Patrick Mahomes still has trust in Chiefs receivers, even if nobody else does

The Kansas City Chiefs offense is not scoring points the way we are used to seeing them score points.

Entering Week 14 they have their lowest-scoring offense since the 2016 season and are winning more games thanks to their defense than their offense. A big part of the problem offensively is a wide receiver group that has been decimated in recent years through trade and free agency departures, as well as an inability to fully replenish the talent that has been lost (Tyreek Hill specifically).

In short, the WR core is regarded as one of the biggest weaknesses on the roster. 

Despite their problems at the position, quarterback Patrick Mahomes said on Wednesday that he still has "a lot of trust" of in the players at the position.

More from Mahomes on the wide receivers:

“You just come into work and try to get better, that’s all you can do,” Mahomes said. “I think the guys have done a great job of trying to do that. We’re going to continue to get better. I thought we had a lot of great things in the last game, obviously just didn’t execute in the red zone. It’s the little things in this league that are the difference between winning and losing, so we’ll continue to focus on those and try to get better going into this week."

When it comes to his targets in the passing game, tight end Travis Kelce is having another fantastic season, but there is a significant drop-off after him.

Rookie Rashee Rice is leading all wide receivers on the team with 55 catches for 591 yards and five touchdowns, and nobody else at the position is even close to him in terms of production. 

Second-year player Skyy Moore has not taken a significant step forward, while recent additions Kadarius Toney, Justin Watson and Marquez Valdez-Scantling have simply not made the desired impact. 

That quartet of receivers has combined for only 80 catches and 988 yards as a group. Just for some perspective, there are seven individual wide receivers in the NFL that have caught more passes for more yards on their own -- including Hill in Miami where he already has 93 catches for 1,481 yards. 

The Chiefs seemed to be counting on the fact they have an all-time great quarterback, assuming that it would be easy to just fill in receivers around him. It has not worked out that way. The Chiefs are still an excellent team and near the top of the AFC, and as long as they have a healthy Mahomes and Kelce they are going to have a chance to go far in the playoffs. But the lack of production from the wide receivers is a big problem and it does not seem to be getting better. Even if Mahomes still has trust in them.