Reality Bites

Hard to argue FSU, until they prove otherwise...No real strong rationale to bet on em outside of some really good players here and there. 

not sure what RS/Wilf's do with a 9 or 10 win 1 and done season. 

I believe Zimm and RS are under contract through 2020?

Easy enough to move on if they want to. 

Seems like pretty dire talk at 6/3 - now that I've type this. 

Utterly deflating.
Same as last year: We beat bad teams, and we lose to good teams.
Very few positives to take from this game for me, which is the most frustrating part. I'll probably have more to say but right now I'm just bummed. Beat Dallas.

@"purplefaithful" said: Hard to argue FSU, until they prove otherwise...No real strong rationale to bet on em outside of some really good players here and there. 

not sure what RS/Wilf's do with a 9 or 10 win 1 and done season. 

I believe Zimm and RS are under contract through 2020?

Easy enough to move on if they want to. 

Seems like pretty dire talk at 6/3 - now that I've type this. 

Put me in the "meh" camp.  I think we're playoffs caliber but not serious contenders.  I think you could look at every part of the team this game and think they had a not horrible game, but no one stepped up to get us the win.  If Cousins was just slightly better, we get a win.  If the defense was slightly better we get a win.  If the OLine was slightly better we get the win.
Mostly I think this game was on the offense.  We should have been dominating their defense and it was to be expected that the Chiefs offense would pose our defense problems.  I think the Chiefs showed everyone the recipe for stopping our offense, which I don't think was a big secret.  Stack the box, take away the run, take away the bootlegs and rollouts, and make Cousins and the OLine beat the defense from a traditional pocket.  If Cousins is on, we'll beat them deep.  If Cousins is errant, we'll struggle.  I do think we need some schematic wrinkles to deal with this style of defense, to scheme receivers open.  I think if we figure this out, we'll be much better prepared to take on the better teams in the league.

@"medaille" said:

Put me in the "meh" camp.  I think we're playoffs caliber but not serious contenders.  I think you could look at every part of the team this game and think they had a not horrible game, but no one stepped up to get us the win.  If Cousins was just slightly better, we get a win.  If the defense was slightly better we get a win.  If the OLine was slightly better we get the win. Mostly I think this game was on the offense.  We should have been dominating their defense and it was to be expected that the Chiefs offense would pose our defense problems.  I think the Chiefs showed everyone the recipe for stopping our offense, which I don't think was a big secret.  Stack the box, take away the run, take away the bootlegs and rollouts, and make Cousins and the OLine beat the defense from a traditional pocket.  If Cousins is on, we'll beat them deep.  If Cousins is errant, we'll struggle.  I do think we need some schematic wrinkles to deal with this style of defense, to scheme receivers open.  I think if we figure this out, we'll be much better prepared to take on the better teams in the league.

Yeah Cousins is what he is, has stepped it up a bit this year but we along with the guys who signed him know what the formula is supposed to be.  Get 21 or more and let the D do the rest.  Only the D is no longer functioning at that elite level.   Yes we left points out there but 23 should have been enough if the D did its job.

We pissed away the first half by not sticking to what got us 6 wins.  Several three and outs, penalties, and Cook & Mattison were almost afterthoughts.  To the Chiefs credit, their defensive line play was better than they've shown all year.  But it's embarrassing when your guard...Elflein of course...looks like he's on roller-skates and actually sacks his own QB.

The only bright note was seeing Treadwell actually catch passes. 

@"KingBash" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Don't blame this on Cousins, he's not the reason they lost. Wasn't his best game but he threw for 3 TDs and zero interceptions.

This is all on the coaching staff and D.....and the offensive line.

As much as I bitch about him, and want better for 84$ million... he played pretty well. Oddly enough, in a 3 TD no pick game, I still wasn't impressed with him.

But it wasn't on him alone. The whole team didn't have it today. We were off. We weren't horrible, but just not all there. KC played pretty well. I don't hate this loss.

@"HappyViking" said:

@"KingBash" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Don't blame this on Cousins, he's not the reason they lost. Wasn't his best game but he threw for 3 TDs and zero interceptions.

This is all on the coaching staff and D.....and the offensive line.

As much as I bitch about him, and want better for 84$ million... he played pretty well. Oddly enough, in a 3 TD no pick game, I still wasn't impressed with him.

But it wasn't on him alone. The whole team didn't have it today. We were off. We weren't horrible, but just not all there. KC played pretty well. I don't hate this loss.

I'm with you on the KB.  KC made big plays and the Vikes seemed to scratch and claw for every inch of turf gained.  Moore could lob up a throw with all kinds hands in his face or while getting shoved, and Hill comes down with it.  KC has a 91 yard run (longest in KC history, btw), and the kicker hits a 54 yarder (longest of the year also).  The Vikes didn't have it yesterday, and KC did; even without Mahomes.
 We can't have KC going back to missing open receivers downfield like he did with Diggs and expect to win. 

Unfortunately, I think the Dallas game will be even tougher.

@"medaille" said:

Put me in the "meh" camp.  I think we're playoffs caliber but not serious contenders.  I think you could look at every part of the team this game and think they had a not horrible game, but no one stepped up to get us the win.  If Cousins was just slightly better, we get a win.  If the defense was slightly better we get a win.  If the OLine was slightly better we get the win. .

It's even worse than that, JL. Teams had a viable blueprint for beating the Chiefs WITH Mahomes: play tight man coverage and/or double Kelce and Hill.

Zimmer did neither. And he only blitzed a journeyman backup QB who was out of football last year 7 times. Nor was he giving Moore much to think about pre-snap with fake blitz looks.

On the flip side Stefanski looked totally unprepared for a Defense stacking the box and watching for rollouts. The Chiefs have exactly 1 legit difference maker on Defense in Chris Jones. He's probably the 2ne best DT in the League. Matched up against Minnesota's worst O-Lineman. Who got help on an insanely low 15 snaps.

These coaches are showing an appalling lack of ability to learn from what other teams have done successfully against a common opponent. It's like they truly think their shit doesn't stink. Which is amazing since the only have decent team they've beaten is Philly, who was in a slump at the time. 

@"StickyBun" said: Don't blame this on Cousins, he's not the reason they lost. Wasn't his best game but he threw for 3 TDs and zero interceptions.

This is all on the coaching staff and D.....and the offensive line.

@"Akvike" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Don't blame this on Cousins, he's not the reason they lost. Wasn't his best game but he threw for 3 TDs and zero interceptions.

This is all on the coaching staff and D.....and the offensive line.

bullshit---he was off all game if you're honest.  Yes 3 tds and no ints but how many off stride or clean misses

Bottomline, Cousins threw some horrid balls, and our D didn't step up to close out. Play calling was off too.

The only silver lining I will take from this game is that even though Kirk was inconsistent, the oline's performance was very sub par and the D gave up more than 400 yards AGAIN. We only lost by a last second FG on the road, in a hostile environment. I still have hope, although insane, that this this team will turn it around. If we lay another egg this Sunday night, my hope will quickly turn to disappointment and apathy. It will then be time to look for a change at HC.

@"Disgustipated" said: The only silver lining I will take from this game is that even though Kirk was inconsistent, the oline's performance was very sub par and the D gave up more than 400 yards AGAIN. We only lost by a last second FG on the road, in a hostile environment. I still have hope, although insane, that this this team will turn it around. If we lay another egg this Sunday night, my hope will quickly turn to disappointment and apathy. It will then be time to look for a change at HC.

@"Disgustipated" said: The only silver lining I will take from this game is that even though Kirk was inconsistent, the oline's performance was very sub par and the D gave up more than 400 yards AGAIN. We only lost by a last second FG on the road, in a hostile environment. I still have hope, although insane, that this this team will turn it around. If we lay another egg this Sunday night, my hope will quickly turn to disappointment and apathy. It will then be time to look for a change at HC.

A good team, minus some significant starters, played well and beat us by 3 points. I don't think they played down to our level, I think we played below the level that we're capable of, but that is a trend that continues to plague this team on the road against quality football teams under Zimmer. I'm an optimistic fan of this team and hope we can gain some confidence in the next few weeks and ride that momentum into the playoffs, starting with a win on Sunday night. We have a good team on paper that can hopefully buck the trend.....or I could be an insanely delusional fan.

@"JimmyinSD" said:

@"Disgustipated" said: The only silver lining I will take from this game is that even though Kirk was inconsistent, the oline's performance was very sub par and the D gave up more than 400 yards AGAIN. We only lost by a last second FG on the road, in a hostile environment. I still have hope, although insane, that this this team will turn it around. If we lay another egg this Sunday night, my hope will quickly turn to disappointment and apathy. It will then be time to look for a change at HC.

a loss this sunday and the wheels might start coming off,  they have a gimme coming up against the donkeys,  but then right back in the soup with a game at seattle.  they need a win sunday night to get right heading into the home stretch.

@"MarkSP18" said:

@"Akvike" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Don't blame this on Cousins, he's not the reason they lost. Wasn't his best game but he threw for 3 TDs and zero interceptions.

This is all on the coaching staff and D.....and the offensive line.

bullshit---he was off all game if you're honest.  Yes 3 tds and no ints but how many off stride or clean misses

He was off to start the game and just missed Diggs deep which are completed 50% of the time or less.
But for many in this fan base, the QB needs to be PERFECT.  He is not permitted to be off or to miss any passes.
It is revealing that there is no criticism of the OL which played the worse of any unit. 

When you have the NFL leading rusher and he gets 71 yards on 21 carries with 1 carry going for 22 yards then they are not doing their jobs.
The run was suppose to set up the pass in this offense and play action will not work if you have proven you cannot run.
Cousins was under a fair amount of pressure when dropping back but only took one sack which I think in part was him throwing some passes away on purpose (at least a few).
The offense without Thielen is easier to stop.  Without seeing the All 22 it seems that KC was doubling up Diggs or sading the safety over the top more often.  That left the rest of the receivers which do not scare any team.
So the offense could not run the ball and was missing one of their top weapons and still managed to cobble together 23 points on the road against a team that went to the championship game last year.  That is good.
The defense on the other hand has no excuses.  The Chiefs were missing Fisher who is their starting left tackle and Tardiff who is their starting right guard.
The defense has 8 players making 9 mil or more.  They gave up a 91 yard TD drive that took 8:56 off the clock and a 91 yard TD run plus the long passes to Hill who should have been doubled as soon as he got out of his car.
But because Cousins has his contract, he gets the most criticism and he has to overcome everything.
The offense is now on it's 4th OC and new coach in 4 years.The defense has the same coaches and system since 2014.7 of the starters on defense have been here since 2016.9 of the starters on defense have been here since 2017.They got their arse kicked 3807 by Nick Foles with the chance to go to the Super Bowl on the line.They let the Bears run 37 times for 167 yards last year with the chance to go to the playoffs.
The reality is that this defense is severely overrated and they are chokers who come up small in the biggest games.If you need them to hit two free throws to win the game they wont even hit one.
But Cousins is the real problem.