Kansas City Chiefs stand to be even better in 2020 for title defense

The Kansas City Chiefs waited 50 years for their second Super Bowl title. It may not take nearly as long to claim their third.

Kansas City enters the 2020 season as favorites to win the Lombardi Trophy once more, with only the Baltimore Ravens within real shouting distance in the AFC. The Chiefs and general manager Brett Veach were able to bring back 20 of 22 starters from a year ago, only losing guard Stefen Wisniewski and cornerback/safety Kendall Fuller.

Incredibly, neither of them played more than 45 percent of the snaps. The only player lost to participate in more than 50 percent? Guard/tackle Cam Erving.

While most will focus on Kansas City’s supersonic offense — and rightfully so — it’s the defense which provides reason to believe this team comes back improved in 2020.

After struggling to pick up new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s system early on, the unit gelled on the back half of the schedule. Over their last six regular-season games, the Chiefs allowed a league-best 69 points, with Kansas City winning all six.

In the postseason, the Chiefs gave up 31 points to the Houston Texans, albeit only 17 of those points coming on drives which started outside their own 10-yard line.  In the AFC Championship Game, the Tennessee Titans notched 17 points before garbage time, following by allowing 20 points to the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl.

This week, inside linebacker Anthony Hitchens spoke to local reporters about his expectations for the defense this season, per the Chiefs’ official release.

“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.”