Jamaal Charles Injury: Why the Chiefs Can't Win the AFC West Without Him

The Kansas City Chiefs came into this season hoping to make “the jump” from fringe playoff team in a weak division to being a true contender in the AFC. There were plenty of reasons to be optimistic. The Chiefs are a young team that got a lot of valuable experience in their surprise run to the AFC West title last year. 

They were also able to add a couple of key free agents this offseason in FB Le'Ron McClain and WR Steve Breaston.

So far, however, the season has not gone the way the Chiefs had envisioned, and with a couple of killer injuries to Eric Berry last week and now Jamaal Charles, the Chiefs are in serious danger of going off the rails before they even get started in 2011. Starting 0-2, for a team coming off a 10-6 season, will be extremely disappointing, and there is little evidence that head coach Todd Haley has what it takes to right the ship.

Losing Jamaal Charles is a massive hit to an offense that didn’t need anymore problems. Matt Cassel has looked awful since Charlie Weis left to go back to the college game. That fact as much as anything makes the loss of the lightening quick running back so devastating. 

The 1-2 punch of Charles and Dexter McCluster was basically the only bright spot in the Chiefs 41-7 no-show against the Bills in Week 1. Now with Charles likely out for an extended time, after being carted off the field against the Detroit Lions, the pressure on the rest of the offense will increase dramatically, starting with Matt Cassel.

A shaky QB’s best friend is a dependable running game. Without Charles, the Chiefs will have to turn to 33 year old Thomas Jones to handle the bulk of the carries. While Jones is a solid veteran RB, he brings almost none of the explosiveness to the offense that Charles does. 

This will probably force the Chiefs to look for more big plays in the passing game, which is an ugly proposition as long as Cassel continues to slump like he is.

The AFC West has recently been a very weak division, with the Chargers and not much else. This season the Chargers are still the team to beat, and it appears that the Raiders are on the rise as well. All of this bodes very poorly for the Chiefs, who have now lost their best offensive and defensive players in back-to-back weeks. 

It’s too early to count any team out of the playoff race, but it would take a miraculous turn around for the Chiefs to dig out of an 0-2 hole without Jamaal Charles and Eric Berry.