Back in the day, it was Bill Belichick and Tom Brady on the New England Patriots. Right now, it’s Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes on the Kansas City Chiefs who are leading the new dynasty in the NFL.
The Chiefs have won the Super Bowl three times in the last five years, including the last two in consecutive years. But Reid and Mahomes are now going after something Belichick and Brady were unable to do in Foxborough: to pull off a three-peat.
In an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on Monday, Belichick weighed in on the Chiefs’ chances to achieve this feat. While he believes Kansas City has what it takes to do so, the 6x Super Bowl champ warned Reid and Mahomes it will be tough. Not only because of the opposition, but also because Belichick considers the Chiefs need to improve on defense.
“Bigger issue it’s gonna be on defense. They played very, very well in the playoffs, so that’s what counts and that’s the most important thing. But overall as a team, run defense, turnovers, that’s an area they’re gonna want to improve,” Belichick said.
“It’s going to be tough this year, they’re a good team—don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that— I just think, this third year, for it all to fall into place three years in a row is tough. I think if anybody can do it, it’s probably Kansas City. But it won’t be easy, it won’t be easy. I’m not sure how tough the AFC West is gonna be but I think, in the end, they’re gonna have some tough opponents through the course of the season and playoffs. But Andy will have them ready to go and I think they’ll score more than they did last year.”
Will Mahomes, Reid do with Chiefs what Brady, Belichick couldn’t with the Patriots?
Brady and Belichick led the Patriots to an unprecedented six Super Bowl wins, so Mahomes and Reid are still three rings shy of them. However, the former duo fell short from succeeding in three consecutive years.
After lifting the Vince Lombardi in 2004 and 2005, the Patriots’ three-peat hopes ended at the hands of the Denver Broncos in the Divisional Round. This year, Mahomes and Reid hope to go the distance and become the first team in NFL history to win the Super Bowl in three consecutive seasons.
Belichick praises Chiefs’ roster-building scheme
Apart from their talent, what Belichick admires from the Chiefs is the way they’ve built their roster to continue being in a position to succeed in the long term. At the end of the day, that’s one of the most difficult things to do in the NFL.
“What Kansas City is doing, Andy and Brett (Veach) have done a very good job there,” Belichick said. “They didn’t pay Tyreek Hill, which is obviously a good player, L’Jarius Sneed, another good player, but drafted well. They replaced those players. Even though they have some expensive playes on the roster, they have a lot of young players, especially on defense. So they’ve been able to maintain that.
“You gotta find young players, undrafted free agents, late round picks, people like that to keep it going. You don’t have money to pay everyone. Other teams have so much money pushed out, they don’t have a lot of flexibility moving forward. Kansas City, besides having a really good football team, has managed that well.”