While the Chiefs can still clinch the AFC West with a victory over the Bengals on Sunday, their offense has seemingly gotten worse in recent weeks.
The Christmas Day loss to the Raiders highlighted the myriad issues Kansas City has on the unit. But offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said in his Thursday press conference that he has reasons for optimism as the Chiefs enter Week 17.
“I do believe that things can get much better and be more productive,” Nagy said. “When I say that, [it comes from] not having 21 third and fourth downs in a game. Being better on first and second down. So how do you get to that point? Well, we know what we think we can do, between the players, the coaches, everyone gets together, and there is no pointing fingers at anybody but ourselves. That’s where it starts.
“Bad teams, they do that, they point fingers at everybody but themselves, we actually do the opposite. It starts with coach [Andy] Reid, and it goes to the leaders on the team. When you do that, you get another opportunity, it makes it that much sweeter when you do win and you get to that point that you saw and you stuck together.”
Nagy brought up accountability and how it starts with Reid more than once in his media session, adding that the Chiefs have a passionate building with a passionate fan base.
“You feel the frustration from everybody, the guys inside the building, you feel the frustration from outside the building, your friends, your family there’s frustration — but it’s a positive frustration because everyone is so passionate about winning and so used to winning,” Nagy said. “You want that, you don’t want it any other way, you embrace it.
“[W]e always talk every year going in, it starts with coach Reid, he says, ‘We’ve got to win the AFC West.’ We didn’t do it last week, we control it this week, how are we going to respond to that — specifically offensively, what are we going to do? Without getting into a lot of stuff externally, internally we’ve had some great discussions, healthy discussions of how to do that. That passion, that energy, the stuff you see from the players, it’s real. We don’t take it lightly, and we know we need to be better. We understand that, we accept that. That’s the goal.”
Entering Week 17, the Chiefs are now No. 9 in total yards and No. 11 in points scored while the team’s defense is No. 2 in both yards allowed and points allowed. It feels unlikely, but if the Chiefs can find any consistency on offense, they’ll certainly have a shot at making another January run.
But Kansas City has to clinch a playoff berth first.