The Kansas City Chiefs’ defense was one of the few bright spots in last Sunday’s 20–10 loss to the Houston Texans. Still, despite a strong overall performance, the unit let too many key moments slip away — and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo didn’t shy away from the frustration that lingered after Sunday night.
“We’re a little disappointed in what happened last week,” Spagnuolo told reporters on Thursday. “But [there’s] one thing about this league: you wake up on Wednesday, the guys come in and
you go back to work. It’s an NFL Wednesday, and I thought the guys worked really good yesterday — and I anticipate that happening today as well.”
Kansas City limited Houston to just 268 total yards of offense, highlighted by a dominant third quarter in which the Texans were shut out as the defense forced four straight three-and-outs — enough to allow the offense to tie the game.
But after forcing another punt to open the fourth quarter, the unit surrendered a five-yard touchdown run to running back Dare Ogunbowale on the Texans’ next possession. That score pushed the margin back to seven — a swing Spagnuolo said ultimately proved decisive.
“It was unfortunate,” he said, “because we needed to find a way to make that one drive a three-point instead of four. We didn’t do that, so we were disappointed in that. But I told them these other teams can have all the rankings and stats. I’ll take what our guys give every week — in the way they fight and how hard they fight. They just go out there and do their job and do it at a high level. I was really proud of them.”
A major driver of Sunday’s effort was defensive tackle Chris Jones, who turned in one of his most disruptive performances of the season. He finished with a sack, a tackle for loss and four quarterback hits — repeatedly collapsing the pocket around Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud before plays could develop.
It’s been an uneven year for Jones, but Spagnuolo believes the veteran is trending up at the right moment.
“I think he’s kind of on that trajectory the past few weeks,” he observed. “I love the way he’s practicing. He’s in tune. He’s just different. Something happened — maybe he had some of those oranges back three or four weeks ago — but I think it’s showing up in his play on Sundays.”
Jones agreed that his play has improved — but pointed to technique, not motivation, as the key factor.
“I don’t think it was more so flipping the switch,” he said. “It’s just being able to watch film over the bye week, correct some errors, probably footwork and hand placement for me. I watched that, corrected it and just continued on throughout the rest of the season.”
Those adjustments were most evident in the third quarter, when Jones controlled stretches of the game and helped fuel the defense’s momentum.
“I think it was just about making adjustments in the locker room,” Jones said. “Coach did a really good job of calling plays that put me in a position to be one-on-one or make a play. Execution was at a high level last week.”
That defensive performance makes the Chiefs confident they can have one final playoff push over the season’s final four games. Kansas City largely held Houston in check; it simply needed one or two more critical plays — and more support from Patrick Mahomes and the offense. As Jones continues to trend upward and the unit sharpens its execution, he and his teammates believe those moments are still within reach.
