Andy Reid believes loss to Raiders was the wake up call that Kansas City Chiefs needed
The Kansas City Chiefs are now Super Bowl champions which is yet another example of how quickly things can change in football their coach knows it.
It would have taken a brave person or at least a die-hard fan to predict that the Kansas City Chiefs would be Super Bowl champions once again when the curtain came down on the 2023-24 NFL season. Yet, that’s exactly what happened. The question of course is, ‘How did the Cheifs make such a turnaround after seemingly performing way below par?
The Chiefs were struggling
If you recall, back on Christmas Day of 2023, the Kansas City Chiefs suffered a 20-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. Now, while the score that day may lead you to ask why that’s important given that they are now champions, there is some context worth noting here. The Chiefs were playing at home that day in Arrowhead Stadium, and though the score wasn’t hugely one-sided, the loss did leave the team without home-field advantage in the conference, something any team would try to avoid.
Indeed, many news outlets considered the Chiefs at that point a shadow of the team that won the Super Bowl last year and one that would not be making it to the big game this year. That fire was given further fuel by the fact that the team would have to face both the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens to get out of the AFC, both of whom were riding high at that time. As we know, the Chiefs delivered on both counts and with that, booked their fourth trip to the Super Bowl in five years. Then, they went out and defeated the San Francisco 49ers to lift their second consecutive Vince Lombardi trophy. So, what happened?
Andy Reid attributes the change to the Las Vegas Raiders
According to Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, the above mentioned loss to the Raiders was a wake up call for him and his men. Speaking during a post Super Bowl interview this week, Reid disclosed that the game had such an effect on him that he texted Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce prior to Super Bowl Sunday to thank him for changing his perspective after the defeat.
“I texted him,” Reid said. “I just said, ‘Hey, beautiful facility, first of all. And I appreciate you kicking our tail because you taught us a lesson. You get complacent in this business, the margin between winning and losing is tiny. You better step up.’ ...There’s a time and a place for these players that have been here before. You know what it takes. If you’re the veteran that’s dropping the ball or you’re the veteran getting the penalties, you better figure it out. Figure it out quick. This season’s gonna go down.”
As the record will show, the Chiefs didn’t lose another game following their clash with the Raiders, winning six straight games to become Super Bowl champions. Even Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie appeared to echo a similar sentimate to his coach, explaining after the AFC Championship win against the Ravens that the loss to the Raiders was a major source of motivation for the team. “We heard it all year, from Game 1 when we lost to the Lions,” McDuffie said. “Everybody doubted us, but good thing about this team is we don’t hear nothing. You feel me? We don’t care what people got to say. We trust each other to go out there and win games, and we ended up in Vegas.”