The most anticipated games of Andy Reid’s tenure with the Kansas City Chiefs

2013: Week 1 @ Jacksonville Jaguars

If we’re counting down anticipated games, then we have to start at the beginning.

The 2013 season began with high hopes mixed with years of misery. The Chiefs had replaced Scott Pioli with John Dorsey and Romeo Crennel with Andy Reid. The hires came with great resumes. Andy Reid was a known quantity. Clark Hunt had performed these important tasks with excellence—or at least it seemed.

The misery part came from knowing Hunt had scored a hiring coup only a few years earlier when he proved capable of prying Scott Pioli away from New England in the first place. Numerous franchises had tried and failed, but Hunt stepped up like it was the sword in the stone and made it happen. Everyone rejoiced only to find the hiring was fool’s gold after a few seasons.

Coming off of a two-win season, no one was quite sure what to think about the 2013 Chiefs. There was definite talent in key places, especially on defense, but the Chiefs had gone all in on Alex Smith, a veteran QB, at the high price of two second-round picks. It felt like the Chiefs had bid against themselves and ended up fleeced in the process, giving up draft assets for a team that needed help everywhere.

Then came the regular season, a season opener against another miserable team in the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags had picked right after the Chiefs in the draft, and the NFL decided to showcase the two worst teams playing head-on to open the year like some sort of miserable experiment. On that day, two franchises showed themselves to be headed in different directions.

After an opening safety for the Jags, the Chiefs proceeded to mop the floor with Gus Bradley’s team. Alex Smith was throwing touchdowns to guys like Junior Hemingway and Donnie Avery but it worked just fine. The Chiefs would go on to win their first nine games and realize they’d struck real gold with Andy Reid at the helm.