NEW ORLEANS — At this point, Super Bowl media availabilities feel like a formality for Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. The Chiefs have participated in five of the last six Super Bowls, winning three of them and looking to add a fourth this Sunday when they face the Philadelphia Eagles.
The energy at Reid’s media conference Tuesday felt normal because it has been normal. The Chiefs are on a dynastic run that is incredibly difficult to pull off in a league that has tried to legislate parity through a salary cap, which has led them to an interesting space where the biggest stage of them all is just kind of business as usual.
Based on Reid’s comments, the Chiefs are locked in as if this was any other week. Reid gave a brief injury update and then waited for questions to be asked by reporters. One of the first questions Reid got was about potential complacency this week as the Chiefs make yet another run toward a Super Bowl title.
“We try to focus on the game and keep it at that and work hard,” Reid said bluntly. “It keeps us focused rather than backing off. They do it through training camp, they’re doing it up through this week. I’ve got a good locker room on top of that with some steely veterans there.”
There it is. Working hard and veteran players — the secrets to a successful dynasty in the modern NFL.
In seriousness, the Chiefs did have a bit of a harder go this season than other years in the past. According to data provided by TruMedia, the Chiefs ranked 32nd in explosive play rate this season (8.4%) despite flirting with being a top-10 offense for the majority of the season. Living five yards at a time is not exactly where the Chiefs imagined themselves with a quarterback as talented as Patrick Mahomes, but they’ve still found themselves back in the Super Bowl.
As far as adversity goes, this is the toughest test that the Chiefs have had in recent years. The wide receiver room suffered a huge blow with an early season ACL injury to Rashee Rice, have had All-Pro guard Joe Thuney playing left tackle due to issues at that spot, and haven’t had a consistent running game over the back half of the season. Reid credited all his veteran players with their steadiness to ride the wave of injuries and inconsistencies.
“The veteran players allowed these [younger] players to be the best version of what they could be in a short amount of time,” Reid said. “The other part of that was due to [general manager] Brett Veach and the job that he did bringing players in, he and his crew there.”
While the Chiefs are facing a team that is, on paper, much more talented than them, it’s just impossible to count out Kansas City, which has had this level of overarching success over the past few years.
“I have a lot of respect for the people in Philadelphia, how they run the city itself, and at the same time, I feel very fortunate to be in Kansas City with our ownership and our front office and how it works here,” Reid said.
It is a little funny that Reid will be facing off his former team for the second time in three years for a Super Bowl title, but at this point that has become a secondary story to the success that Reid has had with Mahomes and the Chiefs over the past near-decade now.
The Super Bowl will never be any other game, but the Chiefs and their head coach are approaching this with the demeanor that suggests that they’re ready and confident for their latest chance to uphold the Lombardi Trophy.
