HOW DO YOU STOP FOOTBALL’S FORCE OF NATURE?
Teams are rebuilding in an effort to counter the Chiefs, Mahomes, Adam Kilgore says.
WASHINGTON On the night of
Feb. 2 inside Hard Rock Stadium, defensive tackle Chris Jones stood in one corner of the jubilant Kansas City Chiefs lockerroom. The Lombardi Trophy had only started its lap around the room, but Jones’s mind drifted to the future.
“We going to build a f---ing dynasty in Kansas City!” Jones yelled, encircled by a pack of reporters. “We’re like the Golden State Warriors, baby.”
Jones’s declaration — which, believe it or not, happened seven months and not seven years ago — reverberated across the off-season and may well echo for years. The rest of the NFL chases the defending Super Bowl champion every year, but the Chiefs’ first championship since 1970 provided the league’s other 31 teams a more urgent mandate.
When quarterback Patrick Mahomes took the Arrowhead Stadium field Thursday night against the Houston Texans for the NFL’S season-opening game, he did so as the reigning Super Bowl MVP and the owner of the richest contract in the history of North American professional sports — a 10-year extension still somehow structured in a manner that allowed the Chiefs to retain 20 of 22 starters, including Jones with a lucrative contract extension.
In a season likely to be defined by the off-field storylines of playing during a pandemic and how the league addresses social justice issues, the centre of the NFL’S on-field universe is Kansas City. Tom Brady is starting his post-new England twilight with Tampa Bay, Lamar Jackson is trying to validate his MVP trophy in Baltimore, and the San Francisco 49ers are attempting to forge a permanent Super
Bowl contender under coach
Kyle Shanahan. But Mahomes’ otherworldly performance, longterm commitment and youth will define the competitive portion of this year — and probably many years to come.
“You’ve got to go through Kansas City,” Indianapolis Colts coach Frank Reich said in an interview. “And you’ve got to figure out ways to slow Patrick Mahomes down.”
Not unlike the NBA’S Warriors of Jones’ comparison, the Chiefs have built not only a great team but a playing style based on individual brilliance that the rest of the league must account for. Several of the contenders for Kansas City’s throne acknowledge that Mahomes’ presence shapes how they construct their roster. Division rivals loaded up on speedy receivers, conference contenders scrambled to add elite pass rushers and coaches rethought a dilemma: Is it smarter to try to stop the Chiefs or outscore them?
“Every move and signing we make, we have to have them in mind,” Los Angeles Chargers coach Anthony Lynn told reporters this past off-season.
When weighing roster decisions with regard to opponents, teams typically start with what they need to beat their division rivals, said Marc Ross, an NFL Network analyst and former personnel executive for the New York Giants. Then they might consider other teams in their conference and maybe a threat from the opposite conference.
The reigning Super Bowl champions always create a standard in that calculation, but the Chiefs this year push the concept. Mahomes will be there for at least 10 years, and in coach Andy Reid’s innovative system it seems possible — if not likely — the Chiefs are replacing the Patriots as an annual hurdle for any team with hopes of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
The NFL’S quandary is obvious: If there is a way to slow Mahomes, nobody has figured it out. But Reich and the Colts found inspiration in the Super Bowl. Colts general manager Chris Ballard frequently discussed the need to overcome Mahomes, Reich said this past off-season, and “that’s where the Deforest Buckner trade comes in.”
During April’s draft, the Colts traded the 13th pick to the 49ers for Buckner, who had pressured Mahomes relentlessly as San Francisco built a 10-point lead in the Super Bowl. The Colts signed Buckner to a four-year, US$84 million contract extension.
The Tennessee Titans, whom the Chiefs beat in the AFC Championship Game in January after erasing a 10-point deficit, seemed to take the same lesson. Having come so close to the Super Bowl, with only Mahomes beating them, the Titans’ biggest additions came in their pass rush. They signed Vic Beasley early in free agency, and at the end of training camp they signed Jadeveon Clowney — one of the few edge rushers whose athleticism can match that of Mahomes — to a one-year, $15-million deal.
The biggest threat to the Chiefs may reside in Baltimore, where Jackson led the Ravens to a 14-2 regular season before a stunning loss to the Titans in their opening playoff game. The Ravens play nothing like the Chiefs on offence, but they may be the NFL’S most similar team in concept: They have an utterly singular quarterback, and around him they have constructed a system unlike any other. The Chiefs use spreading the field and outlandish speed, while the Ravens use creative formations and power running.
In Kansas City, they are well past building an identity. They are trying to build a dynasty, and it is up to the rest of the NFL to stop them. The question of the 2020 season on the field is whether anyone can beat Mahomes — and that does not figure to change for a long time.