Packers vs. Chiefs: Andy Reid’s creative genius returns and other lessons
By Byron Smith
The Kansas City Chiefs gave fans many reasons to be optimistic despite losing on Sunday to the Packers. Here are the lessons learned from Week 8.
Since 2018, fans of the Kansas City Chiefs have grown accustomed to the magic of quarterback Patrick Mahomes. His ability to move in and out of the pocket and throw a dime from anywhere on the field is part of the magic he brings to every game he plays. However, for the first time since the start of last season, the Chiefs’ offense had to play without their magician under center.
Meanwhile, the defense had to play against the NFL’s best equivalent, Aaron Rodgers, and his red hot Green Bay Packers.
In a game that should have been extremely lopsided, the Chiefs overcame their abundance of injuries and forced the Packers to play an extremely competitive game in primetime. With the Arrowhead crowd roaring, the bright lights brought something special out of unlikely players, and Andy Reid used his offensive genius to compensate for the missing piece. It took some magic (and an extremely lucky catch) for the Packers to narrowly escape Arrowhead with a win.
Despite losing, the Chiefs stood out as the team with the higher potential for the rest of the season. But why? How can a losing effort elicit optimism, let alone happiness and excitement from a fan base? Here are the lessons learned.
The Chiefs Do Not Throw In the Towel
This week was a bit of a rollercoaster for the Chiefs and Chiefs’ fans. Mahomes’ injury happened on a Thursday, reports circulated over the weekend that he would miss a few weeks and could realistically not play until after the bye week. On Monday, however, Reid would not rule Mahomes out.
On the Wednesday before facing the Packers, everything ramped up. Mahomes was practicing despite his injury and looked good. Eric Fisher returned to practice, Chris Jones was supposed to return yet does not. Frank Clark was out with a sudden neck injury, Sammy Watkins returned to practice in full health. Footage of Mahomes practicing is everywhere: Twitter, Instagram, ESPN, your local news station, on one of the TVs in Best Buy. The rumors are circulating that Mahomes might just make it to the big showdown.
Thursday is tame when it comes to new developments, but the world is watching and waiting for that announcement on Mahomes. It comes Friday, when Mahomes is ruled out, alongside several other Chiefs: Frank Clark, Eric Fisher, Chris Jones, Kendall Fuller (who returned to practice Friday), and Andrew Wylie.
With things trending negatively for the Chiefs, this game looked like a sure win for the Packers, who despite a few injuries themselves, were playing very well and looked to be firing on all cylinders. At the end of the first quarter, it certainly looked that way as well, with the Packers up 14-0 on the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs had every reason to throw in the towel here: too many injuries against a truly great franchise. No one would bat an eye at a loss here, so why push yourself and risk further injury? Especially since the Packers are already winning by 14.
The Chiefs responded with an incredible 17 point run to take the lead. K.C. kept fighting throughout the game as well, only losing after a bad turnover, an amazing catch in the end zone, and defensive exhaustion.
The Chiefs have some tough games coming up. the Minnesota Vikings and New England Patriots come to mind, with the playoffs not too far off either. Hopefully the team will be much healthier for these games, but that does not guarantee that these games will not be close and played well into the fourth quarter. If the Chiefs can put together an effort like they did Sunday night, the Chiefs may be hard to stop.