Pundits say Chiefs offense looked like its old self Sunday and the stats back that up

From the 10-minute mark of the second quarter of Sunday’s AFC Wild Card Game against the Pittsburgh Steelers to midway through the fourth quarter, the Chiefs drive chart showed nothing but touchdowns.

The Chiefs found the end zone six straight times in their 42-21 win, including a pair of scores that went for 30-plus yards. Four of the scoring drives covered 74 or more yards.

Those who cover the NFL were impressed with what they saw. Here is what they were saying.

CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin, recapping the weekend’s games, led off a segment with this headline: “The Chiefs were OK this whole time.”

“Patrick Mahomes and Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce were all in peak playoff form,” he wrote. “They had some ugly moments this season, but Andy Reid’s contenders are as ready as ever to challenge for a title.”

Speaking on the NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football,” Peter Schrager was blown away by the Chiefs.

“Kansas City, for the first time all season, from about the five-minute mark of the first half on, looked like the Chiefs of old,” he said. “ And it’s six and a half days away. I cannot wait for Bills-Chiefs because both of these offenses look their very best in the biggest of games this weekend.”

In his What We Learned from the Chiefs-Steelers game, NFL.com’s Nick Shook had a segment with this headline: “The Chiefs’ offense might be deeper than we realize.”

This is a part of what he wrote: “The Chiefs can hit you from a number of directions and certainly did so Sunday night. If they can keep this up, they’ll be a tough team to eliminate.”

The Ringer’s Steven Ruiz wrote about his six biggest lessons from the wild-card games. One was this: “The Chiefs offense has officially adjusted to two-high coverages.”

Here is an excerpt from Ruiz’s story: “After a 42-point outburst against a good Pittsburgh defense on Sunday night, we can now say that the Chiefs have officially made their adjustments. Sure, this wasn’t the first time Kansas City put up a big number on the scoreboard this season. But if you don’t count the games against the Raiders — and we probably shouldn’t, given Gus Bradley’s refusal to come out of his preferred single-high coverages — we had yet to see Kansas City destroy a defense with downfield passes during the 2021 season. On Sunday, we finally got one of those games.”

These two statistics from the NFL’s Next Gen Stats seem to back up that talk about the Chiefs offense being back.

First, the Chiefs gained 269 of their 405 receiving yards after the catch (YAC), the second-most YAC in a playoff game since 2016.

Running back Jerick McKinnon had 106 YAC, tight end Travis Kelce had 66 YAC and Mecole Hardman had 37 YAC.

Also, quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed four of five passes for 111 yards and a pair of touchdowns targeting vertical routes (go, corner, post and wheel). His two TD passes on vertical routes were the most since Week 12 in 2020.