Five things that stood out about the Chiefs’ narrow win over the Panthers
The easiest game on the schedule — on paper, anyway — grew a bit difficult.
OK, really difficult.
The Chiefs turned a trip to Charlotte into relief rather than blowout, using Spencer Shrader’s 31-yard field goal for a 30-27 victory.
They didn’t exactly coast.
Well, the offense did. Patrick Mahomes produced points on six different drives.
His arm. Then his legs. A 33-yard scramble set up the game-winning field goal as time expired.
They’re 10-1, still with the fate of the AFC No. 1 seed in their possession, but it’s apparent that while the Chiefs’ ceiling is high, their floor too might be low.
Here are five observations from immediately after the game:
1. The opener
The autopsy on the Chiefs’ first loss in more than 300 days revealed some scars — pass rush, pass protection, the No. 2 cornerback, I could go on — but the roots were planted early.
The Chiefs were terrible in the first quarter a week ago in Buffalo, a theme of the season that prompted quarterback Patrick Mahomes to use the word “urgency” in response to three different questions after the game.
Well, the Chiefs had some urgency for a better start Sunday.
He had some urgency.
Mahomes went 7-for-7 with 94 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter, when the Chiefs scored 10 points. He hit tight end Noah Gray on a deep over route for a 35-yard touchdown — his first touchdown pass in a first quarter all season. That’s a real stat.
Here’s another: Before the day, the Chiefs were averaging just 2.7 points per first quarter, 27th in the league.
That’s all saying the same thing: The offense has been lousy at the start of games.
This was a change.
2. The pass coverage
Here’s a sentence you can use for the first time in 2024:
Bryce Young cooked.
The Chiefs allowed the NFL’s worst passing offense to move up and down the field like the 2018 Chiefs. While the first instinct is to blame coverage, which wasn’t great by any means, the primary issue lay elsewhere.
Where is the pass rush?
The Chiefs are failing to generate pressure without blitzing, and when offered time to throw, Young got into a rhythm unlike he has all year. Then he started making plays even when he did see some opposition in the backfield — killing the Chiefs’ blitzes, too. That’s how this tends to work.
Young threw for 262 yards and a touchdown. That’s a season-high in yardage. The Panthers, mind you, are dead last in the NFL in expected points added per pass attempt (-0.33) this season. Virtually all of their offense comes from the run.
They flipped the scheme, passing on eight of their initial 10 first downs. It worked, by the way. They eventually turned seven of those eight into a new set of downs.
That’s what happens when you fail to put the quarterback in a hurry.
3. The tackles
We saw what the offense can do when the quarterback has time to do it.
Then we were reminded of its rarity.
The Chiefs’ tackles were wrecked by a defensive line that has struggled to win. The Panthers are 31st in pressure rate this year.
Yet they were still potent enough to give tackles Jawaan Taylor and Wanya Morris fits. The KC tackles allowed more than 10 pressures between the two of them.
At one point on a key third down in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs helped both Taylor and Morris, and the Panthers still sacked Mahomes, setting up the Panthers’ game-tying possession.
The Chiefs signed D.J. Humphries last week, and even if he hasn’t played in 11 months, he might be rushed into action.
4. The tight end is back
At last, Patrick Mahomes revived his connection with the tight end.
The other one.
Noah Gray had four touchdowns in his first 59 games.
He has four in the last two weeks.
His first of two scores in Carolina came on what surely was a busted coverage, because the Panthers left him wide open on a deep crossing pattern.
His next? A sign of trust. The Panthers brought a rare cover-zero blitz on third down near the goal line, so Mahomes was trailing backward as he gave Gray a shot in one-on-one coverage. The throw and catch were both well-executed.
Gray is turning himself into a reliable source. A week earlier in Buffalo, in one of best drives of the season, Gray curled around to present Mahomes an option in the corner of the end zone.
5. The race for No. 1
The Chiefs were the betting favorite to get the AFC’s No. 1 seed heading into the week, even after last week’s loss to Buffalo. The ESPN analytics metric gave them a 55% chance of obtaining the lone playoff bye.
It’s unlikely to change much, because this was the expected result, even if not the expected manner in which to obtain it.
The Chiefs return home for a date with the Raiders on Black Friday, but it grows harder from there. The Chargers, Texans, Steelers and Broncos remain on the back end of the schedule.
Although none measures among the five best teams in football, a Chiefs team that hasn’t really pulled away from anyone probably won’t start with playoff-caliber teams.
It’s a grind no matter who awaits on the schedule.
The Bills were on a bye this week. They return with a home game against the 49ers, who played without quarterback Brock Purdy this week, before traveling to face the Rams and Lions. Afterward, they close with the Patriots, Jets and Patriots again. We’ll have a pretty good idea of their record in three weeks, in other words, because those final three look quite forgiving.
This story was originally published November 24, 2024 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Five things that stood out about the Chiefs’ narrow win over the Panthers."