The Kansas City Chiefs are now 3-0 and it seems that they have the most dynamic offense in the NFL this season, but what about the defense? The Chiefs currently are one of the worst, if not the worst defense, in the NFL or so it seems.  The Chiefs have allowed the most yards by over 100 yards than any other team in the NFL… which isn’t good.  The Chiefs Defense is allowing 474 yards per game.  On this pace to be one of the worst defenses in the NFL in a very long time, the Chiefs offense luckily has been able to outscore their opponents in the first couple games this season.  What if I told you though that the Chiefs defense isn’t as bad as they seem, and that it’s not hopeless for them to have a decent defense this year?  

The Chiefs have had the luxury of being ahead early in their games which we should credit the offense for, but the Chiefs defense hasn’t played as bad as the stats show.  In the first game of the season the Chiefs only allowed 12 points in the first three quarters of the game.  That’s really good against the Chargers offense that has weapons such as Keenan Allen and Melvin Gordon for Phillip Rivers to get the ball to.  The Chargers were down 31-12 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, that’s a 29 point difference, which also means it would take the Chargers four times to score. If I was a coach I would want the opponent’s offense to take a very long time to score if I was ahead by that much.  The Chargers had two drives in the fourth quarter and together they were a little over eight minutes in which they scored 16 points to finish the game 38-28.

If you look at the Chiefs next game, the Steelers, this was a bit of shootout. The Chiefs had a 21 point lead but blew it in the second quarter and were tied going into halftime, which shows that the Chiefs defense isn’t all that great.  This game actually works against me in my argument because the Chiefs defense just got out worked by the Steelers in the second quarter who are very dysfunctional and are out with their best offensive player Le’veon Bell, but the Steelers still have one of the best offenses in the league.  In the second half though the Chiefs defense didn’t do horrible they only allowed two touchdown, one in each quarter. That isn’t ideal but the defense stepped it up when it mattered in my opinion.  

In the game last week against the 49ers the Chiefs had 35-10 lead heading into half.  In the second half the Chiefs offense actually had a rough time getting into the same rhythm they have had in the previous games.  There were dropped passes, mistakes, and plays were made by the 49ers and believe it or not that’s why the defense struggled in the second half. A bad offense makes a defense struggle because it gives the opponents more opportunities to them and that’s what happened against the 49ers which allowed them to come back 27-38.  

I’m not saying the Chiefs actually have a really good defense this year, because they don’t.  They are probably in the bottom half of defenses in the NFL.  I just don’t want to assume that they are the worst in the NFL whenever they are playing in games where they are ahead three or four possessions ahead of the opponent.  I want to see them in a game where the offense is struggling from the beginning and the defense needs to make stops or else they are going to lose the game. I don’t believe that they are going to be able to ever shut out another team because like I said they are a bottom half of the league defense, but I do think they can hold a team under 20 and with an offense with Patrick Mahomes and company those games are definitely winnable even if the offense is struggling. 

Also we should not forget that the Chiefs best defensive player in Eric Berry hasn’t played this season. When he returns I believe the Chiefs defense will dramatically be better. He plays a position where the Chiefs desperately needed during the first three weeks as opposing quarterbacks through all over them so that should help with the problem and Eric Berry is also one of the Chiefs best runs stoppers with how aggressive he is. 

I know I keep saying this, but the Chiefs defense is not good but it’s better than what the yardage and score shows. There just hasn’t been enough for me to decide that there is no hope for this defense. I want to see two things before I make my final decision on this defense and the first thing is a bad day from the Chiefs offense and what the defense looks like when Berry returns.