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The Kansas City Chiefs were just one game away from becoming the first team to ever win three Super Bowls in a row, but those hopes didn’t last very long into the night on Sunday in New Orleans. The Philadelphia Eagles, seeking revenge from their loss in Super Bowl 57 two years ago, came out and dominated the defending champs for 60 minutes in a 40-22 blowout to take home the Lombardi Trophy.
Now, the Chiefs have a long offseason ahead as they look to fix the holes that the Eagles exposed during the Super Bowl. Kansas City was impressively able to cover up a lot of its weaknesses throughout the season, in large part because it went undefeated in one-score games. That elite execution in the clutch is what helped the Chiefs get the top seed in the AFC and get to another Super Bowl, their fifth in the last seven years.
Despite the excellent season, the Chiefs will now be hard at work trying to come back with an even stronger roster next season. In order to do that, they probably need to add another pass rusher, another starting cornerback and try to bring back linebacker Nick Bolton and safety Justin Reid in free agency. Offensively, Kansas City should focus on adding another pass catcher, although getting a healthy Rashee Rice back will help them in that area.
However, there is one position group that absolutely must get fixed, and it was the most glaring hole on the field on Sunday night.
The Chiefs feel like they are in a similar spot after this Super Bowl as they were after their 31-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl 55. Kansas City was blown out in both of its losses on the biggest stage, and the offensive line was the primary weakness in both games.
In that game against the Bucs, the Chiefs were extremely banged up on the offensive line. That wasn’t the case on Sunday, however, as they were just overmatched for talent. The Eagles pressured Patrick Mahomes on more than 38% of his drop backs and sacked him six times, giving him absolutely no chance to sit in the pocket and make throws down the field.
The Chiefs had an offensive line problem all season long, and they did well to manage it for the most part. After Kingsley Suamataia and Wanya Morris both showed that they were not capable starting left tackles at this point in their careers, the Chiefs tried to pick up DJ Humphries to do the job. When Humphries got hurt, Andy Reid bumped star left guard Joe Thuney out to left tackle. Thuney did an admirable job for most of his time there, but he was clearly overmatched on Sunday by the Eagles’ deep crop of pass rushers.
Thuney kicking out to tackle also made it so that Mike Caliendo had to start at guard, and he had his...
