Off topic, but… I watched Cossell on Cowherd. He said the real problem with the Chiefs in his opinion, is that Mahomes does not look comfortable anymore. He thinks they need some serious upgrades on the offensive line.
It’s interesting how many things have to be right for teams to win, even for a guy like Mahomes.
No doubt.
Taking a look at the pressures... His pressures against this year are at 21.1% (19th). Last season's pressures against were at 19.4% (20th). So not too much a difference overall but they did let Orlando Brown leave in FA and replaced him with Jawaan Taylor. Maybe Mahomey doesn't trust his blindside protection. That will certainly get in a QB's head.
They also have a new OC. That can have all manner of effects if the preparation is not as good as it was in previous seasons. QB seeing things that are not expected in the gameplan is a recipe for looking bad.
And then weapons matter too. If you have big time threats that can give you a lot of favorable looks vs when you don't have as many threats. How quickly those weapons get open, how well they take advantage in space, a ton of variables there. But not familiar with who left and who was added and all that.
Might be that Mahomey is just in a down period too, with too many distractions. All those commercials, girl drama, etc. But I will say that once the playoffs start I don't know that I'd count them out, even with their issues this year.