Compared with the rest of the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs offense is still an impressive unit. Those who’ve been watching (and participating) know something is wrong.

Miami Dolphins v Kansas City Chiefs / Alex Grimm/GettyImages

Ever since the first game of the season, Chiefs Kingdom has been searching for the answers for an offense that has stalled and sputtered as often as it’s scored. The reasons are many, and the layers all run together. It’s akin to tasting an award-winning dessert only to realize something is wrong in the preparation. It still tastes good to anyone new to the dish, but the chefs are left wondering about the quality of ingredients or proportion levels.

To date, the Chiefs are 12th in the NFL in scoring and 7th in yards at the official mid-point of their season. Both totals are the lowest since Mahomes took over, so if you feel like you’ve been saying, “Something feels off,” the numbers back you up.

Not that you already couldn’t tell from what you’ve watched on the field. From the beginning of the season, the Chiefs called the oddest plays in short-yardage situations, the receivers have dropped a disproportional number of passes, and Mahomes himself has turned the ball over way too much (not to mention the significant number of throws that could have been intercepted).

On Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, a clash of brilliant offenses with predicted fireworks in Frankfurt instead turned into a defensive battle in which the Chiefs were fortunate to break through offensively just enough to win. It also helped that Trent McDuffie, Mike Edwards, and Bryan Cook combined on a scoop-and-score for a defensive TD.

In Week 9, the Chiefs offense scored only 14 points. They also converted only 3 of 12 third-down opportunities. A week prior, they managed three field goals in a road loss to the Denver Broncos. At this point, it’s no secret that everyone needs to elevate their game, and that was the message from Patrick Mahomes after the game to the media.

“All you can do is keep working. That’s everything. It’s me with timing. It’s them just continuing to get catches as much as possible. Lucky for us, the defense is playing so good, so we’re sitting here at 7-2 going into the bye. But we can get a lot better as an offense. I think if the offense gets to where I think it can be, we’ll be a hard team to beat,” said Mahomes.

Those are heartening words for the Chiefs at this point, and while it might be all talk, the truth is that Mahomes’s legacy speaks for itself. Not only are there still Hall of Famers at the center of this offense, but the pass catchers involved all lean toward inexperienced and young than not. While some players aren’t blossoming as hoped (or at least the chemistry has not), the potential is still definitely there.

What Chiefs Kingdom can trust is that Mahomes and company will put in the work to figure out what’s wrong and should serve up a familiar recipe once again. In the meantime, an elite defense will still be in place to carry the team forward toward their goals of repeating as Super Bowl champs for the third time in five seasons.