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It\u2019s been a disaster of a year for defensive tackle Chris Jones and the Kansas City Chiefs. With the regular season now over, the DT probably wished that the frustrations still lingering would fade away with time. But with the news of yet another Chiefs coach possibly departing, he couldn\u2019t help but vent.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Adam Schefter reported that Chiefs defensive line coach Joe Cullen interviewed with the Washington Commanders for their open defensive coordinator job. Jones saw it and summed it up the only way he could.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh sh!+\u2026\u2026.,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n
For a team that\u2019s lived in January for most of the past decade, this kind of uncertainty isn\u2019t something Jones is used to. But after a 6\u201311 season that ended without a playoff spot, Andy Reid made it clear that changes were coming. The shakeup has already started.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the week, the Chiefs moved on from wide receivers coach Connor Embree, after three seasons marked by drops and no 1,000-yard receiver. On top of that, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy isn\u2019t expected to be back, having already taken interviews for head coaching jobs with the Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders, along with the Arizona Cardinals also on his schedule.<\/p>\n
Even defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has interviewed for a head coaching role with the Titans. So when Cullen\u2019s name popped up, Jones probably reached his breaking point. Cullen is highly respected as one of the league\u2019s best defensive front teachers. He joined Spagnuolo\u2019s staff in 2022 and helped anchor a run that included three straight Super Bowl trips.<\/p>\n
In Cullen\u2019s first two seasons in Kansas City, Chris Jones piled up 24 sacks combined. Even in 2025, during a down year for the team, he still led the Chiefs with seven sacks and remained one of the league\u2019s most productive interior pass rushers since Cullen arrived.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just about Jones. The defense, particularly against the run, held together better than most. Kansas City allowed only two 100-yard rushers all season, tied for eighth in the league, and finished ninth overall in rushing defense at 105.7 yards per game. There is a lot of deadwood this team needs to get rid of, but Cullen is definitely not one of them.<\/p>\n
The potential loss of a respected coach like Cullen is a symptom of the larger dysfunction that plagued the Chiefs all season. The team\u2019s play-by-play announcer, Mitchell G. Holthus, recently broke down what went wrong for the club.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s tough to find many bright spots from this season. The rough parts, though, are easy enough to list. Holthus didn\u2019t mince words, starting his list of failures with the team\u2019s schedule when looking back at what went wrong in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the logistics of the schedule, throw in Brazil which was a real clunky trip then you throw in a Sunday night on the road, a Monday night on the road all before Columbus day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A 10-hour flight to Brazil certainly didn\u2019t help the Chiefs. But that\u2019s the cost of being one of the league\u2019s marquee teams. You get rewarded (or punished) with international games. And still, Kansas City wasn\u2019t alone. The Giants and Lions both faced similarly difficult slates, with opponent win percentages of .574 and .571.<\/p>\n
From there, Holthus turned to the offense\u2019s inconsistency and subsequent injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cOffensively, it was a series of things, never getting into a consistent rhythm, losing Simmons when they did, the injuries\u2026. it was always off,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
It always starts with Patrick Mahomes. In past years, if the game was tight late, fans almost assumed he\u2019d find a way to finish it. That feeling wasn\u2019t there this season. A year ago, the Chiefs were 12\u20130 in close playoff games. This time around, they went 1\u20139 in those same situations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/div> Mahomes finished with 3,587 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. Those numbers aren\u2019t disastrous. But the late-game edge wasn\u2019t the same. And when you talk about inconsistency, it\u2019s hard to pin it all on him. The injuries made things so much worse.<\/p>\n The Arrowhead team lost both starting tackles, Josh Simmons and Jawaan Taylor, in week 13. Their replacements, Jaylon Moore and Wanya Morris, dealt with their own issues in the weeks that followed, leaving the Chiefs scraping the bottom of the roster. The season ultimately ended with Mahomes tearing his ACL.<\/p>\n The defense couldn\u2019t bail them out either.<\/p>\n \u201cDefensively, the inability at critical times to get teams off the field on 3rd and long. It\u2019s all of those things combined.\u201d<\/p>\n The pass rush was the clearest problem. The Chiefs finished tied for 22nd with 35 sacks and struggled to get steady pressure from anyone besides Chris Jones, who himself had a slow start. Turnovers were an issue, too, with Kansas City tied for 26th at just 14 takeaways.<\/p>\n As the coaching staff splinters and the front office faces a crucial offseason, Chris Jones\u2019s simple, frustrated tweet speaks for a fan base bracing for more change. The Chiefs aren\u2019t just rebuilding a roster; they\u2019re trying to salvage a championship culture that appears to be eroding.<\/p>\n The post Chris Jones Cannot Hide Frustration Over Possible Coach Exit as Downhill Season Continues to Haunt Chiefs appeared first on EssentiallySports.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It\u2019s been a disaster of a year for defensive tackle Chris Jones and the Kansas City Chiefs. With the regular season now over, the DT probably wished that the frustrations still lingering would fade away with time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[404,614,468,127,1549,1189,2632,1063,152,19,1358,128,534,175,1109,573],"class_list":["post-41405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-arrowhead-stadium","tag-chris-jones","tag-denver-broncos","tag-jawaan-taylor","tag-jaylon-moore","tag-joe-cullen","tag-josh-simmons","tag-kansas-city","tag-kansas-city-chiefs","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-patrick-mahomes","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-steve-spagnuolo","tag-tennessee-titans","tag-washington-commanders"],"yoast_head":"\n\n<\/p>\n