The Kansas City Chiefs closed out Week 17 of the NFL season with arguably their most complete team performance. Their defense, in particular, has continued to round into form over the last three weeks. In this game, they helped lead their team to a 29-10 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers and secured the AFC’s top seed.
This win highlights the defense’s growing dominance, even without their All-Pro defensive end, Chris Jones. From timely turnovers to relentless pressure on quarterback Russell Wilson, the Chiefs made a definitive statement.
Kansas City Chiefs Defensive Dominance Without Chris Jones
In a game where Kansas City’s defense was without its defensive anchor, Jones, the rest of the defense, but especially the defense front, rose to the occasion. Tershawn Wharton is one of several players who stepped up in a big way, playing 95% of the defensive snaps, a career-high. He also recorded a sack and graded out as the team’s most effective pass rusher, receiving a grade of 72.7 from Pro Football Focus.
Edge rushers George Karlaftis, Mike Danna, and Felix Anudike-Uzomah each came through with momentum-changing plays as they combined for four sacks in this game.
Safeties Justin Reid and Trent McDuffie led the way for the secondary in this game with McDuffie’s forced fumble and Reid’s interception on Wilson in the endzone. Reid also earned the team’s highest PFF grade overall as a defender, with an 89.8. He was also rated as the Chief’s most effective pass coverage defender, earning a team-high grade of 91.1. McDuffie graded out right behind him with grades of 86.6 and 88.6 in these two areas. Both players have begun to hit their stride at the perfect time, with the playoffs just around the corner.
Kansas City Chiefs Secondary Depth Continues to Show its Versatility
At one point of the season, Kansas City’s defensive backfield depth had some real question marks, especially once Jaylen Watson went down. However, against Pittsburgh, their depth came through and helped put together a dominant showing.
Rookies Jaden Hicks and Christian Roland-Wallace led the charge playing pivotal roles in this victory. Hicks, in limited snaps, has been able to showcase his ability to repeatedly win in coverage and deliver on-target tackling in open space. For a rookie, playing against a team like the Steelers is not always the easiest thing to do consistently. Then there’s Roland-Wallace, who led the team with 10 tackles and earned Kansas City’s highest tackling rating from PFF this week at 82.3. Their emergence is happening at the perfect time for the Chiefs, as they now have another two pieces they can confidently roll out come playoff time, adding to their already-loaded defense.
Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has gotten his rotations down, and it has paid off even though his unit is missing key starters. However, by securing this win, players like Chamarri Conner and Chris Jones will have enough time to rest and be ready to join a group that is coming together at the perfect time.
Turnovers and Pressure Coming Together
Over their last three games, the Chiefs’ defense has hit its stride. Forcing 10 turnovers and 13 sacks against Pittsburgh, they continued this trend with two more crucial takeaways.
It hasn’t just been the takeaways, though. Kansas City’s defensive line has also woken up recently and had another strong showing in this game, recording five sacks. This resurgence in pass rushing and takeaways couldn’t come at a better time for a team that, for most of this season, was getting no turnovers and minimal sacks.
Final Thoughts
This iteration of the Chiefs has had to rely more on their defense, even with Patrick Mahomes. However, after a fast start, the unit began to head in the wrong direction after the Buffalo Bills loss. Ever since their performance against the Browns, they have regained their championship form just as the regular season is coming to an end.
Now the Chiefs are locked in as the AFC’s No. 1 seed, which means this year’s playoffs will go through Arrowhead, and Kansas City will only need to win two games before they head back to the Super Bowl. An achievement that could put this team down as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, teams in NFL history. Especially if they can complete the three-peat. This defense will be their biggest asset in achieving this, and if Week 17 is any indication, they appear to be back on track for what lies ahead.
