Alex Smith, Offensive Line Sinking Chiefs' Playoff Hopes After Loss to Broncos

The Kansas City Chiefs allowed 17 unanswered points to start the game en route to a 29-16 loss to the Denver Broncos Sunday night. The loss ends any hope the Chiefs may have had of winning the division, so they’ll have to navigate a crowded field to make the playoffs as a wild-card team.

We’ve now seen in consecutive weeks what happens when the Chiefs fall behind early—they lose. It doesn’t matter if it’s one of the best teams in the league as it was Sunday night or one of the worst as it was last Thursday night.

Quarterback Alex Smith and a shaky offensive line are primarily the reasons the Chiefs have struggled to come back from deficits. Kansas City's playoff hopes are swirling the drain as a result.

Smith has demonstrated an ability to carry the Chiefs—at times—when given adequate pass protection. When the offensive line allows six sacks on 30 dropbacks and countless other hits and hurries, even a good quarterback is going to struggle. Smith simply isn't good enough to overcome any serious offensive flaws with any consistency.

Win or lose, Smith always finishes with pedestrian numbers just as he did Sunday. Smith completed 15 of his 23 passes for 153 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. In the Chiefs’ previous five wins, Smith has thrown for a total of three touchdowns.

Smith is good enough to get out of the way, but he’s not good enough to hide the offense’s other glaring weakness. He has now been sacked 33 times this season and 14 times in the past month, so there’s clearly a glaring weakness.

With an offensive line struggling in pass protection, Smith’s conservative nature has further grounded the Chiefs’ aerial attack. Smith is unwilling or unable to trust his wide receivers to make a play for him, and that only further contributes to the sacks. That’s just not going to work when the team is playing from behind.

It appeared earlier this season that the offensive line would take a step back after letting left tackle Branden Albert and right guard Geoff Schwartz leave in free agency, but the Chiefs were able to get on track by running the ball. When the offensive line doesn’t have to play from behind against teams with good pass-rushers, they are more than serviceable.

Contributing to the problem is that the Chiefs aren’t getting many opportunities to turn things around because the defense can’t stop the run. The Broncos and Raiders have combined to rush for 393 yards on 75 attempts against the Chiefs over the past two weeks—a whopping 5.24 yards per carry.

The Chiefs have made running backs C.J. Anderson and Latavius Murray look like superstars. Meanwhile, head coach Andy Reid has struggled to get his own superstar running back—Jamaal Charles—enough touches to make a game-changing play. On Sunday, Charles carried the ball just 10 times and added two receptions.

Head coach Andy Reid can only do so much to get the ball to his playmakers. That’s even truer as the pass replaces the run as the primary avenue for gaining yards. At some point, Reid has to trust that Smith will distribute the ball to players like Charles, tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver De’Anthony Thomas.

When the team owner is having a private talk with the starting quarterback after a loss and ending the conversation trying to keep the quarterback from getting down on himself, you know he’s struggling. If there’s some good news, it’s the remaining schedule for the Chiefs.

The Chiefs don’t face another great pass-rushing team over the final four weeks. Smith might actually get some time to distribute the ball even if the running game isn’t working or the team falls behind early. The Chiefs also have games against two other AFC playoff contenders, so they still control their own fate to some extent, as they currently hold the No. 6 seed.

There isn’t much time to get back on track, but the Chiefs had 10 days to prepare for the Broncos and it didn’t seem to help. The Chiefs could be catching the Arizona Cardinals at a good time, as they could be without defensive back Tyrann Mathieu, running back Andre Ellington and right guard Paul Fanaika.