Arrowhead Pride
The first half of Monday night’s game felt a lot like Week 5’s loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. On offense, the Kansas City Chiefs couldn’t seem to get out of their own way. They were making silly mistakes that gave a lesser team confidence that it could hang with the reigning AFC champions.
Luckily, the Chiefs went into halftime, snorted some smelling salts, and woke up. They came out of halftime as a completely different team that rolled to a comfortable 28-7 victory over the Washington Commanders.
Here are five things we learned.
Kansas City is a passing team. Full stop.
It is also one of the few NFL teams with enough offensive firepower to choose to be one-dimensional — and still be successful. Despite quarterback Patrick Mahomes throwing two interceptions in the first half, Kansas City was still moving the ball relatively well against a very aggressive Washington defense.
Heading into halftime, head coach Andy Reid told reporters that Kansas City needed to run the ball a little bit more — and in the second half, that’s exactly what the Chiefs did. While they were still running a pass-first offense, running the football took some of the juice out of the Commanders’ pass rushers; they couldn’t just pin their ears back and tee off.
This fully unlocked the passing game — and the Chiefs scored 21 unanswered points.
Fans got a glimpse of what this offensive line might have looked like if Kansas City had decided not to pay guard Trey Smith this offseason — and after see what that looked like, it’s an alternate universe in which I do not want to live. God bless Mike Caliendo for his effort while filling in for Smith at right guard — but it was a Halloween nightmare. I’m okay with skipping it in the future.
We also caught our first glimpses of backup left tackle Jaylon Moore struggling — especially against the bull rushes of Washington’s edge players. To their credit, both players cleaned things up in the second half. But the sooner the Chiefs get Smith — and rookie left tackle Josh Simmons — back on the field, the better.
Aside from the Commanders’ wide receiver Terry McLaurin making two amazing catches against Kansas City, the Chiefs’ secondary played lights out.
Bryan Cook has emerged as the team’s best safety; his play this season has been a welcome surprise. Cornerback Jaylen Watson has always been a good player — but in 2025, he’s stepped up his game. He’s playing at a Pro Bowl level, where you feel good about matching him up with pretty much any of the league’s receivers. Cornerback Trent McDuffie is still one of the game’s best young stars — and rookie corner Nohl Williams has been a revelation on the perimeter, allowing safety Chamarri Conner to...
