I don’t need to spend time describing how bad our defense has looked. We know. Yes, there have been injuries, but it didn’t look that great on paper when everyone was healthy.
Much of the offseason Koolaide being drunk by some of our fans centered on the idea that our offense is so good, we can out score teams in most games, and hope the defense just keeps it close enough for the offense to win 11 or 12 and win some playoff shoot outs. After all, the NFL has certainly become an offense heavy league where the rules completely favor offense.
But despite all that, the teams winning in the playoffs mostly still have some of the league’s better defenses. You have to have a respectable defense to win. Looking at last years playoff teams, that bears out:
- 10 of last year’s 12 playoff teams had top 15 defenses.
- Even the chiefs had an underrated defense, ranking 9th last year.
- The two teams in last year’s SB both had top ten defenses.
- The chiefs were 5th in the league in sacks and INTs.
- Turnovers and sacks are very predictive of playoff success. Teams with a combined sack/turnover amount of 50+ are historically good bets to win big in the playoffs.
I’m glad we have a good offense. But that is never enough. Apparently, Jerry loves his jersey sales more than playoff contention. Because until this organization starts really investing in some top notch young defensive talent in the draft, coupled with an occasional top FA on defense, we’re probably going to continue what we’ve been getting for a long time- a lot of 8-8 seasons.