What Chiefs Should Learn From Eagles’ Loss

Lump of coal

“So, my Christmas present, I got a loss,” he said after San Francisco’s 23-19 win Sunday night. “I'm feeling two of two things: A, I want A.J. Brown packing his bags, and I want them somewhere else that is not here. Can't make those drops in that game.

“And B, I also want Kevin Patullo flipping burgers at like the local McDonald’s or something; I don’t care. It's like he's flipping burgers. One side, he's cooking, and the other half is completely raw.”

Emotions also are raw after the Eagles dropped a wild-card playoff opener for the third time in five seasons. The loss also highlights the difficulty in repeating as Super Bowl champion, something the Chiefs did in 2022-23 (the first Super Bowl repeat since the Patriots did it in 2003-04).

Another team in the OC market

And because of the Eagles’ loss, the Chiefs are expected to have even more competition for offensive coordinators after Philadelphia reportedly moves on from Patullo. And, Andy Reid has another example of why he shouldn’t promote from within.

A year ago, after humiliating the Chiefs in Super Bowl 59, Nick Sirianni lost Kellen Moore to the Saints. He opted for continuity and familiarity, taking the Patullo route.

The result was disastrous. Brown’s drops crippled the Eagles on Sunday, and Patullo’s lack of creativity doomed them in the second half. Four of Philadelphia’s drops against the Niners came on third downs, two of which happened in the final two-and-a-half minutes.

And, according to analyst Dan Orlovsky, the offensive step back since a 40-22 victory over the Chiefs in February was disappointing.

“Regression,” Orlovsky said Monday on NFL Live . “And so, the second half is the microcosm of the season. Everybody on this football team offensively regressed this year, outside of Dallas Goedert, and I think that has to be the conversation.”

The conversation in Kansas City is remarkably similar. How with all the Chiefs’ weapons, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Rashee Rice among them, did their offense crumble after the bye week? Kansas City finished the year on a six-game losing streak, having lost eight of its final nine.

Over their last eight games, the Chiefs scored just 15.9 points per game, 30th in the league over that span.

And the Eagles’ offense over a similar stretch in 2025, ending mercifully on Sunday, was remarkably similar. Like Kansas City, the Philadelphia offense was too predictable, too similar from drive to drive. The Eagles had seven under-center snaps in the second half on Sunday; they ran the ball all seven times.

Philadelphia ran the same offensive play at least four times on its final drive, including the game-ending incompletion.

Kansas City in a similar vein was too easily diagnosed in the season’s second half, too monotonous, too predictable. And that’s why the Chiefs need an outside influence, so Kansas City isn’t the team losing in the first round of the playoffs next season.