The Kansas City Chiefs had all opportunities to win their Week 11 Monday Night Football game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Unfortunately, dropped passes killed their chances of solidifying their lead in the American Football Conference.
Justin Watson had three dropped passes, including a throw that could have extended the Chiefs' final drive. Travis Kelce also completed a catch at the Eagles' nine-yard line before Bradley Roby forced a fumble recovered by Nicholas Morrow.
The most painful drop is Marquez Valdes-Scantling's missed catch that could have been the go-ahead touchdown. He had the ball in his hands before it slipped away. Those blunders increased the Chiefs' dropped passes to 26, the most in the NFL this season.
Those miscues also affect Patrick Mahomes' fantasy football stock. He finished the Eagles game with 24 completions for 177 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception. It's the second consecutive game he finished below 200 passing yards.
But beyond the dropped balls, the Chiefs offense faces a grave problem in second-half scoring. As The 33rd Team NFL writer Ari Meirov pointed out, Kansas City ranks last in average points during the third and fourth quarters, generating only 5.3 per game.
Mind-blowing: No team in the NFL is scoring fewer points per game in the second half this season than the Kansas City Chiefs.
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) November 21, 2023
The #Chiefs are averaging 5.3 points per game in the second half through 10 games.
Every other NFL team has more. pic.twitter.com/QoRlMQ765Z
It's an alarming statistic for a team that has won seven out of their first ten games. Teams with losing records scored better in the second half than the defending Super Bowl champions. That's a costly trend, especially if it persists against more formidable opponents.
Worst yet, they haven't scored a single second-half point over their last three games. Aside from the Eagles, the Denver Broncos and the Miami Dolphins have shut them down in the second half. Kansas City's scoring struggles dropped their average to 22.5 points per game, ranked 14th through Week 11. That's a far cry from their league-leading 29.2 points per game last season.
The Chiefs have scored double-digit second-half points only twice through Week 11 of their 2023 campaign. They outscored the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2, 10-3, and the Minnesota Vikings in Week 5, 14-7. Generating a decent number of points during the latter quarters allowed Kansas City to defeat both squads.
Conversely, it's unsurprising that two of their three losses came when they finished with zero second-half points. In their other defeat, the Detroit Lions outscored them in the second half of their season-opening encounter, 14-6.
Second-half scoring, or the lack of it, is a severe issue the Kansas City Chiefs must address. While they have arguably football's best quarterback, they must address this matter before they face the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 12.
-Lance Fernandez