The start of the 2023 NFL season was celebratory for the Chiefs at first. They got to open the new campaign at Arrowhead Stadium while honoring the reigning Super Bowl victors.
But the 2022 season is in the rearview mirror and the second half against the Lions brought Kansas City down to earth hard. They're 0-1 thanks to a 21-20 loss.
Who is to blame for the disappointing start?
No. 3 Chiefs figure to blame for opening loss: Brett Veach
The Chiefs couldn't control Travis Kelce being injured. No matter what happened, Patrick Mahomes was going to have his most reliable receiving option on the sidelines for the game. However, general manager Brett Veach's personnel decisions had a spotlight shown on them on Thursday night and it wasn't exactly pretty.
It starts with Chris Jones. In a one-point game, it's hard to argue that Jones couldn't have made a difference. His presence on the inside could have turned the tide defensively, whether preventing a score at some point or keeping the Lions offense from ultimately running out the clock. He's an impact player and his impact wasn't available because the Chiefs haven't been willing to pay him what he's worth.
It goes beyond Jones as well. Kansas City went into the 2023 season content with a receiving corps that has no one close to WR1 capabilities. Losing Kelce put that in stark perspective. No receiver caught more than two passes against the Lions. There were costly drops all over the field.
Mahomes needed someone, anyone, to step up and be his go-to guy. Marquez Valdes-Scantling wasn't it. Justin Watson wasn't it. Skyy Moore wasn't it. Richie James, Justyn Ross and certainly Kadarius Toney didn't get the job done.
No. 2 Chiefs figure to blame for opening loss: Andy Reid
Andy Reid made some questionable decision on Thursday night and it hurt his team.
The most obviously questionable of those was to go for it on fourth-and-25 with more than two minutes to play. Going for it on fourth-and-20 was insane enough but Jawaan Taylor's false start should have been a saving grace to give Reid the chance to reconsider. The Chiefs had three timeouts and could have punted it away before the two-minute warning.
Reid had other chances to make the bold call and he passed. Twice Kansas City faced fourth-and-two from around the Detroit 20. It made sense to kick a field goal to take a lead, but kicking another field goal to go up by six wasn't the right call in hindsight. That was the time to go for it.
Reid is one of the best coaches in the game. This just wasn't his best outing. Circumstances were difficult to be fair, but the win was there for the taking with one or two better decisions.
He also holds some blame for the aforementioned receiver disaster. There's no way Reid didn't sign off on each and every one of those pass-catchers being trusted enough to be on the roster. For a few of them, it's clear that trust was misplaced.
No. 1 Chiefs figure to blame for opening loss: Kadarius Toney
Kadarius Toney dropped a pass and it resulted in a touchdown for the other team. That's as big of a mistake as possible and was certain to land him firmly in the path of the blame train.
No NFL game comes down to one play, but the Chiefs lost by one point and Toney gifted the Lions seven. That's about as clear as it gets in terms of singular plays that determined the outcome of a game.
And that wasn't even his only extremely costly play of the game!
Toney also dropped a third-down pass that would have resulted in a first down on a drive that resulted in a field goal. Then he dropped another pass on the final drive of the game that would have helped move the Chiefs closer to field goal range.
There's no excuse for those drops. The most important job of a receiver is to instill trust that when a ball comes his way, he'll take care of it. Toney did the opposite and it'll take time for him to rebuild that trust, if he ever gets the chance.
