After falling to 6-7 following their loss to the Houston Texans in Week 14, the Kansas City Chiefs’ playoff hopes are weakening.
Even if the team wins out the remainder of the schedule, Kansas City would need a lot of help from opposing teams for just a chance to sneak into the postseason. Star quarterback Patrick Mahomes has yet to miss the playoffs in his career.
Advertisement
So much has changed for the Chiefs since last season, not so much personnel wise (although the offensive line lost the legendary Joe Thuney), but their record in one-score games is far worse than last year’s.
The Chiefs are 1-6 in one-possession games, a huge decline from being a whopping 11-0 in that category in 2024. Reconfiguring the offensive line has something to do with that, but something more alarming has played a huge role in their failures.
Kansas City’s receivers have dropped the second-most passes in the National Football League. Pretty shocking considering the amount of talent in their receivers room.
The Chiefs believed this receiving room was the best it has been with Mahomes under center, featuring young star Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster along with star tight end Travis Kelce. However, Kelce leads the league in drops and his teammates have killed numerous drives with their drops as well.
Advertisement
“Before the season, the Chiefs believed their collection of pass catchers was the best in quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ career,” ESPN’s Nate Taylor wrote Tuesday. “But following Sunday’s loss, the Chiefs have 24 dropped passes, according to ESPN Research. Tight end Travis Kelce had two drops Sunday night and has a league-leading eight drops this season. Also, Kelce has three drops that resulted in interceptions, tied for the most by any player in a single season in the past 10 years.”
It was a rough game for Kansas City’s offense against a stout Houston Texans defense in Week 14. Mahomes played the worst game of his career, completing just 14 of 33 passes for 160 yards and three interceptions. One of those interceptions came on a Kelce drop to seal the game for Houston.
Countless times this season a Chiefs offensive drive has stalled because of these drops, and it has taken its toll. Kansas City’s historic streak of 10 consecutive playoff berths is in serious jeopardy, even if they finish this season 10-7.