Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are stuck at .500. The Baltimore Ravens and quarterback Lamar Jackson are facing the same predicament. Coach Dan Cambell and his high-flying, knee-biting Detroit Lions squad are a little better off at 7-4, but all three of these typically powerful teams are sitting outside the playoff picture right now.
So what does it all mean?
According to NFL and New England Patriots columnist Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, it’s all part of the NFL’s endless parity churn. The system is designed to work, and it’s definitely doing that in some ways that are decidedly unusual this year.
The Chiefs are the biggest surprise, of course. They’re supposed to be at least in the playoffs every year due to the presence of Mahomes at quarterback, but this year that’s turning out to be not quite enough.
The issues are multiple, and they’re all fairly well known at this point. Early on it was a sluggish start, caused in part by the absence of key receivers Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy. Then it was the Broncos rising up to beat them, followed by a Dallas Cowboys squad that suddenly rediscovered its mojo on both sides of the ball.
Now the Chiefs are in trouble. They’re currently sitting at ninth in the playoff standings, and they haven’t been able to find their footing yet. If not for that 11-point fourth quarter comeback against the Indianapolis Colts, they’e be riding a four-game losing streak, as Volin points out.
Another big issue now is the tiebreakers. Simply put, the Chiefs really don’t own any that are all that meaningful, other than one over the Ravens. They’re just 3-4 in conference games, and they’ve also lost to the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars, with both teams being strong wild card contenders.
On top of that, Kansas City’s offensive line is badly banged up. The Chiefs invested a lot of draft capital to rebuild it after their first couple of championships, but tackle Josh Simmons is out indefinitely, and Trey Smith has been out, too.
Maybe all of this is just an illusion. Maybe the old Chiefs will resurface, and the NFL pecking order will return to what we’ve come to think of as normal. Or perhaps this is just part of the parity pushback, which seems to come for every really good NFL team sooner or later.