Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are taking all the limelight again as they beat the Baltimore Ravens en route to a second consecutive trip to the Super Bowl. But Andy Reid believes it was a loss that made his team recover on time for the postseason.
The coach said the 20-14 loss at the hands of the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas Day served as a “wake-up call” for the Chiefs, who went on to win their next two games in the regular season before claiming three straight playoff victories.
“They came out with great emotion,” Reid said, via ProFootballTalk. “Antonio had them ready to go. But that emotion was the thing that jumped out at you, that they played with. I think it gave our guys a nice little — for [lack of] a better term — a wake-up call, that we need to step things up here, that things aren’t just going to fall in our lap.”
Following that surprising defeat, Kansas City beat the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17 before taking down the Los Angeles Chargers with an alternative team in the regular season finale. Mahomes and the Chiefs then turned up their game even more when it mattered the most, knocking out the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, and the Ravens en route to another Super Bowl appearance.
“We’re taking everybody’s best shot, and here’s a team that went through some adversity and they stepped up and were able to present themselves like they did. We were able to learn from it and move on. I felt all along, though, we had the ability to do that. We just, like I said, we needed a little kick in the tail there,” Reid added.
Mahomes, Chiefs may become the new dynasty
With a fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years, the Kansas City Chiefs are making a strong case to become a new dynasty in the NFL. On February 11 we’ll see if they’re ready to claim that status yet, but even if they don’t get the upper hand on the 49ers, it looks like this won’t be the end.
Mahomes is just 28, and Travis Kelce still has a lot left in the tank to continue creating havoc alongside the star quarterback. The duo has already celebrated two championships in Kansas City, and their only loss happened to be against Tom Brady’s Buccaneers.
What’s happening with the Chiefs is definitely remarkable, as even in their worst regular season in years, they continue to be the team to beat in the league. 2023 saw Mahomes lacking in weapons, and yet here he is, only one win away from claiming his third ring.
Despite all their regular season struggles, the AFC West once again belonged to Kansas City. Unlike previous years, the Chiefs didn’t have home-field advantage for the divisional round or the conference title game, but that didn’t matter. Some things seem to be inevitable, and Mahomes’ Chiefs becoming a dynasty might be one of them.