It is official folks, the Kansas City Chiefs suffered their first loss of the 2024 season on Sunday. The Buffalo Bills defeated the Chiefs 30-21 in the contest, handing Kansas City its lone loss of the season. While doing so they also ended their 15-game win streak that spanned all the way back to Christmas Day of the 2023 season. The Chiefs have now fallen to 9-1 on the season, and the Bills have moved to 9-2, resulting in the No. 1 seed in the AFC remaining very much in play which basically could have been wrapped for the Chiefs if they had pulled out this win.
However, Buffalo had other plans, and thanks to Josh Allen and Head Coach Sean McDermott they put together and executed the perfect game plan that maximized the efficientness of their offense and exposed the cracks in Kansas City’s defense which had been dominant all year.
Kansas City Chiefs Defensive Struggles on Third Down
The main factor to the Buffalo’s success on Sunday was on third downs. The Bills managed to convert nine of their 15 third-down attempts. Six of those attempts also came in conversions that required six yards or more in order to remain on the field, but time and time again Allen and the Bills found ways to remain on the field.
Steve Spagnuolo, Chiefs defensive coordinator is known for his frequent usage of blitzes, and when facing a quarterback of the caliber of Josh Allen. If a team is unable to get to him quickly, they will always suffer the consequences because not only does he have a rocket for an arm, but he’s also extremely difficult to tackle in open space and is on par with the best quarterbacks in the NFL when it comes to making plays with his legs.
In this game, Allen was able to do just that and thrive under continuous duress from the Chiefs defense, and through the first 10 weeks of the NFL season, Kansas City had excelled at forcing three-and-outs on teams when they really needed to. However, against Buffalo, this was not the case.
Kansas City Chiefs Defense Surrendering the Big Plays
Throughout this season, this year’s defense has been known for its ability to limit explosive plays from opposing teams. Yet this was another area they struggled in against the Bills. The Chiefs allowed multiple big plays on Sunday, that completely shifted the momentum in Buffalo’s favor. The most memorable one was the final offensive play for the Bills, in Allen’s 26-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run which sealed Buffalo’s victory.
It is rare to see Spanguolo be outright outcoached for an entire game, but on Sunday he was without question. The Bills were able to repeatedly capitalize on mismatches in the Chiefs’ coverage. Especially in the middle of their defense. Amari Cooper and Dawson Knox for the Bills are perfect examples. Cooper was able to have one catch go for 30 yards by running straight through the middle of the Chiefs’ defense and cutting up vertically and Knox had a similar type of play which went for 24 yards.
There were multiple plays like these in this game, targeting the Chiefs’ secondary over and over and finding continued success with their attempts. Chunk plays like these had been rare for Kansas City’s defense prior to entering this game. While they’ve shown the ability to limit these types of plays for the most part of this season, in recent weeks that had started to become more frequent Now after Sunday’s performance it has certainly raised some concerns that will need to be addressed before their next game this week.
Kansas City Chiefs Missed Opportunities and Lack of Impact Plays
In every game this season, the Chiefs’ defense has had at least one real game-defining play from one of their defensive players, but there wasn’t one in this game. Their defensive leader, Chris Jones was able to apply consistent pressure onto the Bills offensive front and finished the game with five tackles including a tackle for loss. However other than that he was a non-factor. The same thing can be applied to the Chiefs’ top corner, Trent McDuffie who is normally the most reliable player in Kansas City’s secondary, but in this game, he even struggled to contain the Buffalo’s receivers.
The defense as a whole has taken a large step back in terms of sacks up to this point of the season, and in this game, they did not record a single one. They had opportunities, but missed tackles, and blown coverages contributed to the Bills’ offensive success this past weekend. Josh Allen managed to always find a way out of any predicament he was put in capitalized on any mistakes the Chiefs defense made, and delivered whenever his team needed a play.
Despite the loss, Kansas City’s defense has a history of rebounding after subpar performances. Their “bend but don’t break” approach has been effective for a season and a half. Now moving forward the challenge becomes addressing the issues this game presented and making sure they don’t rear their head in this week’s matchup against the Carolina Panthers.
Final Thoughts
The two-time defending Super Bowl champions are probably the last team that needs some kind of wake-up call. However, this loss showed this team, that despite how great they may be they still remain with flaws that need addressing. Particularly when it comes to their third-down defense, coverage breakdowns, and tackling in the open field.
Fortunately for those that do support this team, this unit recently has shown more times than not to bounce back almost immediately, so this game was likely an outlier in what has been another dominant season for the unit. With experienced leaders like Chris Jones and Nick Bolton leading the way, the Chiefs will have the opportunity to redeem themselves this Sunday against the Panthers. We will have the chance to see whether they will come out of this as a stronger team and return to their winning ways, or if this is the start of something more dire.
