Kansas City Chiefs: 6 Keys to Late-Season Playoff Push

It was just two weeks ago when the Kansas City Chiefs were labeled as serious Super Bowl contenders with a 7-3 record while riding a five-game winning streak. Within a 10-day span, the Chiefs fell to a winless Oakland Raiders team and came out flat in the next game against the Denver Broncos, dropping to 7-5 and out of the wild-card spot.

Kansas City has taken steps back throughout the struggle and needs to recharge and play better football. 

Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith said in a recent press conference the the team has been uncharacteristic in the last two weeks. At this point, all the Chiefs can do is put the last two weeks in the rearview mirror and improve moving forward.

Here are six keys to Kansas City's late-season push for the postseason.

1. Protect Alex Smith

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Smith has been sacked 33 times this year—fifth most in the league. The offensive line has allowed six sacks twice in the last four weeks. 

While there already were concerns with the offensive line going into the season, injuries hurt the line even more, which eventually led to Smith being sacked 33 times.

The offensive line must play better in the final four games if the Chiefs want a shot at making the playoffs. If it doesn't, Chiefs fans have to hope for low-scoring games in the month of December.

2. Wide Receivers Must Step Up

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Smith has thrown 15 touchdown passes this year, but none of them has gone to a wide receiver. Tight ends Travis Kelce and Anthony Fasano and running back Jamaal Charles each have four touchdown grabs. Fullback Anthony Sherman has one touchdown and running back Joe McKnight, who is now on injured reserve, caught two in one game.

Even as the primary wide receiver on the team, Dwayne Bowe has been extremely quiet since Andy Reid has taken over in Kansas City.

Behind Bowe, there are no notable wide receivers on the team. Despite playing in just five games, Donnie Avery has the second-most catches among wide receivers on the team with 15.

Especially when the Chiefs are behind, the wide receivers must have a big hand in helping the offense make a run in order for the team to have an opportunity to make the playoffs.

3. More Consistency from Tamba Hali

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Tamba Hali is tied for second on the team in sacks with five and has earned a Pro Bowl invitation in each of the last five years. However, it is debatable as to whether he can add another Pro Bowl to his career. 

Hali should have more than five sacks. He has missed some easy ones this year after beating blockers; at times, he could not finish and bring down opposing quarterbacks.

A lot has been made of the duo of Hali and Justin Houston, as each pass-rusher had 11 sacks last year.

Although Houston leads the league in sacks with 14, additional help from Hali would make the Chiefs as dominant as they were last year on defense.

4. Create Turnovers

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The Kansas City Chiefs were second in the NFL last year, only behind the Seattle Seahawks, for most takeaways in the league with 36. This year, they are near the bottom of the league, 30th to be exact, with nine takeaways, barely beating the Raiders and the Jets with eight.

Turnovers helped the Chiefs last year during their 9-0 start, which turned into a playoff appearance.

If Kansas City can’t create turnovers against the Cardinals, Steelers and Chargers, it is very doubtful it can come away with wins against those teams.

5. Fix Special Teams

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Special teams coordinator Dave Toub is known to be one of the best in the NFL, and it was evident when three different Chiefs took a kickoff or punt return back for a touchdown last year. However, this year, the Chiefs only have one return touchdown on special teams and have been clowned multiple times by fake punts.

Toub and Reid must make major adjustments on special teams and get the Chiefs to have better awareness and do more in the return game.

The Chiefs have three opponents this month that are also making a playoff push and want to improve their seeding at the same time. In order to have the edge in these games, all three facets must play well.

6. Better Play-Calling

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Reid is highly responsible for Kansas City looking unprepared against Oakland and Denver, which allowed both teams to get off to 14-0 starts. In addition to poor preparation, Reid continues to limit Charles, the team's best player, with touches on offense.

Even with all of the issues the Chiefs have had throughout the season that are highlighted in this slideshow, they were once 7-3. A big part of that was because Charles lifted the offense. 

Reid must give the ball more to Charles and make sure he sees action early on in order to prevent another bad start. If Reid does this, which should be the easiest adjustment for him, the Chiefs should get back one of the two wild-card spots.

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