One Third of the Way

Chiefs' season begins with a roar and then get ambushed

With six games gone (one third of the season) the Chiefs sit proudly on top of the AFC West with two game leads over the faltering Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders. Excellent! I have £50 deposited with the bookies and could have got 12-1 on the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl just a few weeks ago. Before the Pittsburgh loss you'd be lucky to get 8-1.

The football gods have been truly good to the UK fans with our team featuring on TV almost every week. This has been a blessing overall , though at times a trial. Staying up very late to see the team munch the Patriots in week one was mesmerising. 42-27 makes for a very pleasant evening indeed! Week Two - we played in the late game and came out on top 27-20 over the Eagles. The late game out on the coast saw the streak continue with a 24-10 defeat of the Chargers in week three. Week Four – the Redskins were sent packing 29-20. Could things get better? Yes, they could by smashing the Texans away 42-34 in week five.

It could not last. The Steelers came to Arrowhead and beat us. And, beat us badly!

Everyone agrees that in the modern NFL the chances of repeating an undefeated season are quite remote. Nevertheless, as I sat down to watch the Steelers game I was quite optimistic. Remember, the Chiefs lost a play-off game at Arrowhead to the Steelers at the end of last season. The “no-touch-down game” as I call it was bad – or perhaps even worse than bad! The Pittsburgh team just ran over the home team all night. Surely they could not do it again?

They did almost exactly the same thing. In particular: Le'Veon Bell rushed for a season-high 179 yards, and the Steelers defense put on a stellar performance, as Pittsburgh earned a 19-13 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. The Chiefs, who entered Week 6 at 5-0, were the NFL's lone remaining unbeaten team.

Wait a minute, the same thing happened in the play-offs! I was convinced that Andy Reid would not let that happened again! Big Ben might beat us with his arm – but no way would Bell run over us again!

Big Ben had a quiet game. He did give up an interception. But, Bell ran over, around and through the Chiefs again!

I was not shocked to lose but I was amazed that they lost again to exactly the same game plan and the same running back.

Commentators were quick to point out that every team has an off day and every team has a bad game. Yes.

But twice? In exactly the same manner? What were the coaches thinking about?

Injuries hurt the offensive line. Kareem Hunt was ineffective on the ground. (He did catch some passes in the flat for good gains). Alex Smith, the top-rated QB in the league so far had some drops and some poor throws. The Steelers actually won a freak play when the ball managed to sneak through Phillip Gaines hands and the result was a very fortuitous touch down. Still, the Chiefs did not manage a first down in the first half. And the third quarter was just about the same. Only when it was too late did they start to rally.

Where do we go from here?

The O-line may get some help with Mitch Morse set to return on Thursday against the 2-4 Raiders. Do they have anyone who can do more at safety than Daniel Sorensen? (If not they better find someone fast as the Pitt juggernaut ran principally at Eric Berry's replacement) Can they find a wide receiver to replace Chris Conley? (Jehu

Chesson made a nice special teams play on Sunday – can he step up? Will he get the chance?) Will the Chiefs run-stoppers actually stop the run?

Of course we would all like to think this was a one-off, but I'm not convinced. The Chiefs may actually be the worst 5-1 team in football ever. Their five wins were actually very luck – barring the Patriots game.

The good news is both the Broncos and the Raiders lost last week as well.

We await the outcome of the Thursday night game at the Raiders. (On TV again!)

Happy days.