NFL
NFL Network Host Explains Why the Kansas City Chiefs Season Is Like a Massive Hangover: ‘The Day Is Wasted, You Don’t Want to Get off of the Couch, Terrible Decisions, That Was the Chiefs for a While’
Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sportscasting in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He's a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early '90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA. When he's not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.
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Despite their recent run of success, NFL Network host Kyle Brandt doesn’t believe in the 2021 Kansas City Chiefs. He predicts that the Dallas Cowboys will beat Patrick Mahomes and company in Week 11’s game of the week. He even came up with an amusing analogy to back his prediction up.
The 2021 season has not gone as planned for the Kansas City Chiefs
Ever since Patrick Mahomes took over the starting quarterback duties for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2018, the team has been on a roll.
That first season, the team went 12-4 and lost to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game. In 2019, the team again went 12-4 then won the Super Bowl. A season later, the Chiefs took a 14-2 record back to the Super Bowl, where they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Coming into the 2021 season, the Chiefs were the favorite to return, once again, to the Big Game. Unfortunately for the Chiefs, things have not gone as planned.
After a tight opening weekend win over the Cleveland Browns, the Chiefs dropped three of their next four. The defense was among the worst in the league — which wasn’t completely surprising — and their offense struggled mightily too, which was a shock.
Opposing defenses found if they kept two safeties deep, Mahomes would get impatient and make mistakes. That led to a stagnant offense and Mahomes leading the league in turnovers for a time (he’s currently tied for second in the NFL with 10 INTs).
It was an ugly start to the season for the Chiefs and one that an NFL analyst compared to not just a Super Bowl hangover but a real one.
Kyle Brandt compares the Chiefs season to a terrible hangover
On Thursday, Kyle Brandt, co-host of Good Morning Football on the NFL Network, joined the Rich Eisen Show to go around the league.
The conversation turned to Week 11’s marquee game, the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Dallas Cowboys. Rich Eisen’s co-host Chris Brockman asked Bradnt which is more likely, the Chiefs winning the Super Bowl or the Cowboys winning it all?
Brandt said he’s picking the Cowboys for the long-haul and to win Sunday’s game outright. The former Real World cast member said he doesn’t think the Chiefs are back, despite the recent success. He made a clever analogy to explain why he feels this way to Eisen:
When I was in my, let’s call it, my’ drinking prime’ in my mid 20’s, I would often suffer a hangover. And the next day, in the morning, the day is wasted, you don’t want to get out of the couch, terrible decisions, that was the Chiefs for a while. And then, inevitably, there was this moment around 2 PM when it would just feel like it was gone. ‘I think it’s fine. I think I can get up and be productive.’ That’s nonsense. It’s just a brief respite from your hangover. It’s hangover fool’s gold. You go out, you try to do something, and it hits you like a ton of bricks a half-hour later. I think we got the hangover fool’s gold last week from the Chiefs against the Raiders.
Kyle Brandt on the Kansas City Chiefs
A loss to the Cowboys after a recent string of wins would help validate Brandt’s hypothesis. But, even though the Chiefs’ current win streak isn’t as impressive as it first appears, there are underlying signs of life for this hangover-ridden squad.
Patrick Mahomes and company may be shaking off their hangover
Despite Kyle Brandt’s analogy, the Kansas City Chiefs are showing signs that they are starting to shake off their post-two-Super-Bowls hangover and get back to the touchdown-loving party animals they were for the last few seasons.
After dipping to 3-4 following the 27-3 beatdown by the Tennessee Titans, the Chiefs have won three in a row.
Sure, they slid by a New York Giants team that continually shot themselves in the foot, eked out a win in Green Bay to a wholly overmatched Jordan Love, and blew out a completely devastated Las Vegas Raiders team. But, they have won three in a row and are now 6-4 and in first place in the AFC West.
In addition to the W’s, there have been other signs of promise as well. The much-maligned defense has only allowed 38 points in the last three games, as opposed to 78 in the three before that and 96 in the three before that.
Offensively, things are looking up as well. The team only has three turnovers during the three-game win streak as opposed to three or more in each of the three games prior. Mahomes threw for 406 yards last week, and his unit put up 516 yards of total offense, both season highs.
Week 11 brings a much tougher test, though, in the Dallas Cowboys. The ‘Boys are among the class of the NFL at 7-2 and are coming off of their own dismantling of a team, beating the Atlanta Falcons in Week 10 43-3.
If the Chiefs can beat the Cowboys and regain their form, there is no reason they can’t be considered viable Super Bowl contenders. In 2019, the year they won the Super Bowl, they also started 6-4.
However, if they look overmatched by the Cowboys on Sunday, it might be time for the Chiefs to go back to bed and sleep off the hangover until 2022.
All stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference
