The Kansas City Chiefs have been the most dominant football team in the NFL for the last decade. They have made 7 consecutive conference championships and have won the AFC West each of the last nine years. They have had the best quarterback in the NFL with Patrick Mahomes, and their offenses have revolutionized NFL playcalling. But the 2025-2026 season has been disappointing for Kansas City, and they currently sit at an even 5-5 on the year and are not even on pace to make the playoffs.
Chiefs fans are up in arms, and the entire fan base is on a hunt for answers. There has been plenty of blame to go around, with frustration being directed at Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, Brett Veach, and many other members of the organization. The team clearly has a slew of issues, but I am here to argue that the biggest flaw plaguing Kansas City is a simple fix that could change the trajectory of their season.
The personnel decisions across the Chiefs’ roster this season have been questionable at best. The insistence on using 11 personnel out of the shotgun, the lack of snaps for Tyquan Thornton, and no use of power run behind a dominant interior offensive line. On defense, Kristan Fulton is getting snaps over Nohl Williams, Jaden Hicks can’t find the field, and Leo Chenal is playing on less than 50% of plays.
Let’s start with the offense. Tyquan Thornton has been hands down the Chiefs’ best reciever this season, but is still playing on less than 1/4 of the offensive snaps. Thornton has been one of the best deep threats in the NFL, but his biggest improvement this season has been his ability to get open on intermediate routes across the middle. Offensively, a simple fix that could help production is to increase the snap counts for Thornton and reduce the reps for other players who are struggling to get open.
One of the most frustrating things about the Chiefs (and Andy Reid’s) offense is the “over-complication” of many things. The best example of this comes in the run game. The Chiefs have two strong backs and maybe the best interior offensive line in football. If that doesn’t scream simple power run, I don’t know what does. But there is an insistence from Kansas City to run the ball in zone gap schemes out of the shotgun that is clearly not ideal with the roster they currently have.
On defense, Kristan Fulton is a solid corner, and I firmly believe that he is a capable starting corner in the NFL. Christian Roland-Wallace is in the same boat, where I know he is a capable corner who I am okay with seeing on the field. But on the other hand, Nohl Williams has proven to be one of the most talented rookie corners in the NFL, and there is no reason for those guys to play over him. Williams should never finish a game with a snap count below 40%.
Leo Chenal has a very similar situation. I would argue he is the best linebacker on the Chiefs, and while I do have faith in the ability of Nick Bolton and Dru Tranquil, Chenal cannot be on the bench because of them. It often feels like it is a roll of the dice on defense for which players are going to get on the field any given day, and oftentimes, it feels like the wrong decision.
Just a year ago, the Chiefs had one of the strongest defenses in the NFL, and this year, we expected they would run it back. But despite having a very similar group of players on the roster, there has been clear regression on both sides of the ball. I understand that coaches trust their veteran players and guys who have been in the league longer, but the fact of the matter is, the Chiefs are .500 ten games into the season, and it is time for a change.
