The Kansas City Chiefs had an exciting season concluded with another Super Bowl trip.  Making it into the final game meant a lot for the KC team, even though the season did not end with the Chiefs as back-to-back champions.

Despite the Super Bowl LV loss, the Chiefs had a strong year, ending the regular season with a record of 14-2. However, the final game was a rough ending for this wonderful season. After the loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Sentinel interviewed students about how the Chiefs could improve to be able to make another Super Bowl run in the future.

Now that the offseason is here, the Chiefs have improvements to make as a team. The team has already looked to the free agency market to help address roster needs. And the draft is coming up in April on the 29^th. The Chiefs could also look into other teams’ rosters and see if they can strike a trade.

So far this offseason the Chiefs have added in free agency Kyle Long and Joe Thuney. These additions will help the offensive line, one of the biggest needs along with the defensive lines.

“I personally think we could use additional help on the defensive line,” said Alex Boland ‘21.

The stats would agree with Boland, given the Chiefs ended with a bottom-half defensive line unit, ranking 22^nd in the NFL. While the Chiefs defensive line ranked low, the unit does have a few game changers, such as Chris Jones and Frank Clark. Adding one more stud would help enormously to take the pressure off the star players.

Boland went on to say “It is blatant that we needed a better defense during the Super Bowl.” During the game, the Chiefs gave Tom Brady and the Bucs no pressure at all, allowing the quarterback to pick apart the Chiefs defense.

The Super Bowl showed that the Chiefs also needed to focus on the offensive line. The Bucs pressured Chiefs quarterback—Patrick Mahomes—on what seemed like almost every single play he dropped back to pass. Mahomes was pressured running for his life the whole game. It did not help the Chiefs that two star linemen Eric Fisher and Mitchell Schwartz were both out with injuries. The Chiefs ended up releasing both of those linemen in March.

Even though the Chiefs have signed two more big names for the offensive line, the draft will provide a chance to get one more player. Such a move would make the Chiefs a more well-rounded team and help the roster depth in case of another injury situation.

“I feel like the main reason we lost the Super Bowl was because of how unhealthy our line was and due to Covid-19,” said Ryan Vutich ’21. “We had an all-pro right tackle in Eric Fischer with a season ending injury back in October. As well as our left tackle popped his Achilles in the AFC championship game. Take out both tackles against the stellar D-line they had to face—Suh, JPP, and other solid defenders—[and] no one had a chance in that game, especially going against Tom Brady.

Vutich added that the injuries the Chiefs sustained made the game a lot tougher. Though the Chiefs were unhealthy does not detract from how good the Buccaneers were in the Super Bowl. Their defense is top 5 in the league, and they also have the greatest quarterback of all time, so the odds were not in the Chiefs favor.

The pains for the Chiefs and their fans from the Super Bowl loss still sting but hey, the next season begins in just six short months. Many people are looking forward to the draft, so the fans can talk about the improvements made during the offseason. As well as the draft signifying that the path back to the playoffs is not too far away. Until next season, the Chiefs and their fans are anticipating the excitement of the new season begins.

Edited by Micaela Gutierrez