Sam McDowell: Three spots the Chiefs can improve after the bye -- when the schedule gets harder

Sam McDowell, The Kansas City Star on Oct 13, 2026

Published in Football

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs hold the best record in the AFC, which will be true for, well, at least a couple of weeks.

They are the not only the last undefeated team in the conference, but the only team in the AFC that endured a Week 5 bye. While NFL teams don’t exactly clamor for an early bye — because it entails a stretch of 13 games without a break on the back end of it — the Chiefs probably aren’t complaining that it will allow Rashee Rice’s hamstring some extra time to heal.

On the other end of a week off awaits a tougher schedule. The Chiefs have played the seventh-easiest schedule in the league so far. And they will play the ninth-hardest the rest of the way, per FTN Fantasy’s DVOA metrics.

Here’s where they can improve to keep the train rolling against a tougher slate:

1. The pass rush

It had to be No. 1, right?

Ten defensive players have started at least three of this season’s four games. Half of them were not part of the team a year ago.

That’s to say it was always going to be more of a slow burn for the defense.

In 2022, the last time the Chiefs endured a similar defensive overhaul, they had allowed 369 yards per game before a Week 8 bye — and then allowed 299 yards per game the rest of the way.

If the Chiefs are to follow a similar trajectory, there is one aspect they must improve: the pass rush.

Only one team has fewer sacks than the three the Chiefs have compiled, and considering the Chiefs have played with a lead frequently, they’ve had ample opportunity to tee off on opposing quarterbacks.

There were some encouraging signs a week ago. While they didn’t sack Raiders quarterback Kirk Cousins, they pressured him 18 times. George Karlaftis had 11 of those, per PFF tracking, which is tied for the most that any player has had in a single game this season.

It needs to be more than Karlaftis.

Chris Jones, 32, is off to a slow start with just 11 pressures in four games.

R Mason Thomas, a second-round pick, has shown flashes on the edge. Peter Woods, a first-rounder, has been slower to get going.

Those two are all of one month into their NFL careers. It’s logical to think they will improve as the season ages.

The Chiefs could use it. The pass rush offers the most obvious room for improvement — but also the ability to obtain some improvement.

2. Get the rookies up to speed on offense

The defense has had no choice but to lean on young talent.

The offense has been a little more reticent to play the kids by choice.

Receiver Cyrus Allen, a fifth-round pick, had a terrific first half of training camp, but it’s clear the Chiefs are waiting until he processes the offense more quickly before offering him a heavier workload. He’s yet to have his first career catch. He has played only 10 offensive snaps.

There’s no time like the present.

Tyquan Thornton might miss the rest of the season after ankle surgery. While Allen would not be a like-for-like replacement for the downfield threat Thornton provides, his ascension would allow the Chiefs to move some other pieces around.

The best way to get him up to speed is to put him in action.

Not just him. It’s the other fifth-round pick: running back Emmett Johnson.

The purpose there isn’t to take Kenneth Walker off the field. The purpose is to be comfortable enough taking him off the field that the Chiefs can keep him fresh for January and even February, when he starred a year ago.

Walker was at his best in the playoffs for Seattle, rushing for 313 yards and four touchdowns — but he carried only 212 times during the regular season.

Walker ranks second in the NFL with 87 rushing attempts this year, on pace for 370 this season.

3. The protection

Patrick Mahomes has been pressured less frequently than you’d probably guess. There are 22 quarterbacks who have been under pressure more frequently, per PFF, and Next Gen Stats ranks the Chiefs as the third-least pressured team in the league.

But the heat is coming from a specific location: the tackles.

Right tackle Jaylon Moore leads the NFL in allowing nine quick pressures this season (and 13 total) — no other NFL player has allowed more than seven.

Left tackle Khalil Benson isn’t far behind, having allowed six.

That moves the conversation to an uncomfortable but familiar place: How quickly can the Chiefs get Josh Simmons onto the field?

Simmons has been out since training camp, with what head coach Andy Reid more recently called a bulging disc in his back. The Chiefs never placed him on injured reserve, an obvious indication they’d planned, or at least hoped, to have Simmons be part of the lineup by now.

The Chiefs’ offense is third in the NFL in yards per game without him — but he just so happens to occupy a position they could use.

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