It’s clear the success of the Kansas City Chiefs is growing stale to the general football public. The constant execution that has led to an opportunity for three consecutive Super Bowl victories does not excite the average fan like an earlier version of this team.
This season, Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes has not produced the gaudy statistics that he has in previous seasons. However, he led an offense that finished as the NFL’s second-best offense on third down and the third-ranked unit on fourth down.
Over eight seasons, Mahomes’s game has certainly evolved, but he has always risen to the occasion in key situations. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has trusted his quarterback since the first time they shared the field, a Week 17 game against the Denver Broncos at the end of his rookie year.
“He came in and you could see the poise, you could see the confidence, but there was a humble side to it,” Reid remembered during his press conference on Wednesday. “I went ‘Alright, that’s pretty impressive.’
“Then some of those great defensive players on their side that I’ve had in a Pro Bowl before kept looking over at me going, ‘OK, we see why you like him.’ That was the first trust firsthand.”
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In Mahomes’ first career start, he started with a big completion to convert third and long. When it got to crunch time, Mahomes orchestrated a game-winning drive that featured two conversions on third down.
It was the first of many clutch drives late for the Chiefs. As time has worn on, Mahomes’ situational execution has influenced Reid to be more confident in attempting to convert fourth down. In the AFC Championship against the Buffalo Bills, a touchdown drive in the second quarter was sustained by Mahomes running past the chains on fourth down.
“Fourth downs have been good for us,” Reid reflected. “We have trust in our guys, trust in Patrick, and we trust the game plan if we got something there that we feel is a viable play for that situation, we’re going to try to use it within reason.”
“Most of all, having trust in Patrick and the players is big, and knowing Patrick will take care of the football in the right way, whether we’re running it or optioning or throwing the football.”
Fourth down is the ultimate do-or-die play in a football game. Considering Mahomes’ record in the most crucial games, it’s no surprise he executes at another level in those spots. He talked about his thought process in those moments during his press conference on Wednesday.
“It’s kind of like that win-or-go-home mentality that you have in the playoffs,” Mahomes acknowledged about fourth downs. “You have to go out there and execute at the highest level in the highest-leveraged positions. Coach Reid has prepared us for those moments in training camp and throughout the season; he puts us in situations where we have to make those big plays.”
Reid and the Chiefs’ coaching staff are rarely short on ideas and schemes for the biggest moments, but it takes intelligent players to absorb all of that brainpower.
“Patrick is a real sharp guy, really smart,” Reid emphasized. “He spends a lot of time at the game and making sure that all these crazy formations we have, he can digest them first and spit them out in a short period of time. He is able to see and anticipate what the defense is going to do, so there are some things there where you have to know where your guys are, you have to know where their guys are… he’s a sharp kid.”
Mahomes only gets sharper as the stakes rise, bringing the Chiefs to the cusp of unprecedented NFL history. Reid has increasingly empowered Mahomes to get them here, but Reid has trusted his gunslinger since his first career start.