3 Lessons Lions Can Learn from Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs ended a 50-year drought when they defeated the San Francisco 49ers 31-20.
With their victory, the Chiefs secured their first Super Bowl victory since 1970.
In the fourth quarter, Kansas City trailed 20-10 with less than seven minutes remaining. Like they have so often, Patrick Mahomes led the team to a comeback and outscored San Francisco 21-0 in the fourth quarter.
Here are three lessons the Detroit Lions can learn from the Chiefs.
Pressure the opposing quarterback at crunch time
On Sunday, the Chiefs only pressured Jimmy Garoppolo on three of his first 20 dropbacks passing in the first three quarters of the game.
In the fourth quarter though, the Chiefs defense pressured Garoppolo on eight of his 13 dropbacks passing.
The increased pressure disrupted and disturbed the 49ers offense and the Chiefs were able to put the game away with a late interception.
Detroit would benefit from dialing up the pressure at the correct times and then actually winning the battles along the line of scrimmage.
Kansas City has one of the fastest wide receivers in the NFL
Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill is heralded for his pure speed.
Hill made one of the key receptions in the fourth quarter that sparked the Chiefs comeback victory.
On a critical 3rd-and 15, Hill was able to break free from the 49ers defense and Mahomes found him for a 44-yard passing play.
The wide receiver class in this year's draft is considered quite deep. It would behoove Detroit to find a young, speedy compliment to play alongside emerging receiver Kenny Golladay.
Increase aggressiveness offensively
Mahomes did not play exceptionally well in the Super Bowl. But when the time came to move the football, the offense responded and outscored San Francisco 21-0 in the fourth quarter.
The Chiefs were able to use deep passes to move the football quickly and score touchdowns in their comeback victory.
Detroit was able to score points early in games in 2019, but for whatever reason they were unable to sustain drives and score points at the same clip in the second half of games.
The offense should be the strength of the Lions team in 2020, but there were not enough chunk plays last season when it mattered most.
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