Chris Chambers is experiencing a resurgence of sorts with the Kansas City Chiefs. That term is used loosely (very loosely) in this instance, but there's no denying that after a season where Chamber's on field production was closer to the bye week than an MVP performance, it's surprising to see the Chiefs looking his direction so much these last two weeks.
To take a closer look, Chambers had only caught 14 passes on the season up until the Rams game in Week 14. In fact, in the previous three weeks against the Chargers, Broncos and Seahawks, Chambers only had one catch. Worse yet, he was only targeted one time. One time. That's two complete games without Matt Cassel ever looking his way. The reality, it seemed, was that age had caught up with Chambers and the Chiefs were going to look elsewhere for a proper No. 2 receiver this off-season.
Yet in the win over the Rams, Chambers was second in receiving yards on the team after Dwayne Bowe. This last week, Chambers was targeted six times by Cassel and became a more prominent part of the offense. In a season where the Chiefs could have used another receiver to step it up in a few games, Chambers is now coming around to provide another option. Who could have predicted?
Of course, there's no telling if this means anything for the future. And Chambers only caught three of those six targeted throws on Sunday for a very pedestrian 17 yards, so there's no need to buy a jersey or anything. But the reality is that Dexter McCluster had only one third of the looks that Chambers had on Sunday in a week with everything supposedly on the line for the Chiefs. That means the coaching staff and quarterback hold a level of belief in Chambers that was impossible to predict before this late season "surge." Where it leads in the off-season is still anyone's guess.
Filed under: