The Job
How well do you perform at your job? What if you’ve been doing your job for many years? If you have any experience at your job, there comes a specific time when you’ve seen most of any problem; in fact, you can anticipate a problem before it happens and course correct. Let’s imagine your job was delivering packages. What could go wrong? You might have a damaged package, get lost, or be late. After a certain amount of time, you would figure out how to deal with these situations and have a reflex strategy. You become an automatic problem solver. What does any of this have to do with football?
Our Coaches, Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo, are the best of the best at their profession. Pick your number, Andy Reid is in the top what Ten? Five? The best coaches of all time? Do you think Andy’s the best ever? How about Spags? Top five coordinators all time?
As the Chiefs prepare for this massive challenge with a severely limited offensive line, you have to look to coach Reid primarily for guidance on how to survive this game and keep our playoff hopes alive. It’s fair and true that the players have to execute; indeed, they do. However, at any job that is ever performed, you first start with the plan, and that’s where Spags and Andy come in to play. As I listen to the national media all week about this massive game, no one is talking about the significant advantage the Chiefs have in their coaching staff, or about the game being at friendly, raucous Arrowhead Stadium.
So Chiefs Kingdom, think about it: say you’re the best ever to do your job, and you see and know the problems you are about to face. In the Chiefs’ case, this will be Danielle Hunter, Wil Anderson, and a fierce Texans defense. So what should the Chiefs do about it? What will Andy Reid do about it? You may bring up previous situations like the Eagles’ Super Bowl or the Buccaneers’ Super Bowl, where the Chiefs didn’t react. In both of these games, the Chiefs had success leading up to the big games, which may have created a false confidence that our limitations at the offensive line were not going to be a problem. Andy Reid has coached in 470 career games. I am confident that, among the games he’s coached, he has seen this situation before. The most immediate one that comes to mind is the AFC Title game vs. the Ravens in 2024.
Let me remind you of the dominance of that 2023-2024 Ravens team. They were 1st in points per game at 16.5 per game. Those Ravens led the league in Sacks with 60, and Takeaways with 31. They were the first team in NFL History to record this triple crown of leading in points allowed, sacks, and takeaways. Facing this ferocious defense on the road no less, no one gave the Chiefs a chance in that game. Yet the Chiefs waltzed into Baltimore with Taylor Swift, Jason Kelce, and their entire entourage and punched the Ravens right in the face, tickled their tonsils and took that game. During this incredible seven-year run, that Chiefs victory ranks among the top because they appeared so overmatched.
Why were they so successful? Andy Reid and Spags had no overconfidence walking into that game. They saw, as we all did, that the Chiefs were overmatched and prepared for that job. Yet that game uncovered a coaching masterpiece on both sides of the ball. The Chiefs gashed the Ravens repeatedly with quick-strike passes, and they protected the ball on Offense, yielding no turnovers. On Defense, Spags put together a masterpiece that yielded three Ravens turnovers while continually frustrating Lamar Jackson.
So what’s different going into this game? CJ Stroud is not having an MVP season. This game will be played at friendly Arrowhead with some friendly cold temps in the forecast. The Chiefs Offense is materially better than that team, yet our Defense admittedly is weaker. Andy and Spags are ready for the job; they will have a game plan built to win it. Chiefs Kingdom and Arrowhead faithful, the question is: Are you ready for your job? Let’s go!