Mitch Holthus discusses what went wrong for the Chiefs in 2025.
January 9, 2026
Mitch Holthus discusses what went wrong for the Chiefs in 2025.
38 comments
Using the schedule as an excuse for what went wrong is such a soft cop out.
Those things really didn’t help, but there’s other problems that have been popping up for a while now. It’s just that Mahomes was able to cover up some of those problems until this year.
Short answer: they ass
Excuses are like ass holes, Mitch
Vague ass series of unfortunate events answer. How about coaching has been poor, our gm had 0 sense of urgency even after a bad start, Reid had 0 panic, and we never tried to develop our young players, we picked up fulton and never used him until we had to and he balled out, brashard was treated as a gadget guy he was barely used, until it was too late then shows signs of being out best rb. We need a massive culture change, and we need to be quicker to fire bad players and bad coaches.
I love Mitch, but that’s a lot of excuses when the answer is we didn’t play well. Catch the damn ball, stop running the same god damn running plays from shotgun, and stop holding on every god damn punt.
Mitch, I love ya buddy, but lol come on now.
What went wrong is:
The offensive weapons developed not at all and were completely inadequate
There was no run game so play calling was completely predictable and ineffective
The pass rush was nonexistent so teams regularly converted 3rd downs against the Chiefs
The Special Teams unit were actual football terrorists and went out of their way to make every single game needlessly more difficult than necessary
Let’s not make up some nonsense to excuse a poorly coached, poorly planned, poorly executed season from start to finish. This team was a flaming hot mess for all 18 weeks of the season
He’s a ‘Company Man’ if he believes any of that BS.
He’s delusional.
Damn, was unfair that Chargers were able to play at home in Brazil, while we had to travel… what’s that? Chargers had to travel to?! Well I guess they must of had more notice… what’s that, they were notified the same time as we were?! Hmmm….
We were losing plenty of games we shouldn’t had even before Simmons went down… and won plenty of games while he was gone initially.
The offense has looked awful for the past three seasons…
Were these other issues factors? Sure… I guess… I really hope that is what the decision makers in the Chiefs org are actually taking away, because if so, weren’t not going to see the improvement that we need.
Mitch, quit making excuses. We weren’t good enough top to bottom this year. It’s okay to admit. Injuries weren’t a factor until later in the year. It’s mostly on Andy not helping Pat enough with the scheme and guys not playing well. Pat included, he struggled too.
Chargers made the playoffs with a dog shot O line.
No excuses. Better retool and come up with some new ideas offensively like an effective running game with a new back.
Mitch is employed by the organization. He’s smart enough to know it’s deeper than this, but can’t say that publicly.
I will say that even though I just said deeper than this, the idea of not getting into rhythm because of a bizarre schedule is interesting and I do think it could be one of many factors. Our third place schedule may not be all it’s cracked up to be, but hopefully we will have less primetime and weird time games next season, which would actually be helpful.
What went right is the actual question
I still don’t understand how our defense would lock teams down at times and then be so shitty on 3rd and 10+
All I hear is excuses. A good team would have managed all that.
Inability to get off the field on 3rd down was huge.
And it seems a majority of Chiefs fans want to trade Trent instead of putting him where he’s an ace… the slot! Which coincidentally is usually the WR spot that moves the chains. How many times did we lament Chimichurri bc he gave up a critical catch for a first down? Maybe we pay Trent and play him where he belongs and will shut it down.
Too many dropped passes in key situations.
I feel like a better title would be “Mitch Holthus discusses the symptoms of what went wrong.”
For example, “Defensively, inability at critical times to get teams off the field on 3rd and long” is true, but _why_.
It feels like a step better than the problem was “They had 11 games where they didn’t score enough points.”
All of this plus Andy’s refusal to switch up the scheme at all. Our offense was so predictable, if an idiot like me sitting at home knowing what the offense is going to do damn near every play then the defensive coordinators of NFL teams sure as hell know what they are going to do.
Lack of focus from almost all position groups on offense, stupid penalties that kill drives, dropped passes (lack of focus), injuries.
Coaching has been pretty bad also. WR coach was shit even players said kelce was more of a coach than the WR coach. Special teams was horrible all year, there were so many penalties on punts (felt like every punt had a penalty). The list goes on and on. They need to revamp a lot of the coaching staff.
The amount of times I thought “It’s 3rd and 12. Watch them run 13 yards, turn around and sit in the middle of the field, and catch an easy throw with 0 defenders within 5 yeards for the 1st” and then saw that exact scenario play out so often that I’d probably be rich if I could’ve bet on that specific situation happening on every 3rd and long. It’s a major issue.
The only situation that was more predictable was hearing “Holding. Kansas City” on every god damn punt, kicking AND returning.
Our schedule was even more inconsistent last year and the starters went 17-2
It’s like Mitch watches the game every week.
My whole thing is to reserve any frustration for the end of this next season. Every team no matter how good reaches a point where they have to make changes. This is why Veach not going aggressively for trades before the deadline now helps us come draft time. The Chiefs came crashing down this year, but it only has to be a negative if we don’t respond well to the problems the team has for this next season. If all our cards are played right, Mahomes resurges with another dangerous team in a dynasty 2.0 like fashion. If we continue operating like usual with minimal coaching, scheme, and player changes, the team officially blew it.
Play calling and coaching.
Oh look….another behind the sticks screen! Predictable!!! 🙄🙄
The schedule thing is a pretty important factor. This was a really difficult schedule not just in terms of the teams we played, but also WHEN we played everyone. That stuff matters a lot.
Multiple beat writers have mentioned the team getting off on the wrong foot with the season with it starting Brazil. Matt Derrick talked about it a few weeks ago and based on his description the logistics of moving from camp at St. Joe’s to the Chief’s normal facilities to Brazil in a short period of time a huge part of those issues. I think some other parts that trip were also problems (specifically staying 2 hours away from the stadium and when they flew down there). I hope they take a few lessons from that trip and game because it really just doesn’t look good on them from an operations standpoint. One time gets a bit of a pass because it’s the first time traveling that far for week one, but they need to plan better in the future.
Poor conditioning and execution. Low accountability.
Personally, the schedule was a pretty big issue. The older I get, the harder it is to stay up late (I’m on Eastern time). 😬
If you watch the entire interview (on youtube) he jokes with Carrington saying something like ‘what time are you off the air?” when asked this question.
Meaning the list of things is too long. I think his overall sentiment is the same as almost everyone else. Though I don’t think he would ever say anything totally mean about the Chiefs like a lot of other people on the radio and reddit. So this is the harshest you’r’e going to get out of him.
Surely wasn’t dropped passes or the lack of runs from under center
You motherfuckers in these comments think he’s making excuses when he’s explaining the reasons that led to the fucked up confidence the team had in itself
Stop trying to fix everything instantly. It’s hard to win in the NFL.
Yeah, no shit. All the bad things and the bad plays combined to make a bad season.
Such a company man, but at least he admitted they couldn’t get teams off the field on third and long. Love ya Mitch!
if the schedule was an issue, then why did the Chargers do better? they traveled way more than the Chiefs
That’s a very nice way of saying Matt Nagy couldn’t game plan his way out of a wet paper sack.
Is this dude a shill or is that really how limited his thinking is?
I think terrible player development and zero change when something clearly isn’t working is another big problem but yeah Brazil sucked too
38 comments
Using the schedule as an excuse for what went wrong is such a soft cop out.
Those things really didn’t help, but there’s other problems that have been popping up for a while now. It’s just that Mahomes was able to cover up some of those problems until this year.
Short answer: they ass
Excuses are like ass holes, Mitch
Vague ass series of unfortunate events answer. How about coaching has been poor, our gm had 0 sense of urgency even after a bad start, Reid had 0 panic, and we never tried to develop our young players, we picked up fulton and never used him until we had to and he balled out, brashard was treated as a gadget guy he was barely used, until it was too late then shows signs of being out best rb. We need a massive culture change, and we need to be quicker to fire bad players and bad coaches.
I love Mitch, but that’s a lot of excuses when the answer is we didn’t play well. Catch the damn ball, stop running the same god damn running plays from shotgun, and stop holding on every god damn punt.
Mitch, I love ya buddy, but lol come on now.
What went wrong is:
The offensive weapons developed not at all and were completely inadequate
There was no run game so play calling was completely predictable and ineffective
The pass rush was nonexistent so teams regularly converted 3rd downs against the Chiefs
The Special Teams unit were actual football terrorists and went out of their way to make every single game needlessly more difficult than necessary
Let’s not make up some nonsense to excuse a poorly coached, poorly planned, poorly executed season from start to finish. This team was a flaming hot mess for all 18 weeks of the season
He’s a ‘Company Man’ if he believes any of that BS.
He’s delusional.
Damn, was unfair that Chargers were able to play at home in Brazil, while we had to travel… what’s that? Chargers had to travel to?! Well I guess they must of had more notice… what’s that, they were notified the same time as we were?! Hmmm….
We were losing plenty of games we shouldn’t had even before Simmons went down… and won plenty of games while he was gone initially.
The offense has looked awful for the past three seasons…
Were these other issues factors? Sure… I guess… I really hope that is what the decision makers in the Chiefs org are actually taking away, because if so, weren’t not going to see the improvement that we need.
Mitch, quit making excuses. We weren’t good enough top to bottom this year. It’s okay to admit. Injuries weren’t a factor until later in the year. It’s mostly on Andy not helping Pat enough with the scheme and guys not playing well. Pat included, he struggled too.
Chargers made the playoffs with a dog shot O line.
No excuses. Better retool and come up with some new ideas offensively like an effective running game with a new back.
Mitch is employed by the organization. He’s smart enough to know it’s deeper than this, but can’t say that publicly.
I will say that even though I just said deeper than this, the idea of not getting into rhythm because of a bizarre schedule is interesting and I do think it could be one of many factors. Our third place schedule may not be all it’s cracked up to be, but hopefully we will have less primetime and weird time games next season, which would actually be helpful.
What went right is the actual question
I still don’t understand how our defense would lock teams down at times and then be so shitty on 3rd and 10+
All I hear is excuses. A good team would have managed all that.
Inability to get off the field on 3rd down was huge.
And it seems a majority of Chiefs fans want to trade Trent instead of putting him where he’s an ace… the slot! Which coincidentally is usually the WR spot that moves the chains. How many times did we lament Chimichurri bc he gave up a critical catch for a first down? Maybe we pay Trent and play him where he belongs and will shut it down.
Too many dropped passes in key situations.
I feel like a better title would be “Mitch Holthus discusses the symptoms of what went wrong.”
For example, “Defensively, inability at critical times to get teams off the field on 3rd and long” is true, but _why_.
It feels like a step better than the problem was “They had 11 games where they didn’t score enough points.”
All of this plus Andy’s refusal to switch up the scheme at all. Our offense was so predictable, if an idiot like me sitting at home knowing what the offense is going to do damn near every play then the defensive coordinators of NFL teams sure as hell know what they are going to do.
Lack of focus from almost all position groups on offense, stupid penalties that kill drives, dropped passes (lack of focus), injuries.
Coaching has been pretty bad also. WR coach was shit even players said kelce was more of a coach than the WR coach. Special teams was horrible all year, there were so many penalties on punts (felt like every punt had a penalty). The list goes on and on. They need to revamp a lot of the coaching staff.
The amount of times I thought “It’s 3rd and 12. Watch them run 13 yards, turn around and sit in the middle of the field, and catch an easy throw with 0 defenders within 5 yeards for the 1st” and then saw that exact scenario play out so often that I’d probably be rich if I could’ve bet on that specific situation happening on every 3rd and long. It’s a major issue.
The only situation that was more predictable was hearing “Holding. Kansas City” on every god damn punt, kicking AND returning.
Our schedule was even more inconsistent last year and the starters went 17-2
It’s like Mitch watches the game every week.
My whole thing is to reserve any frustration for the end of this next season. Every team no matter how good reaches a point where they have to make changes. This is why Veach not going aggressively for trades before the deadline now helps us come draft time. The Chiefs came crashing down this year, but it only has to be a negative if we don’t respond well to the problems the team has for this next season. If all our cards are played right, Mahomes resurges with another dangerous team in a dynasty 2.0 like fashion. If we continue operating like usual with minimal coaching, scheme, and player changes, the team officially blew it.
Play calling and coaching.
Oh look….another behind the sticks screen! Predictable!!! 🙄🙄
The schedule thing is a pretty important factor. This was a really difficult schedule not just in terms of the teams we played, but also WHEN we played everyone. That stuff matters a lot.
Multiple beat writers have mentioned the team getting off on the wrong foot with the season with it starting Brazil. Matt Derrick talked about it a few weeks ago and based on his description the logistics of moving from camp at St. Joe’s to the Chief’s normal facilities to Brazil in a short period of time a huge part of those issues. I think some other parts that trip were also problems (specifically staying 2 hours away from the stadium and when they flew down there). I hope they take a few lessons from that trip and game because it really just doesn’t look good on them from an operations standpoint. One time gets a bit of a pass because it’s the first time traveling that far for week one, but they need to plan better in the future.
Poor conditioning and execution. Low accountability.
Personally, the schedule was a pretty big issue. The older I get, the harder it is to stay up late (I’m on Eastern time). 😬
If you watch the entire interview (on youtube) he jokes with Carrington saying something like ‘what time are you off the air?” when asked this question.
Meaning the list of things is too long. I think his overall sentiment is the same as almost everyone else. Though I don’t think he would ever say anything totally mean about the Chiefs like a lot of other people on the radio and reddit. So this is the harshest you’r’e going to get out of him.
Surely wasn’t dropped passes or the lack of runs from under center
You motherfuckers in these comments think he’s making excuses when he’s explaining the reasons that led to the fucked up confidence the team had in itself
Stop trying to fix everything instantly. It’s hard to win in the NFL.
Yeah, no shit. All the bad things and the bad plays combined to make a bad season.
Such a company man, but at least he admitted they couldn’t get teams off the field on third and long. Love ya Mitch!
if the schedule was an issue, then why did the Chargers do better? they traveled way more than the Chiefs
That’s a very nice way of saying Matt Nagy couldn’t game plan his way out of a wet paper sack.
Is this dude a shill or is that really how limited his thinking is?
I think terrible player development and zero change when something clearly isn’t working is another big problem but yeah Brazil sucked too