I don’t know what it is when these two teams play each other, but there’s no denying it now, the Cincinnati Bengals have the Kansas City Chiefs’ number. The loss means that the Buffalo Bills reclaim the lead over the AFC conference and the Chiefs drop to the No. 2 seed. It’ll be back to the drawing board should the Chiefs face the Bengals again in the postseason.
Buy Chiefs TicketsSo what else did we learn about the Chiefs in their latest game?
Final Score: Bengals 27, Chiefs 24
The defensive effort in this game just wasn’t good enough, especially for a team that sought to beef up their secondary after losing to the Bengals twice last season. Spags’ defense surrendered 25 first downs, they didn’t get a single turnover outside of a fourth-down stop and their first sack came in the 57th minute of the game. The offensive effort similarly wasn’t good enough. They struggled in the red zone and on third down, settling for far too many field goals.
Weekly Awards
- Chiefs Wire Game Ball: QB Patrick Mahomes
- Harrison Butker Rookie of the Game: RB Isiah Pacheco
- Casey Wiegmann Veteran of the Game: RB Jerick McKinnon
- Jamaal Charles Offensive Player of the Game: WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling
- Bobby Bell Defensive Player of the Game: DE Carlos Dunlap
- Morten Andersen Special Teams Player of the Game: RB Isiah Pacheco
- Otis Taylor Play of the Game: Patrick Mahomes’ three-yard touchdown run.
- Wesley Roesch Stat of the Game: Chiefs allowed 25 first downs.
Quick-hitting observations and analysis
- Red zone offense still isn’t 100% back to form after last week. They really seem to miss Mecole Hardman and Kadarius Toney in that regard.
- Cincinnati made a concerted effort to attack the middle of the field against the Chiefs’ defense. Linebackers and safeties were who they wanted to pick on. It seemed to be open all day long. Steve Spagnuolo failed to make too many adjustments there.
- The Bengals dared the Chiefs to run the ball at certain times in this game thinking they’d stick to a pass-heavy attack. They seemed convinced that Kansas City wouldn’t commit to the run, but the Chiefs seem to have much more trust in the run game this time around than they did the last two games against Cincinnati.
- Carlos Dunlap’s fourth-down stop was incredible. I’m anxious to hear whether he saw something on tape or knew something from his time with the team on that specific play call.
- Outside of the Dunlap play on fourth down, the defensive line really struggled to get any sort of penetration into the backfield. That was especially the case when it came to pressuring the quarterback and getting sacks. Keep in mind that Joe Burrow was one of the most-sacked quarterbacks in the league coming into this game.
- Marquez Valdes-Scantling is a rollercoaster ride at times. He catches some of the most incredible passes, but he also has some of the more frustrating plays within the offense. He was a boon to the Chiefs on third down today, with two major conversions.
- The Chiefs invested a lot of draft capital in the defensive secondary this year because of teams like the Bengals. Joe Burrow went out and picked the secondary apart to the tune of 279 yards. It felt like this had a little more to do with the lack of pressure from the defensive line compared to the play of the secondary.
- I was really impressed by the 1-2 punch that was Isiah Pacheco and Jerick McKinnon. They did a really nice job running the ball, averaging 5.5 yards per carry on the ground.
- Travis Kelce’s fumble really hurt, but I’m not sure he could have done much in that situation. He had three defenders draped over him as he was trying to go to the ground.
- Tackle play hasn’t been good this season. Orlando Brown Jr., vying for a new contract, surrendered a sack at a key moment of the game. The Chiefs settled for a field goal attempt, which they missed.
- Offensive coaching was a little timid at times in this game. Not going for it on fourth down a few times, plus not playing for a field goal at the end of the half come to mind.
Up next:
The Chiefs are back on the road in Week 14, but they won’t be playing on prime time as originally scheduled. They’ll face the Broncos on Sunday, Dec. 11 at 3:25 p.m. CT after the game was flexed out of prime time. It’s the first time they’ll have played Denver this season. The Broncos’ 14.27 points per game scored through Week 12 is the worst mark since the 2000 Cleveland Browns.
