The Kansas City Chiefs have clawed their way back from a 0-2 start. They won back-to-back games, reigniting the offense, especially the passing game, after having stumbled in a crucial Week 5 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. They seem to have bounced back again in Week 6 against the Detroit Lions. Yet through all the highs and lows, one glaring issue refuses to go away: The running game.

That is exactly why Andy Reid wants Mahomes to play it safe whenever the quarterback needs to rush.

“He’s (Mahomes) going to rush no matter what,” the head coach said when asked if the team wants more production from the backs to help take some workload off Mahomes. “I mean, he’s going to run the ball. There’s just times where something doesn’t look right, or maybe there’s a pressure here or there that he’s going to take off and go… I get that it’s important that he does like he did last night where he got down on the ground and not take the big hits with the exception of one run there.”

Patrick Mahomes was expected to showcase his elite arm this season, and he’s doing that perfectly. But he’s also having to carry the Chiefs’ rushing attack. And while it looks good on paper with his being efficient both in the air and on the ground, lackluster performances from the running backs are just piling more work onto his shoulders.

Mahomes put up a strong outing in the past couple of games on the ground. But as impressive as it looks, it’s also a bit worrying. In Week 5’s loss against the Jaguars, Mahomes rushed for 60 yards on 6 carries with one rushing score, while also completing 29-of-41 passes for 318 yards and one touchdown through the air.

Sure, he got help from Kareem Hunt (49 yards on 7 carries) and Isiah Pacheco (36 yards on 7 carries) in Week 5. But it was Mahomes who’s been the effective rusher while the team was getting little from the RBs.

The narrative shifted a bit against the Lions when Pacheco led the rushing attack with 51 yards on 12 carries. But still, Mahomes put up the second-best rushing numbers (32 yards on 10 carries). To put it in perspective, the Chiefs have topped 125 rushing yards only once through six weeks (158 against the Jaguars). And even then, not a single game has seen their running backs combine for 100 yards.

This pretty much says why Andy Reid wants his quarterback to slide or get down after running to avoid big hits and stay healthy. For now, Patrick Mahomes seems like the team’s leading rusher.

Andy Reid addressed the mistake-free game

The refs are biased toward Andy Reid and the Chiefs: That’s something the NFL fandom felt over the years. It’s the same thing that happened with the New England Patriots before them and with the Dallas Cowboys back in the ’90s. The idea, however, was simple: The refs are biased toward the dominating team.

While there isn’t much to back up those calls, the Week 6 matchup between the Chiefs and Lions reignited the same discussion. The Chiefs defeated the Lions 30-17 on Sunday night. In the process, they committed zero penalties, zero turnovers, and no more than one punt, which pretty much says why the discussion of refs’ bias toward the Chiefs was palpable.

However, the Chiefs’ head coach set the record straight on the favoritism, noting, “I thought the officials let the guys play. I’m not saying I agreed with everything that went on, but I thought they were very fair on how they did it.” Per Reid, the officiating crew treated both teams equally.

“So they could have called us on some, and they could have called them on some, and they just kind of let it play out and let the teams really show off what they’ve got. Which I think is good. It’s good for everybody. It’s good for the fans.” Refs have been catching heat all season for missed or questionable calls.

So when the Chiefs walked out of Arrowhead on Sunday without a single flag going against them, you can bet the talk about officiating bias was loud and clear.