the bar on himself, each & every week. It's just a blast to watch, even when we lose games like Sunday.

"This Josh Allen is phenomenal, as we already know" - watching the NFL replay right now, and that's a direct quote from Brady. Pretty cool to hear from the GOAT.

He might not care about it - but I do. Allen is the best player in the league right now. I feel like this team lets him down at times and he deserves much more than he's gotten to this point. I hope that doesn't keep happening in the playoffs, but nothing is guaranteed. It's a big thing to win MVP, and he has earned it.

It's kinda cool that we're in most of the "games of the year" now. I've heard this season, people had it as our game against KC - but since Sunday, I've heard a few call the Rams game the game of the year (which, entertainment-wise, it probably was).

I agree there. Our defense looks amazing against average & bad teams. Whenever we get in against an top tier offense, it seems to falter more often than not. I think good QB's just are better at picking apart the kind of zone we play. I wish we could be more consistently aggressive when we play against the really good passers - either w/ more press coverage, or more pressure on the QB.

You make some good points here. The "run it w/ Beast mode" second-guessing was universal, and comparable to us trying to sneak & using the timeout. I agree w/ you on accepting the penalty. That was a bad decision, imo - but not egregious, and a there are probably more than a few coaches who do the same there. I just assumed that the coaches' mindset was the same as mine & probably everyone watching on that last drive. You're down 2 scores - whatever you do, keep those 3 timeouts. I think it probably was the same, but they just made a bad gamble at the end & thought the sneak would be a sure thing, because it normally is. They put themselves in a position where they had to use that final timeout, but I can kind of see the logic if I get back in that mode of looking at it without the benefit of hindsight. And hindsight is super easy. You throw it, 3x if necessary, but keep those timeouts.

2020 and last year are more "passes" for me. People say injuries aren't excuses, but they are in those games (imo). People forget - our top 4 WR's all had fairly significant injuries in 2020, and it showed in the game. Diggs had an oblique; Beasley was playing on a broken leg. Brown and Davis also had leg injuries which slowed them. There was no separation the entire game, exacerbated by the officials letting the DB's get away w/ more contact than is usually allowed. Last year, I'll always maintain that if KC had the injuries we had on defense, and we were as healthy as they were - it would have likely been a blowout in our favor. We were missing too many guys, and even some of the guys playing were gutting it out through injury. But 13 seconds will always live on as a game of terrible decision-making at the end, and the Bengals loss was kind of inexplicable.

I bet if we did this & it showed demonstrable results, most of the league would have one in 5 years. As others have said - clock management is something a lot of coaches simply aren't that good at.

If I'm going to put a positive spin on it, I'd say that Andy Reid used to get the exact same kind of criticism when he was in Philly. Clock management was considered a big weakness for him. Now, people see him as the best in the league. McD does a ton of other things very well - but it's just those late-game decisions that seem to be a pattern.

I don't see why this can't be considered. A HC has a few dozen things to think about in a situation like this past Sunday at the end of the game. Just a guy up in the booth who sees the entire picture and can advise on something basic like that would benefit. I don't disagree w/ people saying that it's part of the HC's job - but a lot of HC's do botch this aspect of the game, and they're not superhuman. There is a lot they have to think about at that point of a game.

I'd normally agree w/ this - but the Rams loss wasn't any loss. I was really encouraged this whole season. In general, McDermott has done a great job. But what happened at the end of the Rams game was just deja vu. He shouldn't be fired for it, but there are legit concerns. These are the kinds of teams we'll see in the playoffs, and the kinds of close games we're likely to have. They will often come down to the last couple of minutes, and a win or loss will depend on sound clock management & good situational awareness. The way we handled that last few minutes and some of the decisions that were made kind of felt like we're stuck in a loop. It just doesn't bode well for finally getting a title - it feels like we'll have to get a little lucky, like we'll have to win in spite of a few bad decisions or bad strategy.

It seemed like kickers were missing easy ones all day on Sunday in other games - and it's been a bad year for kicking in general. I'm feeling as good about Bass as I would w/ just about anyone out there, save maybe 4-5 guys.

Definitely not too interested in playing Cincy 1st round if we get the 2 seed. Burrow is still Burrow.

I think we were all watching that last scoring drive the same way. Just keep the 3 timeouts....then we've got a chance. Literally, as soon as you use one, your down to a much more improbable onside kick. You can say that w/ the way our D performed all day, the chances were slim that we'd get a 3 & out - but their O would have been predictable at that point. It's just basic situational awareness.

I don't think the usual soft zone is going to cut it against a team like the Lions. I'd love to see some more aggressive D in this one.

It evened out. I was shocked to see Chiefs fans online complaining about the refs as much as they did - but when I thought about the game, there were definitely some bad calls that went our way.

I think the staff has made great halftime adjustments all year - but they seemed non-existent yesterday. I felt confident at the half for that reason. But then the Rams came out & just continued w/ long clock-killing drives. We really could do nothing to stop them.

I take a small amount of solace in the fact that every non-Chiefs fan in America is enraged right now. Actually, probably worldwide.