In the Week 5 edition of “Monday Night Football,” the Kansas City Chiefs fell to 2-3 with a 31-28 road loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The game was full of mistakes as the Chiefs failed to execute in key situations. Still, Kansas City managed to generate some pass rush against the Jaguars’ quarterback Trevor Lawrence, sacking him three times.
Outside of these, though, the Chiefs couldn’t generate consistent pressure. They finished with only seven total pressures and four quarterback hits.
Late in the game, these pass-rushing issues were especially prominent. Jacksonville marched down the field to score the go-ahead touchdown as time expired.
Early success
But early on, there were some bright spots. Defensive end Charles Omenihu played his best game of the season, recording a sack and forcing a holding penalty that pushed the Jaguars behind the sticks.
Star defensive tackle Chris Jones was double-teamed for almost the entire game. Omenihu was the only defender who was able to capitalize on the resulting one-on-one opportunities.
While the pass rush wasn’t totally dormant, it just wasn’t consistent enough to truly rattle Lawrence, who found the most success on first-down shots and late-game drives.
First-down shots
Jacksonville created chunk plays on early downs by using the threat of its running game to force the Chiefs into base looks that slowed their pass rush.
On this first down, the Jaguars come out in 11 personnel. The tight end aligns as an H-back, while wide receiver Travis Hunter bunches close to the line. Kansas City isn’t quite in its base alignmment, but the defensive line shows it is expecting a run. On the snap, Lawrence sells a run fake before pulling the ball and dropping back.
The tight end chips Jones before releasing — and Jones is quickly double-teamed. Mike Danna drops, Drue Tranquill blitzes but is picked up. Nick Bolton nearly breaks through on a stunt with Jones, but misses the tackle. Neither Ashton Gillotte nor Jerry Tillery generate pressure — and Lawrence flips the field with a deep ball.
These big first-down plays kept Kansas City’s defense guessing, providing Jacksonville with favorable field position throughout the game.
The game’s final drive
Starting with an excellent field position, the Jaguars got the ball back with under two minutes to play, trailing the Chiefs by four. Early in the drive, the Chiefs had some success — and appeared poised to escape with a win.
Here we see a highly coordinated pass-rushing look where Jones splits the double team and flushes Lawrence from the pocket. George Karlaftis intentionally rushes wide to clear traffic, while Leo Chenal disguises his spy role until the last possible moment. Jones initiates the pressure while Karlaftis and Chenal step in to finish the play, which leads to a big third down.
But on that third-and-long, Kansas City showed an exotic look that it couldn’t quite execute.
With walkups all over the line, Jacksonville uses a man-on-man blocking scheme to protect its five most dangerous gaps. This leaves Jones one-on-one, but the running back provides help with a punishing chip block as he exits the backfield. Bolton and Karlaftis run a twist, but Lawrence has just enough time to release the ball. One acrobatic catch later, the Jaguars are in the red zone with a chance to take the lead.
By this point, the Chiefs’ defense looked fatigued. Then the Jaguars tried a delayed double-team on Jones.
The delayed slide is designed to bait Jones into committing inside before the guard locks him up. No one else generates pressure, so Lawrence once again steps up to find his man downfield.
After a third-down end-zone pass interference call gives Jacksonville the ball at the 1-yard line with a fresh set of downs, the offensive line’s initial footwork makes it look like the play will be a quick pass into the end zone. So the Chiefs don’t go with a full-on pass rush. Instead, they try a contain approach, hoping to keep Lawrence in the pocket — while putting their hands up to swat a short throw.
Once he sees Lawrence stumble, Omenihu attempts to penetrate — but the left guard’s block levels him, which opens up the left side of the line. Tillery and Tranquill both miss tackles, allowing Lawrence to plunge into the end zone for the game-winning score.
The bottom line
The Chiefs’ pass rush has significant room for improvement — and it’s clear that Jones needs help. Over the past three seasons, he’s been among the league’s leaders in defensive line snaps — and at 30 years old in 2024, played a career-high 83% of them. After adding in constant double teams and deep postseason runs, his slower start for 2025 isn’t surprising.
But the problems aren’t all on him. The team has made attempts to give him some help along the defensive line, hoping to ease his workload. So far, however, it hasn’t been enough.
This defensive line desperately needs another consistent contributor — and it’s needed right away.