How Lack of Explosive Plays Imploded Chiefs in 2025

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Including Super Bowl 59, the Chiefs have lost 12 of their last 18 games, but they’ve lost a lot more than games.

They’ve clearly lost the explosiveness that played such a critical role in three Super Bowl titles from 2019-23. Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs have identified it as one of their primary offseason priorities.

Deep dive

“You just got to dive deep into that scheme evaluation and see what teams are seeing against us,” Mahomes said Jan. 15. “I think the one part about having so much success is teams watch a lot of film on you, and so they try to do game plans of how to combat what you do and what you've done well.

“And you saw that this year, where teams were very conscious of them, the plays that we've hit for a long time. And so, we have to find ways to counteract that, and kind of go at teams and be able to utilize that and make more explosive plays.”

tyreek hil — Tyreek Hill (2016 draft, fifth round, No. 165 overall) — One of the NFL's fastest players was a Super Bowl winner with the Kansas City Chiefs during the 2019 season. An eight-time Pro Bowl selection, five-time All-Pro and a member of the 2010s All-Decade Team. | Robert Hanashiro / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Those plays the Chiefs have hit for a long time have evaporated, and that wasn’t simply a symptom of 2025. Kansas City’s offense actually began to slip significantly in 2024, despite a 15-2 record and Super Bowl berth.

Per Elias Sports Bureau (table below), the Chiefs had only 105 offensive plays of 15-or-more yards in 2024. They actually had more, 115, in 2025. The last two seasons have even fallen short of what the Chiefs did prior to Mahomes’ arrival.

reid, mahome — Dec 2, 2018; Oakland, CA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) and Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid watch from the sidelines during the game against the Oakland Raiders at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The Chiefs defeated the Raiders 40-33. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Kansas City's explosive plays under Andy Reid

Year	Plays of 15-plus yards
2013	165
2014	135
2015	126
2016	131
2017	132
2018	248
2019	142
2020	192
2021	145
2022	217
2023	136
2024	105
2025	115

The power outage has come at a bad time, too. According to analyst Warren Sharp, NFL teams in 2025 combined to score touchdowns on 61 percent of drives with at least one play of 15-plus yards. That was the highest league mark this century, signaling that explosives are more important than ever.

how important is it to generate explosive plays in the current NFL?

in 2025:

if a drive had ZERO plays of 15+ yds:

16% score rate
6% TD rate
0.7 points/drive

if a drive had JUST ONE play of 15+ yds:

61% score rate*
36% TD rate
3.3 points/drive

*highest since at least 2000
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) February 11, 2026

“And if we can get back to some of that stuff,” Mahomes said last month, “as well as being consistent on a down-to-down basis, that'll be stuff that we got to continue to get better at. And I think there's minor tweaks, but at the same time, you gotta look at the entire picture and see if we can be better in every single area.

“So, we'll see where we get to after watching the film, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes in order to go out there and have success.”

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