KSpan

No real disagreement, but the Chiefs got cute and cost themselves significant points between penalties and silly play calling at the end of the 1st half. The game really played more like a 27-17 type of score.

Yup, the game was there for the taking. It's not all on Lamar of course, definitely not, but the lack of playoff success is big at this point.

Baltimore's whole team seemed like they weren't prepared for the Chiefs to not just fold. The game was there to take and they just couldn't. Pretty clear that Mahomes should be MVP as well, stats be damned.

Lamar has unfortunately made the message quite clear. Pressure will just continue to build from here.

Back after making some dinner, just in time to see Baltimore fumble. Lolz.

Lamar starting to crack. Bolton should have had that.

They've about hit the minimum talent level on offense. Mahomes is working magic but there are limits to everything.

It was a definite risk moving on from Alex Smith but it was painfully clear he wasn't going to get them over the hump. That said, no way they had any idea Mahomes would become what he has.

That offense definitely looked limp in the second half of the season. For whatever reason though they figured it out come playoff time after somewhat skidding their way in.

What are you talking about 'not a very good team'? Not as good a receiving corps as years past, true, but the defense has been legit almost all season, Mahomes elevates the entire offense, and they have hit their stride these past weeks. That said, I get the Chiefs fatigue. It's a final four with 3 teams that get a lot of press and then the Lions as the only real interesting twist.

It was nonsense in the first place and just looks dumber now. This game has been very evenly called.

Y'all still yapping about this?

They're gonna call that for any QB 100% of the time, and the Van Not thing was stupid after they let both teams get away with a bit.

Got better in regular season but you have to do it when it counts most.

No they aren't. Baltimore is melting down since the Chiefs aren't caving.

The Chiefs and QBs catching their own passes in the playoffs...

I get they were playing with house money after that turnover but big missed opportunity coming away with nothing on that drive.

That screen pass to the dirt and now the zero awareness strip sack... Playoff Lamar may be lurking in the shadows...

And for the umpteenth time 'success' doesn't necessarily mean wins and losses. There were still plenty of things to fairly assess Bryce on and he was not impressive on those things in his control. Coupled with the obvious objective physical limitations, it is fair to say his singular performance was poor and that he has challenges to improvement that other QBs don't face. What's done is done. We're going to have to watch if he hits his Teddy 2.0 potential or not and hope the team around him becomes perfect enough to enable it. Not an ideal situation though.

Once a true assessment is made yeah, that should be the case, but while certain things may be reading apparent a true assessment that can and should take some time. The business side can unfortunately have a significant impact on the leeway provided in said assessment.

*Assumed* baseline talent, maybe. Flip your question around: if a 7th rounder had played like Bryce, would they be given another year? If much less likely, why? The only answer is investment (and some perception factors from the folks who made that decision). I'm not suggesting Carolina move on, though I'd love it if a quality prospect somehow magically fell into their laps, but rather commenting on your point. The only real thing keeping a player around in your scenario is draft investment, a.k.a. Zach Wilson.

Depends. Are they playing better overall than they were in week 1 and are the coaches actually adapting their strategies?

I'm not even being negative really, more just amazed at how far the franchise has sunk to have this type of stuff be considered very positive. And I don't know about all NFL coaches but we have sure had a couple now that didn't seem to understand some obvious basics.

Don't confuse apathy/skepticism with misery. I daresay that some folks labeled as 'miserable', which has been thrown at me many times over the last year, are actually pretty loose and free with the weight of any kind of expectation lifted. Impossible to be disappointed and very easy to be pleasantly surprised when things are as bad as Tepper and his decisions have made them. Makes it easier to be objective as well, but there are probably more slight-leans toward optimism this year vs the BS that was going on last year.

Who says folks on that side of the fence are miserable? Very inaccurate assumption.