The Sports Xchange

The Kansas City Chiefs were able to spin their first three losing efforts of the 2015 season on the idea they were playing some of the best teams in the NFL. Losing to Denver, Green Bay and Cincinnati (now a combined 18-0) was nothing to be ashamed of, even if much more was expected of Andy Reid’s squad.

That explanation doesn’t wash when it comes to explaining the continuation of the losing streak after falling 16-10 to the Vikings in Minnesota on Sunday. Their five-game losing streak is currently the NFL’s longest with the last two defeats coming against the Bears and Vikings, a combined 5-6 record.

Standing 1-5 on the season, there are 10 games left on the schedule and with the engine of their offense – running back Jamaal Charles – lost due to a knee injury, it’s hard to believe they can make significant improvement with their current level of performance.

“Right now we are 1-5; that’s what we are,” coach Andy Reid said after the game. “We’ve got to fix that.”

It’s been over a month now that the Chiefs have been unable to solve their problems that have featured strong first-half performances at home that are blown when the teams hit the field for the second half. On the road, they have poor production in the opening quarters and can’t escape their problems in the final 30 minutes.

In losing to Denver and Chicago at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs held first-half leads of 14-0 against the Broncos and 17-3 at halftime in last Sunday’s game against the Bears. The road trip losses to Green Bay, Cincinnati and Minnesota were very similar. Against the Packers they were down 14-0 after the first quarter and it was 14-3 after the first 15 minutes versus the Bengals.

On this Sunday, they trailed the Vikings 10-0 at halftime with the Vikings controlling the ball, clock and momentum of the first 30 minutes.

“It was 51 yards of offense in the first half and 50 yards of penalties; completely unacceptable,” said Reid. “In the second half we came out and we were able to move the ball and the defense continued to play good defense and we put ourselves in a position to win the game. We didn’t finish it there.”

The 51 yards came on 20 plays, and quarterback Alex Smith averaged less than four yards per pass attempt and was sacked twice. There were three offensive penalties; all wiping out plays for positive yardage.

“We really just had so many self-inflicted things in the first half,” said Smith. “Self-inflicted in the penalties; you can’t even get going when you’re going backwards, especially against a team like that on the road. You’re just making it impossible.”

Reid saw the same self-inflicted problems.

“In the first half we may have been trying too hard to make something happen,” Reid said. “In the second half, the guys settled down and functioned the way I know we can function. We have to find that part of it.”

In the third quarter, the offense got things squared away and totaled 140 yards against the Vikings, but it produced only a field goal on the scoreboard.

“We have to take what we did in the third quarter and you’ve got to do that for four quarters and that’s something we haven’t accomplished,” Reid said.

Ahead for the Chiefs is a visit by the 4-2 Pittsburgh Steelers next weekend, and then they go to London to play Detroit on the first of November. That will close out the first half of the season, and they can be no better than 3-5, a far cry from their preseason goals.

“It is hard when you are 1-5 to keep a positive attitude going,” admitted Reid, who has never held that record during his previous 16 NFL season as head coach. “I think they can see from the second half the things that we can do. We must stay consistent and stick with it. That is the best thing I can say. We just have to stay positive for four quarters.”

REPORT CARD VS. VIKINGS

PASSING OFFENSE: C. In the first half, Alex Smith struggled to generate anything in the pass game, in no small part because he continued his inaccurate throwing. In recent weeks, Smith has been high with a lot of his throws, especially the out routes where his throws sometimes are so tall they are impossible to grab. Eventually, he got it together in the second half and ended up averaging 7.6 yards per attempt without an interception. He was sacked twice in 39 passing plays, a good ratio for the Chiefs protection group this year.

RUSHING OFFENSE: D. The Chiefs got behind early and stayed there, so the offense moved away from the running game. It didn’t help that Jamaal Charles was home with his right leg up because of the torn ACL he suffered last Sunday. Overall, the Chiefs ran 18 times for 57 yards, a 3.2-yard per-carry average. But Charcandrick West and Knile Davis had 14 carries for 46 yards. Kansas City was unable to generate a rushing play for more than nine yards.

PASS DEFENSE: C. It may have been coordinator Bob Sutton’s game plan that was obviously was geared to stopping Adrian Peterson that allowed the Vikings to throw the ball for big plays, but also a pair of interceptions from Teddy Bridgewater. Minnesota was able to hit four pass plays of more than 20 yards, including seven passes to rookie Stefon Diggs for 129 yards, including a 52-yard play. The Chiefs had a pair of sacks and kept good pressure on Bridgewater throughout the game, but he was able to hit too many big pass plays. The Vikings only touchdown came on just a 4-yard pass to tight end Kyle Rudolph.

RUSH DEFENSE: A. Going into Sunday’s game, the Chiefs were allowing an average of 98 rushing yards per game. But other than Chicago’s Matt Forte, they had not knocked heads with any top level running backs. That ended in Minnesota against Adrian Peterson. But the Chiefs defense stepped up and kept Peterson from hurting them by allowing him only 60 yards on 26 carries. He was able to break through the defensive front only once, for a 23-yard run in the third quarter. Half of his attempts went for zero or negative yards.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C. Nothing bad, nothing good for the Chiefs in the kicking game against the Vikings. Kicker Cairo Santos made his only field-goal attempt from 48 yards and was good at knocking his kickoffs in the end zone. Punter Dustin Colquitt had one of his worst punts of the season, when he shanked one kick for 19 yards in the third quarter. De’Anthony Thomas handled punts and a kickoff return but couldn’t break the coverage; same for Knile Davison his one kickoff return went for 19 yards. The Chiefs allowed minimal punt return yards, but did give up a 33-yard kickoff return.

COACHING: D. The Chiefs have now lost five in a row, the longest current failure streak in the NFL. There’s no way to give Andy Reid and his staff a passing grade at this point, especially since K.C. was in this game until the end, but could not find a way to make the necessary big plays to jump ahead of the Vikings. After a tough schedule start with three teams that are still undefeated, the Chiefs hoped there would be a break against Chicago, Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Detroit. They are already 0-2 and hosting the Steelers this coming weekend.