Kansas City hosts Miami during Super Wild Card Weekend on Saturday
USATSI
The Chiefs may be embarking on the quietest attempt to repeat as Super Bowl champions in recent memory. That’s likely due to the Kansas City offense not impressing much throughout the 2023 regular season, specifically at the wide receiver position. The receivers led the NFL in drops, which helped lead to the offense averaging the fewest points per game in any season under Andy Reid. However, Patrick Mahomes believes there’s room for optimism for this group as they step into the postseason as the quarterback told reporters on Tuesday that he is “extremely confident” that this offense has another level it can get to.
“Not only in our offense, but in our football team,” Mahomes said, via Pro Football Talk. “You see how the defense is playing, offensively I feel like we’re going to play our best football at the right time. I think if we can just score — we don’t even have to score too many points if we can just score enough points our defense will shut the door and we can find a way to get the win.”
Mahomes is correct to point to his defense as one of the strengths of the 2023 Chiefs. The 17.3 points per game allowed are the fewest under Reid during his tenure, which does allow more wiggle room for the offense. This season, Mahomes is averaging 261.4 passing yards, 7.0 yards per attempt, and has 27 touchdowns to 14 interceptions, which are all career worsts.
Still, Mahomes is one of, if not the most talented quarterbacks in the league and has two Super Bowl titles under his belt already, so it’s hard to count him or the Chiefs out, despite what they’ve previously looked like.
“We play in a lot of big games, playing games on short rest, we play in night games, whatever it is,” Mahomes said. “I think just having that experience is going to help us. Having those games where not everything is going your way, and you have to find a way to pull through and get a win. A lot of guys on this team have done that.
“The step up that you always see going into the playoffs, it will be a step up, but I think we can make it even a little bit smaller because we’ve been in games like this. Just being able to rely on our experiences and go out there and be the best team we can be and play our best football and see what happens.”
Mahomes and the Chiefs will look to advance to the divisional round after facing a Dolphins team in what is expected to be a frigid game at Arrowhead Stadium with temperatures forecasted to be in the single digits.
