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Report: Kansas City Chiefs Week 17 Award Highlights Offensive Woes

Originally posted on Gridiron Heroics | By John Galletley | Last updated Jan 3, 2024 2:27 PM ET

The Kansas City Chiefs managed to win a thrilling 25-17 game in Week 17 over the Cincinnati Bengals. Despite clinching the AFC East and the #3 seed, there are still concerns about this team moving forward. One award from Week 17 specifically highlights the offensive issues the Chiefs are having.

Harrison Butker Wins Week 17 Special Teams Award

The NFL awards a Player of the Week in each conference for three different sets of positions. They pick an offensive player, a defensive player, and a special teams player that stands out in each conference. In Week 17, Kansas City Chiefs K Harrison Butker won the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week award.

Butker certainly earned this recognition. He made six field goals along with an extra point in the win over the Bengals. The longest one of the bunch was a 54-yard field goal. What makes this even more remarkable is that those six field goals were the only points scored in the game after the Chiefs fell behind 17-7.

Kansas City Chiefs Offensive Woes

The award highlighted above should emphasize how much the Chiefs are struggling offensively right now. That is because if they did not have that type of performance from Butker in Week 17, there is a chance that the Chiefs could have lost that game outright. Week 17 is not an isolated game either.

In the last five games, the Chiefs have scored just nine touchdowns. Three of those touchdowns came against the lowly 4-12 New England Patriots. On top of this, two terrible turnovers in Week 16 caused the Chiefs to lose to the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas.

Patrick Mahomes has certainly had a lot of turnovers this season. Through 16 games, he has 14 interceptions and five fumbles. However, he is not the only concern offensively.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ wide receivers have made headlines for the number of dropped passes they have this season. Unfortunately, for the Chiefs, several of these dropped passes have happened during crucial moments in games. As a result, the team has led the league in dropped passes for most of this season.

Kansas City Chiefs Moving Forward

Despite these offensive concerns, the Chiefs have managed to win the AFC West yet again. You can argue that good special teams play, and good defensive play has carried this team. However, their offense may end up being their downfall in the playoffs if things do not change.

This article first appeared on Gridiron Heroics and was syndicated with permission.

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