Are the Chiefs a PLAYOFF TEAM⁉️ ‘THEY’RE AN AVERAGE FOOTBALL TEAM’ – RC | Monday Night Countdown

Are the Chiefs a PLAYOFF TEAM⁉️ ‘THEY’RE AN AVERAGE FOOTBALL TEAM’ – RC | Monday Night Countdown

Well, as I said a moment ago, firmly in the hands of the Broncos for the time being and Kansas City is all the way over or they’re on the right hand side of things at 5 and five. Denver, Indie, New England, and Pittsburgh your division leaders. Ravens just a game back of the Steelers. It was not an work of art against Cleveland, but they got a win. We’re going to hear from Adam Shfter on Aaron Rogers and Pittsburgh in a moment and the injury he suffered in that win over Cincinnati. But the biggest issue for this Kansas City team now is they’ve got five losses and after they managed fellas to just own these one-score games. They were 10 and0 in one score games and now regression the mean whatever bad luck I don’t know they’ve lost five straight one score games and guys we’ve been talking about this feels like all season. Yeah. Swag they’re going to have to live with these five losses. You’re not going to be able to outrun them. Is this a playoff team? History tells me yes. Um what do your eyes tell you right now? No. No. Not even close. A lot of flaws on this football team. And I think the unit defensively that carried them a lot during their run, especially when you got to the playoffs as far as execution and playmaking is just not showing up in critical moments of the game. And we know when you get to the playoffs, obviously you got to get there. That that’s usually the game. The game is usually close at the end of the game and someone has to make a play. And this unit for so many years found ways. It was either Chris Jones pressuring the quarterback. with Steve Spagnola dialing up a pressure in a critical time. But JK, it just doesn’t seem like they are able to make the play. Right. That’s what Kansas City became synonymous with. The the the third and 15 scramble with Pat Mahomes get hits laid out of bounds or the Chris Jones sack late in the San Francisco game, the batted ball in the in the Super Bowl. All of those things. And and look, football is like that. Yeah. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way and it doesn’t happen for you. So you see it on film like it we and we talk about these games like they getting blasted. They haven’t. That’s the issue. But that’s what I’m saying, Scott. So you are that that’s the margin and and winning is a skill, right? Every time you do it, you’re honing that skill and you’re seeing two polar opposites now where the Chiefs are losing all these close games. The Broncos, Bo Knicks is becoming a different quarterback when their team’s on the line and their team is finding a way to get it done. Now, the Chiefs still I still think they’re going to be a playoff team. They have so much uh stockpile of this skill being developed for the big time players that I think that they will get it done down the stretch here. But every time you lose, you’re it’s it’s like to Nick Sabin’s credit, it’s like poison, right? Every single time it’s like, man, I you feel all of a sudden that inevitability and you’re trying to fight. You see their leaders, you see Travis, you saw the emotion earlier in the season where these guys, they know this isn’t acceptable. They can’t live with this. It’s not just that the they’re losing close games. It’s who they’re losing to. Bills, uh, Chargers, Jags, those are all people that are in their path. So, they’re going to have the upper hand if it comes down to a head-to-head. I’m interested, Ryan, in what you believe about this Chiefs team. What I believe about this Chiefs team is that they’re an average football team. Not only in their record, but the team I see playing on the field. And all the historic stockpile of the tradition of winning, of the habit of winning, that’s not the 2025 Kansas City Chiefs. 2025 Kansas City Chiefs aren’t a team I still believe in in that moment. I believe in certain individuals. I believe in Patrick Mahomes. I believe in Travis Kelce. I trust Steve Spagnolo. But let’s think about yesterday. It’s 1313 going into the fourth quarter. If they ask you, I’m in Vegas right now. If you ask me, hey, you going to take Steve Spagnola and Pat Mahomes or are you going to take Bo Nicks and Vance Joseph? I’d have lost all my money betting on Patrick Mahomes and Steve Spagnola. But in the most important moment, Vance Joseph has three perfect defensive play calls that are executed. And then when Bo Knicks gets the football back, it’s a third and 15 converted. It’s a third and six converted and it’s a back shoulder throw on a well-covered post corner to put them in field goal range. Yesterday wasn’t just about the Kansas City Chiefs not making plays. It was about the Denver Broncos making plays. And at some point for all the greats, there comes a day of reckoning. This is it for the Kansas City Chiefs. What do you do now? I do want to ask, we are in Vegas. If there’s a bet out there that you can bet right now that the Chiefs don’t make the playoffs, I ain’t taking it still. I don’t think anybody’s I I ain’t ready to do it yet. And and and I understand what you’re saying, RC, but I I I think in these particular situations, right, we’ve talked about the one games and I think that’s where history matters, right? Like for a team. Now, here’s the one thing the Chiefs got to understand. We in the playoffs right now. They are. They are. That’s what I’m saying. every single game. So, will that sense of urgency create a detailing? Will it change your your makeup? But here’s the other thing, too, though. Here’s the other thing, too. I’m not watching film from 2024, right? Right. I’m watching 2025. That’s the point. And when I’m watching 20 and I’m not even talking about me. I’m talking about the team they playing. But also, also 2025 film tells me that there’s a bunch of inconsistency with everybody, including Mahomes. But that but that’s my point Scott. In a normal year a five and five team we would not be talking about they getting in the playoffs. But when we see the Chargers get drug 30 to6 against Jacksonville. When we see the Indianapolis Colts lose after a team we thought that was damn near unbeatable. When we watch the Detroit Lions score six points in a football game or we see Green Bay lose to the Carolina Panthers. This is not a nor which great for us. It’s not a normal season. It would not shock me if the Chiefs ran all five in a row. Nobody would sit here and be like, “Oh, we didn’t see that coming.” And that that’s because of the rest of the field, not because the Chiefs deficiency. And I think I probably always looked at the Chiefs through rosecolored glasses for obvious reasons. But um listen, they’ve also been through incredible adversity up to this point. They’ve been missing star players. They just got get back rice. Isaiah PCO was out there. They the left tackle was missing from the building for three or four weeks. I I feel like some consistency and these guys really getting to work and going on a run. Over there with you. I want to come over there with you. I ain’t ready yet. You guys You guys all make great points though that you like the the past past uh performances are not a deposit in the bank you draw down against. They’re five and five and they didn’t make plays and Denver did which is why Denver leaves the division. Kansas City’s got the Colts and then Dallas 4 days later on Thanksgiving. But this Philadelphia Eagle team that are the reigning champions that is facing such a loaded schedule, they are 8-2 and by virtue of their win earlier in the season over the Rams who are also 8-2, they are in pole position for the one seed. Lions now fall out of the grid for the moment, but clearly they are a team who will be heard from down the line. All right, Swag, I want to start with you on this on this Lions Eagles game. It it was my contention that the four teams we saw play yesterday are the are the class of the NFC, Detroit and Philly, Seattle, and LA, which we’ll get to in a moment. I’m really out on a a limb here. But in in terms of Philly’s offense, people are going to talk about it. All the scrutiny, this that and the other thing. It this defense is is not talked about in my estimation nearly enough and they could carry them and they did last night. How good is that unit for Philly? Phenomenal. And the difference that Nico Dean makes for this team being back has been absolutely amazing. RC has has has marveled with Cooper Dean’s play, but I’m going into the interior, brother, cuz I’m a firm believer, like if you a legitimate Super Bowl contender and a legitimate chance to win championships, you have to be able to rush the passer with four people because this game is so good. These quarterbacks are so good pushing the ball down the field that you when you don’t have to add added rushers, it gives you such an advantage. And the difference with Philly than anybody else right now is that I think they are the most complimentary defensive line in the NFL as well. And what I mean is this is this for our old football. Pat Williams and Kevin Williams were two DT Minnesota Vikings. And Pat was kind of that cloggger in the middle, big time run guy and Kevin would just be able to freely flow and get after the quarterback. They got that with Jaylen Carter and Jordan Davis. Mhm. And the other part of that is when you bring in Jayen Phillips, who now is getting one-on- ones because Jaylen Carter is still respected by offensive coordinators. Oh yeah, they got to figure out a way to take care of him. It has started to cause a tremendous amount of problems for scheme. And then this secondary is playing well. I’ll leave that to RC. I have a crush on Philadelphia’s Dline, bro. Yeah. And it’s because they’re not selfish. And I’ll explain that as we go. It’s because they can all win one-on- ons. Every last man, when they get the one-on-one, they are starting to exploit it. And I think now in the NFL, like as we look at teams and we try to identify units that can carry you and things that you can do to have an advantage, I think right now the Philadelphia Eagles defensive line is the best unit in the league based on how they’re playing right now. Now, that’s hard for me to say because I love Seattle, but I think Philly I think Philly right now is the most connected and most disruptive unit when it comes to run and pass. They hold Green Bay to 10, they hold Detroit to six, and they get those wins. They’re great in all three levels. Yeah, the Dline is fantastic. The linebackers, the Kobe Dean, Zack Bond, and uh Campbell, all of them are players that can they can blitz well. They can get back in coverage. They’re aggressive in the run. the safeties, uh, Cooper De, Adori Jackson is playing better now. I mean, the defense is is playing, I mean, Jaylen Carter and Jordan Davis were basically volleyball players for half the game yesterday. They were batting down balls left and right. That you know how hard that is for Detroit. They like all that stuff in cutting over the middle off that play action that throws them all off. The game plan specific that Vic Fangio, it was a it was a point of emphasis in practice. I haven’t talked to anybody. Get your hands up. Yeah. Well, and and it took away a lot from from Detroit. Now, as great as Philadelphia’s defense was, it seemed that the defenses of both the Rams and the Seahawks were both on display in a game against high-flying offenses, and you guys know how this goes. You get get longer in the go in the season. All those offenses are going to go away. Those defenses are going to show out. What’ you see in that game, Mark? Well, I would say this, that’s two of the best defenses in all of football. Ag. And if you look at the Seattle Seahawks, you’re going to come away from that game thinking to yourself, Sam Darnold threw four interceptions, put us in bad situations. You were also a field goal away from winning that football game because of the way you were able to play here. You’re going to look at Sam Darnold. It was all about the pressure in the middle of the pocket. He’s he’s pressured. He’s falling away. He doesn’t identify Kendricks. It’s an interception. And now you’re going to see once again, he’s going to get pressure on a twist. Now outside Jacobe Durant can now sit on the out route. This is cover four. That’s supposed to be the weakness of the defense. But when you know you’re going to get pressure, you don’t have to get pushed up the field. And now you’re going to get pressure in his face one more time. He’s not paying attention to a twoman under. He has to bend in front of that safety Kendricks with another interception. You leave that game thinking to yourself, Sam Darnold can’t play like that if we want to win. That’s actually not true because you almost did. So now it’s how much confidence in him do you have as you go forward that he will correct these mistakes because the team I saw playing for both Seattle and Los Angeles can win a Super Bowl championship. [Music]

On Monday Night Countdown, Ryan Clark, Marcus “Swagu” Spears and Jason Kelce join Scott Van Pelt to take a look at the current AFC & NFC playoff picture.

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