One could very much surmise that the Kansas City Chiefs are dealing with an embarrassment of riches.
Buoyed by their high-flying, Patrick Mahomes-led offense, the Chiefs are the reigning Super Bowl champions.
However, despite reaching the very top of the NFL mountain, the Chiefs still believe they can be better and that would most notably come on the defensive side, where linebacker Anthony Hitchens agreed that K.C. didn't reach its potential on that side of the ball.
"Oh yeah," Hitchens told reporters Friday, via team transcript. "We improved from Week 7 through the whole season and I think we can get better in the run game. Our [defensive backs] and our secondary saved us a lot of games. [Tyrann Mathieu] and people getting picks and batted balls on fourth downs and all that. Once we get that going with the run game, not making predictions or anything like that, but we should be a top-five defense."
The Chiefs were 25th against the run last year, relinquishing 2,051 yards. However, they were better than most likely remember, concluding the regular season seventh-best in points allowed (308 points) and eighth-best in passing yards allowed (3,543).
Keyed by the likes of Mathieu and Chris Jones, the Chiefs defense got the job done when it mattered most and it translated to a Super Bowl crown (along with a huge amount of help and histrionics from Mahomes and the offense). Nonetheless, there are clear areas in which the Chiefs can improve and Hitchens believes they will tackle them head on.
"We weren't a top-five, we had a good pass defense, but not a good run defense," said Hitchens, who led the Chiefs with 88 tackles last season. "When we put everything together in one season this could be great. It was good enough to win a Super Bowl, but I feel like we all know. Even in our first meeting [defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo], he was like we all know we won a Super Bowl, but we can be a lot better and we all shook our heads yes. There was a lot of heads shaking yes, we can get better. I just think it's more of the run defense than the pass defense. Once we get that settled and complete and make it a defense, we'll be good for years to come."
