{"id":253266,"date":"2025-11-05T14:39:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T19:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=253266"},"modified":"2025-11-05T14:39:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T19:39:16","slug":"kansas-city-chiefs-midseason-reality-check-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/11\/05\/kansas-city-chiefs-midseason-reality-check-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas City Chiefs Midseason Reality Check: What Must Change?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The high-flying Kansas City Chiefs stumbled yet again in what will be their last game ever played at Highmark Stadium, losing 21\u201328 to the Buffalo Bills. The Chiefs entered the game as the favorites and at one stage held a 10\u20137 lead, but outside a few moments looked like the inferior team. Buffalo outplayed them thoroughly by the end, and the scoreline could have been much worse.<\/p>\n

The three-time defending AFC champions head into their bye week at 5\u20134, currently sitting outside of the playoff picture<\/a>. With more than half of the season played, here\u2019s what the Chiefs need to fix coming out of the bye before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid watches the offense on the field during first half action against the Kansas City Chiefs at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park on Nov. 2, 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kansas City Chiefs Midseason Reality Check: What Must Change?<\/h2>\n

Inconsistency Defines the 2025 Kansas City Chiefs<\/h3>\n

At times this season, the Chiefs have looked like the best team in the league<\/a> \u2014 and at other times, like the worst iteration of the Mahomes era. This needs to change. If there\u2019s one thing Kansas City prides itself on, it\u2019s consistency, which has eluded them for most of the season so far.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve made uncharacteristic mistakes, suffered more brain fades than usual<\/a>, and committed penalties that are very un-Chiefs-like. If they stop self-sabotaging and come out of the bye week focused on the details, there\u2019s absolutely no reason why this team can\u2019t make yet another deep playoff run.<\/p>\n

Defensive Regression Is Becoming a Real Concern<\/h3>\n

Over the past two seasons, an underrated aspect of this Chiefs dynasty was their defense. It kept them dominant even when Mahomes\u2019 statistical numbers dipped due to drops or receiver injuries. Unfortunately, all the evidence points to the vaunted Steve Spagnuolo defense taking a major step back this year.<\/p>\n

The pass rush is almost non-existent \u2014 bottom five in the league. Their linebackers aren\u2019t fast enough to cover tight ends effectively, a weakness that haunted them even last season. Their streak of not allowing a running back to rush for over 100 yards was also snapped by James Cook. A trade or roster move might be necessary<\/a>\u00a0because, as things stand, the Chiefs simply don\u2019t have the personnel for an effective pass rush. Against elite teams, that\u2019s a recipe for disaster.<\/p>\n

Offensive Struggles Continue to Stall the Chiefs\u2019 Identity<\/h3>\n

The Chiefs\u2019 offense needs to be more consistent \u2014 Mahomes must find his rhythm, the running game has to improve, the injury-hit offensive line must hold up<\/a>, and the wide receivers need to step up.<\/p>\n

Kansas City has lost every game this season in which opponents scored more than 20 points, and every one-score game, a stark contrast to last year when they famously won all of them. Too often, the offense has relied on Mahomes\u2019 heroics to bail them out. When that\u2019s not there, things fall apart, and that can\u2019t continue if they hope to remain contenders.<\/p>\n

Still Contenders \u2014 But Running Out of Time<\/h3>\n

Are the Chiefs better than a 5\u20134 team? Definitely, some would argue they\u2019re still a top-three team in the league despite last night\u2019s loss. But in the NFL, you are ultimately as good as your record says you ar<\/p>\n

The Chiefs have shown enough potential to push for another Super Bowl run, especially in a year without a clear-cut powerhouse. Championship pedigree can never be counted out, but at some point, you just are who you are. The Chiefs are facing one of their toughest midseason challenges of the Mahomes era, and how they respond will define whether this dynasty continues to thrive or finally stalls.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Tina MacIntyre-Yee\/Democrat and Chronicle-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kansas City Chiefs stumble to 5\u20134 after losing to the Bills. Here\u2019s what Mahomes and company must fix during the bye week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5658,"featured_media":253597,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6431,16],"tags":[298,1576],"class_list":["post-253266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-teams","category-chiefs","tag-chris-jones","tag-patrick-mahomes"],"modified_by":"Will Koshover, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5658"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253266"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253599,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253266\/revisions\/253599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}