Style Without Substance: Have the Kansas City Chiefs Really Improved from 2009?

Ladies and gentlemen, our time has come. 

After years of sitting at the bottom of the league like the two-inch layer of grime in your kitchen wastebasket, the Kansas City Chiefs have elevated back into the upper echelons of the NFL.

Arrowhead Stadium is now definitively the loudest and most fearsome venue for opposing teams, spouses will have to wait until February to schedule...well, anything, and the term "blackout" will never again be heard in Kansas City.

If you believe that line of drivel, I have a bridge to sell you.

Chiefs fans and players alike may want to revel in a run of good fortune which has given us as many wins in eight days as we had in a whole season of play just two years ago.

But as much as I love how the Chiefs are leading the NFL in the only stat that matters, the Chiefs are still more that team from 2009 than anyone would like to admit.

Fans, and especially the players, better believe that, or it could only undo the hard work Todd Haley and his staff have put into this team.

Kansas City put together their two wins much in the same way a six-year-old does their first model airplane.  The pieces aren't quite where they're supposed to be, at least two landing gears were broken and glued back together (twice for one, since Little Jimmy glued it to himself once), the decals are crooked, and the paint job looks more Bozo the Clown and less McDonnell Douglas.

...But it's still an airplane.

Let's get down to brass tacks, here. The Chiefs have won (and almost lost) their last two games almost completely off of big plays.  Last week, it was a great forced fumble from Derrick Johnson, Jamaal Charles' 56-yard run, and Dexter McCluster's electric 94-yard punt return.

Today, Kansas City can thank Jerome Harrison's fumble and Brandon Flowers's pick-six for saving their bacon.

Now those are the things great teams (and great players) do, and something Kansas City has been missing. But without those plays, what would Kansas City have to show for the last two weeks?

Diddly squat.

On defense, the Chiefs have been solid against the run, allowing a mild 3.8 yards per carry against San Diego, while stifling Cleveland to the tune of 2.8 yards per carry.  They've been victimized in the pass, though, particularly on the deep ball.  Phillip Rivers had five completions for 20 yards or more, including a 34-yard strike to Kansas City's five-yard line and a 59-yard touchdown bomb to Legedu Naane on blown coverage.

The trend continued today, as Seneca Wallace hit Josh Cribbs across the middle for 65 yards and six points.  Plus, their earlier touchdown drive included receptions of 23 and 44 yards.

Kansas City has to do something with their pass defense and fast.  In the NFL today with quarterbacks like Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, if you give up the big play then you've given up the game, because these guys will take those shots all day.

The sad thing is the offense doesn't have anything to hang its hat on.  At least the defense has their run defense.  Right now, Kansas City has 65 carries for 275 yards—a respectable 4.2 yards per carry average.  Without Charles' 56-yard touchdown sprint, that average drops to 3.4.  In fact, 119 of those yards were on runs for 10 yards or more, six carries in total.  Forty-three percent of the rushing yards were made on six carries. 

And we don't even want to get into the passing game, where the Chiefs have a total of 238 yards.  Career backup Seneca Wallace almost had that many against them just today.  And Monday night's rain can't be the excuse, not when Rivers nearly topped 300 yards in that game.

Ultimately, it comes down to consistency.  "Lucky is better than good" is only going to work for Kansas City for so long.  They have to find a way to produce steadily in their running game, produce something in their passing game, and send the secondary back to the film room to learn their assignments.

Kansas City might be 2-0, but I have a feeling it could be a long, disappointing season if there isn't some serious improvement.