The Kansas City Chiefs had a tough season in 2014 to say the least. In the opening game at Arrowhead Stadium against the Tennessee Titans, the Chiefs lost the heartbeat of their defense in Derrick Johnson to a season ending Achilles injury and a key defensive end in Mike Devito who suffered the same injury. After the injuries the team looked like they were in shock as to what happened and the Titans went on to win that game 26-10, being one of their abysmal two wins on the season.
In week 2, the Chiefs lost their star offensive player and one of the leagues best running backs, Jamaal Charles, in the first quarter to a high ankle sprain. Without Charles the Chiefs ground attack was led by young emerging star Knile Davis. Though Davis ran for 79 yards and the Chiefs only two touchdowns, it wasn't enough to top the high powered Denver Broncos offense, Denver won 24-17.
Week 3 was a different story entirely for Kansas City, going into Miami with a 0-2 record the Chiefs were again without Star running back Jamaal Charles. However, KC had a stable of talent at the position behind Charles. Led by Knile Davis, Joe McKnight, and Cyrus Gray, each back scored and Mcknight had two receiving touchdowns to lead KC to a 34-15 victory.
Week 4 will remain etched in many KC fans memory, a annihilation of Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. The Chiefs, led by the return of the Jamaal Charles, were better in every phase of the game that Monday night. The entire nation watched as Tom Brady went to the bench late in a 41-14 thrashing of the eventual Super Bowl champs.
Week 5 led KC into San Francisco where Alex Smith made his first start against his former team. Though the Chiefs came up short in a 17-22 loss, you could see the promise and grit of this team as they fought tooth and nail every play of a very physical game.
After the bye week and rested, Jamaal Charles had the teams all time rushing record in his sights as he lead the Chiefs into the week 7 match up against the San Diego Chargers, Charles lead his team to a 23-20 victory on his way to becoming the Chiefs all time leader in rushing yards. Rookie kicker Cairo Santos came up big in a clutch moment making the game winning field goal.
Week 8 saw the Governors Cup up for grabs as the in state rival St. Louis Rams came to Arrowhead. After a close first half, Knile Davis returned the opening kickoff of the second half 99 yards to paydirt. The Chiefs sacked Rams quarterback Austin Davis 7 times, and with the momentum from Kniles return along with the crowd at Arrowhead rocking, KC went on to retain the Governors cup in dominating fashion with a 34-7 win.
In week 9, the New York Jets came to town and the Chiefs were none too friendly to young Quarterback Geno Smith, causing him to be benched for Michael Vick midway through the game. Kansas City won 24-10 leaving them at 5-3 on the season.
In week 10, KC traveled to Buffalo to play a tough Buffalo Bills team. The combination of a touchdown saving forced fumble by defensive back Ron Parker and a gutsy 4th and 2 playcall by head coach Andy Reid, a pitch to Jamaal Charles who scored on the play, lead the Chiefs to a 17-13 win.
Week 11 was circled on the calendar by many Chiefs fans, the defending Super Bowl Champs, Seattle Seahawks came to Kansas City. Not only were Chiefs fans excited about playing Seattle, they wanted to show the Seahawks what 142.2 decibels and the loudest stadium in the NFL is really like. It was one of the best games of the season for the Chiefs, Jamaal Charles and Marshawn Lynch combined for 283 yards on the ground. KCs defense stepped up big when they had to, despite two turnovers and being outgained on time of possession by nearly twelve minutes, the Chiefs won 24-20.
Despite being on a five game winning streak, the next three games took the wind of Kansas City's sails as they would lose three games in a row, two to division opponents. A 24-20 loss to the Oakland Raiders wasn't the only loss for KC in week 12 as star Safety Eric Berry was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in the days following the loss, losing him for the season. In the following weeks the Chiefs lost to Denver 29-16, and a 17-14 loss to the Arizona Cardinals which saw KC vulnerable against the run.
A week 15 match up at home against the Raiders and playoff hopes still alive at 7-6, the Chiefs would go on to beat Oakland 31-13. Rookie De'anthony Thomas a.k.a Black Momba returned a punt for a TD as his first special teams score of his career.
Week 16 lead the playoff hopeful Chiefs into Pittsburgh for a important match up against the Steelers. Though Kansas City came up short in a 20-12 loss, they still had a chance at the playoffs if the cards were to fall their way.
The last week of the season the Chiefs watched backup QB Chase Daniel, starting due to a spleen injury to starter Alex Smith, lead the Chiefs to a 19-7 win over the Chargers. But, unfortunately the cards didn't fall Kansas City's way in terms of playoff berth, as their season was over with a 9-7 record. With Jamaal Charles setting the teams rushing record and star OLB Justin Houston setting the teams single season sack record at 22 sacks, just half a sack shy of tying Michael Strahan for the league record, KC is looking forward to bigger and better things this coming year.
After a somewhat disappointing, though at times very exciting 2014 season, the Chiefs are looking up and looking forward to a bright year in 2015 under head coach Andy Reid. Coach Reid and general manager John Dorsey had a great off-season and draft. Starting with the re-signing of CB/FS Ron Parker, and re-signing inside linebacker Josh Mauga. Tyvon Branch made the leap to the good side as he left Oakland for the Chiefs, signing a 1 year with the maximum value of $4 million, he joins a safety position in question with Eric Berry back on the field after battling cancer and Husain Abdullah entering a contract year. Kansas City wasn't afraid to make big moves this off-season releasing veteran WR Dwayne Bowe, who is the teams second all time leading receiver, to sign a star player for the Philidelphia Eagles, free agent wide receiver Jeremy Maclin to a 5 year $55 million dollar deal in hopes to make the Chiefs pass game more formidable. Dorsey also traded one of the teams 5th round picks in the draft for Saints Pro Bowl guard, Ben Grubbs. The off-season also saw the much anticipated re-signing of star OLB Justin Houston to a 6 year $101 million dollar deal with $52.5 million in guaranteed money.
The draft was interesting as they had nine picks, the most for the Chiefs since 2008. The team drafted defense heavy, with Cornerback Marcus Peters leading the way in the first round out of Washington. Other players drafted on defense are; Cornerback Steven Nelson out of Oregon State in the 3rd round, inside Linebackers DJ Alexander also out of Oregon State and Ramik Wilson who played for Georgia in round 5, Defensive Tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches out of Southern Mississippi. Offensive Players drafted are Offensive lineman Mitch Morse out of Missouri in round 2, Wide receiver Chris Conley out of Georgia in round 3, Tight end James O'Shaugnessy out of Illinois State and Wide receiver Da'ron Brown in round 7 with their last pick.
With training camp just beginning, we have had bad news, and outstanding news. First with the bad, Dontari Poe will miss the entire training camp due to a back injury he suffered in OTAs and re-aggravated it training this off-season. Per Coach Reid, Poe had surgery and though his chances of being able to play at the start of the season are uncertain, Coach is optimistic he will be able to return to the field towards the beginning of the season or shortly there after. Reid said Jaye Howard and Mike Devito will step in for him while he is out with the back injury. Also bad, cornerback Sean Smith is serving a 3 game suspension due to a DUI he received this off-season.
The outstanding news, Pro Bowl Safety Eric Berry has successfully defeated cancer as he is now healthy and practicing with the team as of July 29th. Chiefs Kingdom is elated to hear that as they have anxiously been waiting to hear from Eric. Berry joins Husain Abdullah, Tyvon Branch, and Ron Parker at the position, the Chiefs seem to be stacked at Safety this year barring any injuries.
The Kansas City Chiefs 2015 schedule is going to be far from the easiest in the league, with only 3 of the first 10 games the Chiefs play being at home. One of KCs 8 scheduled home games is in London against the Detroit Lions.
Week 1 @ Houston Texans
Week 2 Thursday night Denver Broncos
Week 3 Monday night @ Green Bay Packers
Week 4 @ Cincinnati Bengals
Week 5 Chicago Bears
Week 6 @ Minnesota Vikings
Week 7 Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 8 is the London game against the Detroit Lions.
Week 9 Bye week
Week 10 @ Denver Broncos
Week 11 @ San Diego Chargers
Week 12 Buffalo Bills
Week 13 @ Oakland Raiders
Week 14 San Diego Chargers
Week 15 @ Baltimore Ravens
Week 16 Cleveland Browns
Week 17 Oakland Raiders
There is a lot of optimism around the Chiefs going into the third season with head coach Andy Reid and General Manager John Dorsey at the helm. The team has kept key players and has spoke of great chemistry amongst the team during OTAs and training camp this year. They hope to improve on their 9-7 season a year ago. After beating both teams that played in the Super Bowl and losing to the Raiders and Titans they had highs and lows, keeping the low moments at a minimum this year is a must if they hope to make the playoffs. Coach Reid talked about the schedule and how he prefers to play the best teams to use it as a 'measuring stick' for where the team is at. Playing the Broncos, Packers, Bengals, Steelers, and Lions in the first 8 weeks will give them a chance to see exactly that.
Expect the Chiefs to make a run at winning the Division this year, but the Chiefs have yet to beat the Broncos with Peyton Manning as their quarterback and that must change this year in order to win the division. If they come up short of winning the division they will still have a solid chance at a Wild Card playoff berth.