Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs hit rock bottom in a sense back on Christmas, falling to the Las Vegas Raiders at home in a listless performance. Since then, however, the Chiefs have not lost, and Reid credits the loss to the Raiders as a reason for the club’s hot streak.
“I think that was a good wake-up call for us,” Reid said, via the Chiefs’ official YouTube account. “They came out with great emotion. Antonio [Pierce] 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.”
The loss to Las Vegas capped a stretch in which Kansas City went just 2-4 to fall to 9-6 on the season.
“And so, 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,” Reid continued.
The Chiefs then proceeded to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals to capture the AFC West division title the following week and then ended the regular season by beating the Los Angeles Chargers during a game in which Kansas City rested its starters.
Reid’s group has since gone on to top the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens in its AFC playoff run to secure a spot in the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years.
“We were able to learn from it and move on,” Reid concluded. “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.”
Many wondered if the Chiefs had simply lost their championship luster, as their offense was laboring and they started to show uncharacteristic signs of frustration.
But apparently, that was short-lived.
Kansas City will battle the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on Feb. 11.
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