The Kansas City Chiefs posted an NFL-best 15-2 record in the 2024 regular season while rarely getting out of second gear. They have the most decorated quarterback in the game, an offense that rounded into form as the campaign progressed and, in Travis Kelce, an all-time great tight end who comes alive in the playoffs.
This all coalesces to give a sense of inevitability to the Chiefs’ pursuit of an unprecedented “three-peat” of three successive Super Bowl triumphs.
But they have one major problem: their offensive line.
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Kansas City Chiefs vs. Buffalo Bills - Sunday, January 26, 6:30pm ET / 11:30pm GMT / 12:30am CET
The left tackle position at Arrowhead Stadium this season has been a carousel. Rookie Kingsley Suamataia, a second-round draft pick, was given the opportunity to make the role his, but the 22-year-old struggled. He was pulled from the line-up during a Week 2 game against the Cincinnati Bengals and hasn’t started since.
Wanya Morris, a third-round draft pick from a year earlier, was given a chance, too, but he fared no better. He was dropped from the starters in December.
The fact that DJ Humphries, coming off an ACL tear with the Arizona Cardinals last season, was brought in illustrates the desperation the Chiefs felt to fix the issue of how to protect Patrick Mahomes. And head coach Andy Reid ended up finishing the campaign with Joe Thuney – ordinarily their starting left guard – sliding over to play tackle.
And things haven’t been much rosier on the right side. Juwan Taylor might stand up a little better in pass protection, but the 27-year-old former Jacksonville Jaguar is a penalty machine. Taylor has been responsible for more penalties (31) than any player in the NFL since the beginning of the 2023 season.
Mahomes was sacked 36 times in 2024, more than any other season in his career. He faced pressure on 23.3% of his dropbacks, the highest rate since his first year as a starter. And he was hit 70 times, a career high and the most of all quarterbacks in the NFL this season. His average time in the pocket of just 2.3 seconds is also the lowest of his career.
It is no coincidence, then, that the superstar quarterback finished the regular season with the joint-fewest touchdown passes of his career as a starter (26) and the second-lowest passer rating (93.5).
The constant pressure No.15 has faced has left the Chiefs more reliant on quick game than at any time in the Mahomes era, too, with an average depth of target of just 6.2 yards. Among all quarterbacks to have started at least six games this season, Mahomes ranked 27th for average yards gained per passing attempt (6.8). The 152 pressures he faced was the fourth-most in the league.
Over the final three games of the regular season, with Thuney in at left tackle, the Chiefs’ pass protection improved, allowing just one sack. But then, in the divisional round of the playoffs, came the Texans. Then came Will Anderson Jr and Danielle Hunter, the most fearsome edge-rushing duo in the NFL.
Thuney and Mike Caliendo, his stand-in at left guard, surrendered 13 quarterback pressures and two sacks. Mahomes was only sacked three times in total on the day, but the Chiefs’ superstar began to deepen his dropbacks and roll out of the pocket to buy time as the game progressed.
The only touchdown pass he was able to throw – an 11-yard dart to Travis Kelce in the fourth quarter – was launched while Mahomes was mid-fall and with Texans defensive lineman Mario Edwards Jr wrapped around his ankles.
Mahomes finished the game with just 177 passing yards, the lowest of his career in the playoffs.
“First, I’d give credit to the Texans,” Reid said post-game. “I mean, that defense is a good defense. And that defensive line is a big challenge.
“I thought our guys held up well against them. We did some good things in the run game and did some good things in our play pass game, and we were decent on third down. So I think all around it was good considering who we were playing against.”
Reid was being diplomatic. Or at least, if you’re a Chiefs fan, you hope that’s the case. He was never going to throw any individual or any single unit of his team under the bus, despite the struggles that were evident to anyone watching.
But Reid and the reigning Super Bowl champions must recognise a serious shortfall in their pass protection. Plugging Thuney in at tackle was a short-term fix. The difficulties he endured against a truly elite edge rush showed the difference between the role of a tackle and that of a guard – and why tackles tend to earn the big bucks in the NFL.
A guard’s work is essentially done within the width of a phone booth; their blocking is an art of close-quarters combat. A tackle, positioned on the outside of the offensive line, has much more space to protect and a greater degree of athleticism is demanded; they’re guarding vast, open water with sharks swarming for a bite at the quarterback’s blindside.
Against the Texans, the Chiefs were able to overcome their lack of offensive production by leaning into their own stellar defense. But Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills won’t be so easily contained in Sunday’s AFC Championship showdown.
Despite having almost everything else in place, the Chiefs’ offensive line could cost them a shot at history.
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