10 Biggest Questions: How can the Chiefs avoid a season like 2021?

For the third straight year, I’m considering the 10 biggest questions I have about the Kansas City Chiefs in 2025.

Also in this series:

It’s pretty easy to compare the Chiefs’ 2020 and 2024 seasons.

In both years, Kansas City was coming off a Super Bowl victory. Both squads won a lot of regular-season games on the way back to the Super Bowl, where they were both blown out — in large part because their offensive lines played poorly.

So in 2021, the Chiefs brought back most of the team except for the offensive

line, where they began the season with five new starters. They hoped the boosted offensive line — alongside the rest of the roster — would be enough to avoid another Super Bowl loss.

In 2025, they haven’t made as many changes to the offensive line, but still used their biggest asset — their first-round pick — on left tackle Josh Simmons, after giving left tackle Jaylon Moore a two-year deal worth $30 million. This was seen as a hedge against failing to acquire Simmons or not having him ready for the season. Kansas City also traded stalwart left guard Joe Thuney so it could retain right guard Trey Smith. But just as in 2021, the team is otherwise keeping most of its roster, hoping that improved tackle play will make the difference.

Unfortunately, 2021 proved to be a frustrating year for the Chiefs, who started the season with a historically bad defense. By the middle of the season, the defense had turned things around, but the offense had fallen off a cliff. It took about two months for the offense to find ways around the two-high coverage shells defenses were sending against it.

In the Divisional round matchup against the Buffalo Bills — the famous “13-seconds” game — the defense was horrible, but the offense was fantastic. In the first half of the AFC Championship against the Cincinnati Bengals, the defense was largely pretty good, while the offense was dominant. But after halftime, the offense fell apart against the Drop 8 defense the Bengals played — and the Chiefs missed the Super Bowl.

So in 2022, Kansas City traded wide receiver Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins, acquiring draft capital that it used to rebuild the defense with young players. That one move changed the team’s identity on both sides of the ball. The Chiefs’ offense became a more surgical and efficient — while the defense became a suffocating coverage unit.

So while it ended up putting Kansas City in a position it could start over, we’d hate for the Chiefs to have another season like 2021.

Was it simply a Super Bowl hangover? It’s hard to say. It’s impossible to know how a Super Bowl loss will affect a team, because it hits every team differently. But I don’t believe Super Bowl hangovers prevent a team from being properly motivated. Injury luck, coaching, roster turnover — and the league’s deliberate parity — all play a role in every team’s fortunes in every season.

So what might happen that could lead the Chiefs to a disappointing 2025 season?

My biggest concern is the weapons around quarterback Patrick Mahomes. There’s a chance that wide receiver Rashee Rice — coming off an injury and a potential suspension — won’t have a great year. What if wideout Xavier Worthy doesn’t take a step forward? What if tight end Travis Kelce regresses for another season? Kansas City is already limited at running back — and any receiver not named Worthy or Rice isn’t proven. If the Chiefs don’t get the best version of those two players, it could be a problem.

And what if the offensive line isn’t better? I have little doubt that Simmons will be an improvement at left tackle, but he could still struggle. Meanwhile, there could be a total disaster at left guard — and at right tackle, Jawaan Taylor is still a concern for me. While I’m optimistic about the group, there is the potential for problems.

I don’t have many concerns about the defense. But it’s possible the unit won’t play as well. What if the Chiefs’ two rookie defensive linemen don’t immediately prove to be impactful? If that happens, the defensive line looks thin. What if cornerback Kristian Fulton gets hurt? Will Kansas City be good enough at outside corner? Will Jaden Hicks be a replacement for safety Justin Reid?

Still, I believe the Chiefs can avoid another season like 2021 — mostly because the players are younger. In 2021, the team’s players were older. Tyrann Mathieu took a step back. Anthony Hitchens was much worse. It’s possible to see the Hill trade simply as a way to replace older players.

In 2025, Kansas City doesn’t have that issue — at least not to the same extent. On both sides of the ball, the team’s core players are very young. There’s reason to believe the team’s current players can improve in ways that 2021’s players could not. In addition, they experienced 2021. The Chiefs know how it feels to be humiliated — and how hard that next season can be.

But in the final analysis, they’ll just need to be better than they were four years ago. The Ravens and Bills are powerhouse teams that are better now than they were then — and Kansas City will need to meet them where they are. While I’m really high on the Chiefs, I also recognize they’ll have to work hard to get back to the point they’ve been over the last three years.