Kansas City Chiefs fans have long known how much quarterback Patrick Mahomes means to their team. They’ve seen it on the field and in the record book, and those Super Bowl trophies and MVP awards add up.
This week, though, they’ll get a new numerical version of Mahomes’ value. With backup quarterback Gardner Minshew taking over against the Tennessee Titans, the betting line has dropped by a whopping eight points, with the Chiefs going from 11.5 favorites to just 3.5.
That’s a huge drop, and the over/under has taken a hit, too, according to a story written by Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. It’s now at 37.5, which is the lowest number in the NFL this week.
This is a mostly meaningless game, so it will be tough for coach Andy Reid to keep his team motivated. The Chiefs looked utterly defeated after their devastating loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, which was understandable after taking the 1-2 punch of playoff elimination and losing Mahomes for the rest of the season.
If you’re looking for meaning, though, keep an eye on Minshew. He seemed like a solid signing to back up Mahomes going into this season, although traditionally that role has been the ultimate version of clipboard holder.
But Minshew was horrible last week. The fact that he threw a pick to end the game wasn’t really all that surprising, because bad turnovers like that have plagued Minshew throughout his career.
What was especially deplorable, though, was Minshew’s inability to get the offense organized and functional in the final minute of the Chiefs’ loss to the Chargers. That’s the basic role of any backup quarterback, and it’s yet another issue we’ve never seen from a team coached by Andy Reid. Reid has plugged some pretty awful backups in when Mahomes has needed time off due to a minor injury, and he’s had some impressive success doing that.
Not with Minshew. At this point we don’t know if this issue was on Reid or Minshew, although the bet there is the latter. What we will get is yet another illustration of how the Chiefs respond to adversity in a season that’s gone over the cliff.
Winning this game won’t mean much to the Chiefs, but losing it would send a message of sorts, especially if Minshew is awful again. The message would be that the Chiefs have quit on Reid and their season, which would open up new layers of questions going forward.