No Jayden Daniels makes this a lot less fun
That said, of the 32 back up QBs in the NFL, Mariota has a decent resume and has 76 starts under his belt, the stage is not too big for him
His last real stint where he was playing week in and week out was 2022 for the Falcons, 5-8 as a starter that season, QB rating of 88, 15TD vs 9Int
He is what he is , he's a back up and now a journeyman but sometimes for one night they will remind us why they were the former #2 overall pick (Titans)
At the same time it feels like the Chefs are similar to a cat that have been given a mouse to chase around and have fun swatting at
The Chiefs should easily roll but I felt the same about some other NFL teams this weekend facing inferior QBs and not able to deliver
But short of the Chiefs beating themselves, they are likely to win big tonight and resting their starters in the 2nd Half
Washington lost 44-24 to Dallas who turned around and got thumped by Denver, another double digit loss this week would set them back to 3-5, season not over but the fan base was irritable when I mentioned they would not come anywhere close to the NFCC this season and my dislike of their off season moves. Looking towards 2026, that's it before Daniels will start making $75M per season, maybe they can load up next year and not get into tug of wars with over 30 Wide Receivers that want money when they already are set to make $20M but had to miss camp and cause all kinds of chaos on offense, that was not the off season of a strong Playoff contender
What happens if you go to an NFCC as a rookie QB and then miss the playoffs in Year 2? Is it Daniels fault the team isn't performing as well?
Coaches and front office that were being praised last year, how confident is the fan base this season? Next season?