Morning Distribution for Friday, December 10, 2021

A [FiveThirtyEight]( email [Morning Distribution]( Friday, December 10, 2021 Your daily briefing from FiveThirtyEight --------------------------------------------------------------- The Morning Story [Kansas City Chiefs safety Juan Thornhilll is hit by Denver Broncos running back Mike Boone after he made an interception]( [The Chiefs’ Defense Was Historically Awful. Now It’s Bailing Them Out.]( By [Ty Schalter]( Ever since [Patrick Mahomes’s early season slump]( NFL watchers have been waiting for the Kansas City Chiefs’ high-flying offense to return. The Chiefs have averaged 25.3 points per game this season, [tied for 13th]( — which isn’t bad. But after three straight years of finishing [between first and sixth]( the [preseason Super Bowl favorites]( are well off their usual pace. They’ve scored 22 points or fewer in four of their last five games, including Sunday’s game [against the Denver Broncos](. But 22 was enough to win by 13. The Chiefs defense held the Broncos to 9 points — just like it held the Cowboys to 9 points the game before, the Raiders to 14 before that and the Packers to 7 before that. Kansas City’s defense has been playing so well lately that despite its offense averaging just 22 points over their last five games, the Chiefs have gone 5-0. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly Listen [Play]( [Politics Podcast: Is The Media Tougher On Biden Than Trump?]( [FiveThirtyEight] [View in browser]( [ABC News]( [Unsubscribe]( Our mailing address: FiveThirtyEight, 47 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023.