The Kansas City Chiefs are 0-2. Say what you all want but it’s not Patrick Mahomes’ fault that the team is in the hole they’re in right now. Mahomes rushed for 66 yards and a touchdown against the Eagles and he has the less-than-stellar wide receiver trio of Hollywood Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Tyquan Thornton to throw to.

All of that being said, if there’s one wish that Mahomes could have granted at the moment, it’d probably be for Andy Reid to call better plays offensively. Reid is typically thought of as an offensive genius but his playcalling in the Chiefs’ two games so far this season has been suspect, to say the least.

One very strong instance of Reid’s playcalling being unimpressive this season came in the loss to the Eagles. On the Chiefs’ first drive of the second half, the offense had 4th-and-1 on their own 35-yard line and Reid not only chose to go for it but called a very confusing play there. Rather than trying to have a running back plow straight ahead to push for the yard, Kareem Hunt ran outside and, as predicted, didn’t get the yard needed for the first down.

Reid likes to be creative on plays like these but this wasn’t the time for something outside of the box. The Chiefs offense had been pretty lifeless all afternoon and this was when he should have called for a traditional run straight ahead call and not dial up something cute because we saw how that worked out.

The Chiefs turned the ball over on downs to the Eagles, who then had great field position and used that to add three points to their total. That ended up being the difference in the game too.

Chiefs can save Patrick Mahomes from disaster with improved playcalling

Reid addressed this particular playcall during his press conference on Monday and his response is a typical Reid-like response after a frustrating game.

“We’ve got to detail our work. It’s my responsibility. I take responsibility for that and for this game with the aggressiveness as far as the fourth downs go. I felt going into this game, because they stay aggressive on fourth down, that you’ve got to match that to some extent within reason. So a couple of those didn’t work out, and I’ve got full confidence we’ll get that cleaned up, too, as far as the execution of it.
There were some things that I could have put our players in a better position on. And there were some calls that I could have used that I didn’t use. And so I’ve got to make sure I take care of that part first and then give the guys a better opportunity to do their job.”

It was a baffling call and just one of the many during the game that had Chiefs fans banging their heads against the wall. When you have Patrick Mahomes as your quarterback, you have to call plays that allow him to be the player that he is and Reid hasn’t been doing that so far this season.

Grant Mahomes this wish and the offense should come to life.