No, defenses have not figured out Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offenses

NFL Defenses have built the right framework to counter the Chiefs go-go offense, and they’re still getting clubbed over the head.

At times this season, it has felt as though the Chiefs have been engaging in some kind of grand experiment. Just how bad can a defense be in the modern game before a team stops being a contender? What happens if you become a pass-only team? What if you invest the bulk of your primary resources on only one side of the ball? Can you flip an entire offensive line in one season?

When you have Patrick Mahomes, the finest foundational piece in the league, you can afford to take risks.

The Chiefs have spent the early part of the Mahomes era ditching some of the conventional team-building strategies, leaning into the notion that, yes, it is indeed all about Patrick Mahomes.

They have put everything on their quarterback and his offense. They’ve sapped resources and creativity out of their defense; they spent the past offseason pouring as many resources as possible (remember that two-hour window when it looked like they’d added Juju Smith-Schuster?) into maximizing their offense and, by extension,…