The Kansas City Chiefs might’ve walked away with a completely different outcome on Sunday if not for one brutal defensive slip late in the fourth quarter. On a crucial third-and-15, the Chiefs let Bo Nix hit Courtland Sutton for a 20-yard gain that kept the Denver Broncos‘ drive alive. And now we know why it looked so effortless.

KC’s own defensive tackle, Chris Jones, admitted afterward that the Broncos basically knew the play was coming before the ball was even snapped.

“Great film study for them, because they called it out,” Jones said when asked about Denver’s third-and-15 conversion in the fourth quarter. “I heard them calling it out. They actually switched the line. If you watch the film, you can see Bo Nix kind of switched the line, so they knew it. We got to do a better job at disguising.”

Here’s how it all went down. The Chiefs’ defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo, initially showed a five-man pressure look, but right after the snap, he bailed out of it, rushed only three, and dropped everyone else into a Cover 2 man shell with a spy. It was a surprisingly passive call for a down that basically decided the drive.

With almost no pressure on his face, Nix stood back there comfortably, waited for the route to develop, and Sutton eventually peeled away from Jaylen Watson for the first. If that pass had fallen incomplete, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs would’ve taken over with the upper hand and might have walked out with different results. Instead, that drive eventually led to a game-winning field goal, giving the Chiefs a 22-19 reality check.

The Chiefs haven’t been terrible, but they aren’t good enough either

Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes have built a dynasty in Kansas City and stacked up three Super Bowls along the way. But this season? The Chiefs aren’t playing anywhere close to that elite standard. They’re not bad, and they certainly weren’t awful against the Broncos. But they also haven’t been great.

And when Reid and Mahomes are anything less than elite, the rest of the roster simply isn’t strong enough to bail them out. What makes this more concerning is that the offensive dip didn’t just appear out of nowhere. The production has been sliding for a couple of years, and during that time, it was easy to point fingers elsewhere.

Think of a shaky offensive line, inconsistent wide receivers, and Mahomes having to play superhero ball just to keep the offense afloat. Back then, those excuses were valid. This year, they’re not. Because this year, the Chiefs actually do have the talent.

The offensive line is noticeably better. And for once, the receiver room feels stocked: Rashee Rice has emerged as a legitimate WR1, Travis Kelce is still producing at a high level even in his mid-30s, and there’s real depth behind them with Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy, and JuJu Smith-Schuster. So the idea that Mahomes doesn’t have enough weapons just doesn’t hold water anymore.

And yet, the offense keeps falling short in the moments that matter. All five losses this season came in games where the Chiefs had late chances to win and couldn’t finish the job. Yes, other parts of the roster have issues, too. For instance, the defense has had its share of breakdowns, including that backbreaking 3rd-and-15 against Denver.

But those mistakes wouldn’t loom as large if the offense were closing out games the way Reid and Mahomes have in the past. That said, Reid and Mahomes are still the faces of the franchise, and nothing is changing that. But the reality is hard to ignore: under their watch, the Chiefs are struggling, and the playoff picture is getting uglier by the week.