How the Kansas City Chiefs can become a “real” Super Bowl contender

We know what went wrong. The question now becomes: How do general manager John Dorsey and head coach Andy Reid fix what ails this football team? I’m glad you asked, and since you’re asking, I’ll get right to it. Some of the following suggestions will neither be popular nor probable. The stench of another early exit hasn’t quite worn off yet; humor me.

Fire Andy Reid

His staunchest critics are salivating over that suggestion. Calm down, cowboy. Reid should only be relieved of his duties as the team’s offensive play caller. He’s an excellent head coach who’ll eventually be enshrined in Canton for his career leadership efforts. That said, he cannot continue to push the offensive buttons in Kansas City.

With two weeks to prepare, he managed just ten offensive points through three quarters of the game. Reid and company lost despite holding the Steelers to just 18 points. It’s unlikely Big Red will relinquish play calling responsibility on his own. It’s up to Chairman Clark Hunt to intervene and demand change. He established the unique reporting structure currently in place. Reid only answers to him, and in this case, he should have to hand over the keys to continue to have access to the family car.

Look, Matt Nagy’s a nice enough guy, but the responsibility can’t fall to him either. Pickings are currently slim around the NFL, but that could change over the next month. One candidate who’d provide the Chiefs with some continuity schematically is Bills offensive line coach Aaron Kromer. He helped the Chicago Bears post the league’s 2nd-ranked offense in 2013. He’s also partly responsible for two of the three highest-rated seasons of Jay Cutler’s career. He has West Coast system familiarity and a long coaching history. It wouldn’t require a total overhaul of the offense and would allow Reid to stay involved offensively without managing the in-game responsibilities of play calling.