Andy Reid faced an afternoon of tough calls vs. Steelers

The next decision is one that everyone is talking about around water coolers today: the decision to go for the touchdown instead of kicking the automatic field goal. The book says the Chiefs should have kicked the field goal. Start of the fourth quarter with a chance to bring the game to within one score, the answer in a vacuum is to kick the field goal. Yet this game was not played in a vacuum.

In this game, the Chiefs offense had not driven the team into Steelers territory the entire game. The only two times they had been on that side of the field had been on the free kick recovery and the Marcus Peters interception. In fact before that drive, the Chiefs only had 25 yards of total offense. By kicking the field goal, you are then saying you are okay with needing the offense to do something they had only done once all game. By going for it, that meant the Chiefs would only need to drive to the Steelers 35 or so. Again it’s only something they had done once, but it’s a fact that it’s easier to get to the 35 than it is to get to the end zone.

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Kicking the field goal is the mark of a team trying not to lose. Instead Reid chose to try and put his team in the best position to win the game by going for the touchdown. I completely agree with the choice because the reason the Chiefs have had playoff struggles for 25 years has been their prevalence to try not to lose. I like the mentality of going for the win.

Now what I didn’t like was the play call. It was fourth and two from the four yard line not fourth and goal. The empty backfield set with no motion allowed the Steelers to drop eight back in zone and force Smith into an uncomfortable throw. I would have liked them to line up in single back with Kareem Hunt behind Smith and Tyreek Hill running in motion. Alex could read the defense pre snap and if he sees stacked line he could check to pass with motion getting man defense confused. If the read is light front then could read the ends and either hand off to Hunt up the middle or Hill on the sweep. That formation gives you more options, which is what the Chiefs offense has been built on all season.

Of course in usual Chiefs fashion, even a bad play call was nearly successful and led to Reid’s last big decision of the game. Alex threw a laser in triple coverage to Demetrius Harris (who seems to be a magnet for late game big moment targets) that he caught for a second before it was ripped from his hands by Steelers strong safety Sean Davis. At first glance it appeared to be a great play by the defender on a gutsy throw and tough catch by Harris. But the replay showed it was a lot closer to being complete than it appeared in live action—close enough that Twitter blew up with fans demanding the Chiefs challenge. Even TV announcer Tony Romo said he thought it was worth a look.