Sam McDowell: Did the Chiefs have better options at the 1-yard line? Yes, this one.

Sam McDowell, The Kansas City Star on Nov 4, 2026

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The overhead freeze-frame on third down, with nine seconds remaining, suggests a clear path to the end zone.

Well, it shows a clear path for the 31 teams that have the most simple of calls in their playbook.

This is the one that did not.

The Chiefs’ final drive in Denver stalled at the 1-yard line — three times — in a 28-24 fourth-quarter collapse Sunday evening.

The play that could have saved them is the play they’ve avoided calling since it injured their quarterback in 2019.

The sneak.

They last tried it in 2019, when Patrick Mahomes dislocated his kneecap on a quarterback sneak on the same field. There is a plain connection there.

In the seven ensuing seasons, they have turned their attention to solving a riddle: If not that play, then which other play?

They should be solving this riddle instead: If not that player running the highly-effective quarterback sneak, then which other player?

Because that question has an answer: They could ask backup quarterback Justin Fields to run it.

Much of the rest of this might seem to be repetitive, but that’s only because this has been a multi-week dilemma, absent a multi-week solution.

In a season in which their offense has largely bounced back, the Chiefs have been atrocious at the goal line. That is true after a goal-line stand cost them a win in Denver, but it was just as true before the goal-line stand cost them a win.

On plays inside the 5-yard line — and the Chiefs earned four of them in the final moments in Denver — the Chiefs have turned 13 rushing attempts into just two touchdowns or first downs. That’s the lowest conversion rate (15.4%) in the NFL.

All 13 have featured Kenneth Walker as the ball-carrier. He is averaging 5.96 yards per carry on rushes originating from anywhere else on the field. He couldn’t get the one yard.

If you throw in the pass attempts, the Chiefs have turned 25 plays from inside the 5-yard line into just eight first downs or touchdowns. That’s still the third-lowest rate in the league (32.0%).

You know, it might be time to try something else.

It might be time to try someone else.

It’s more than a little uncomfortable to take Mahomes off the field — though they left him on the field for a Week 1 play that included Justin Fields. (They scored on it, by the way.)

But the quarterback sneak has never worked well because of its deception. It works at a high rate because it requires the middle of the offense line to basically not lose ground, allowing the quarterback to shove forward for a couple of feet.

Man, teams are leaving room for the Chiefs to execute that. On the third-down snap from the 1, the Broncos didn’t line up anyone directly over the center, and Zach Allen actually moved farther from the center before the snap. The right side was wide open.

The Chiefs actually ran in that direction, with Walker, and Andy Reid on Monday said “we didn’t block it right.” Walker probably could’ve run with a little more force, too.

But that’s just it: A lot more has to be properly executed during a handoff at the goal line, even to gain just one yard.

The Chiefs had a short-yardage cheat code last season in Kareem Hunt. The league-wide cheat code is the quarterback sneak.

Fields can run it. He ran the ball on 14 short-yardage snaps a year ago. He converted 12 of them into first downs, a rate of 85.7% — which is actually a (barely) higher rate than Hunt converted last year (85.0%).

Fields ran eight quarterback sneaks last year, per SIS data, and converted seven of them.

I know that’s repetitious, because I initially suggested this last summer. Actually, I suggested it with a prior backup quarterback, Carson Wentz.

The Chiefs ought to be at a point now in which anything else is intriguing. But they have a really intriguing option on their bench.

Fields executed sneaks well in 2025. And more to the point: He does it far more effectively than the team using a playbook with the quarterback sneak ripped out.

It’s not a luxury.

It’s become a need.

____