Chiefs’ Defense have just been given perfect motivation to dominate Miami

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Numerous Kansas City Chiefs should have a little extra motivation this postseason following the announcement of the Pro Bowl players.

Five Chiefs earned Pro Bowl nominations this season, including the usual suspects, Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones, along with Joe Thuney and Creed Humphrey.

Few would argue with those selections, but there were some head scratching non-selections among the Chiefs.

Recency Bias

It’s clear the Chiefs’ defense carried the team throughout most of the regular season, but it seems Pro Bowl voters see it differently.

Only three defensive players for KC besides Jones are in the Pro Bowl conversation, with L’Jarius Sneed Nick Bolton and Willie Gay all being alternates.

Sneed being an alternate is a travesty with the season he just put forward.

He was among the many who sat out in Sunday’s victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, but he deserved a spot among the Pro Bowl starters regardless.

He had two interceptions, while forcing 17 incompletions and never getting beat for a touchdown on 81 targets.

He did all of this while facing Tyreek Hill, A.J. Brown, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Justin Jefferson, Davante Adams and Stefon Diggs to name a few.

Trent McDuffie didn’t make either Pro Bowl list despite registering 80 tackles, three sacks and defending seven passes.

George Karlaftis and Jones each had 10.5 sacks, with Karlaftis making 17 more tackles than him this season (47), yet he’s not going to the Pro Bowl.

Harrison Butker had the highest field goal percentage in the AFC (94.3%), missing just two field goals all season while making all of his converts.

Justin Tucker, the AFC Pro Bowler chosen, had an 86.5 field goal percentage, going 1/5 on kicks from 50 yards or beyond, with Butker 5/5 from that range.

Fuel to The Fire

Kansas City enters the postseason with plenty of questions, particularly offensively.

Bet MGM has the Chiefs with the fourth-best odds to win the Super Bowl at +900, with the Buffalo Bills (+650) and Baltimore Ravens (+325) ahead of them in the AFC picture.

The Ravens led the NFL in team sacks (60), followed closely by KC (57).

Four Baltimore defensive players are on the Pro Bowl squad, including Justin Madubuike, Roquan Smith, Patrick Queen and Kyle Hamilton.

Defensively, Baltimore gave up 191.9 yards through the air, with the Chiefs only allowing 176.5.

In 2023, the Jaguars Christian Kirk was the only receiver to have over 100 yards receiving in a game versus the Chiefs’ secondary (110).

Four players had 100+ yards receiving versus the Ravens’ defensive backs, including George Kittle (126) and Brandon Aiyuk (113) on Christmas Day.

The Ravens allowed slightly fewer rushing yards per game when compared to KC (109.4 to 113.2) and marginally fewer points (16.5 to 17.3).

Sneed, McDuffie, Karlaftis, Butker, and company know they deserved better.

There’s no better way to prove those voters wrong than stepping it up in the postseason, and Andy Reid and the team have plenty of bulletin board material to use.