How the 2020 Chiefs playoff run is different than 2019

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KANSAS CITY, MO – DECEMBER 29: Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo congratulates Chris Jones #95 of the Kansas City Chiefs after a fourth quarter sack against the Los Angeles Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium on December 29, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images) /

Steve Spagnuolo

It cannot be overstated how valuable it is for Andy Reid to have a member of his coaching staff with Super Bowl experience in defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

Obviously, Spags has brought with him a reset button for the Kansas City defense that desperately needed it after a historically bad 2018 season. That reset alone was worth it for Kansas City, if only to rid the Kingdom of long-maligned former DC Bob Sutton. In addition to the reset and Super Bowl experience, what Spagnuolo brought to Kansas City this season was patience and a willingness to adapt throughout the course of the season.

While Kansas City watched Sutton role out the same failing players in the same failing scheme for what seemed like eons, Spagnuolo has changed the entire defensive identity of this team over the course of the regular season. It all started with the team’s Week Seven crushing of the Denver Broncos.

Since that time, we’ve seen an aggressive defense not fixated on ‘positions’ but focused on putting players in the best position to be successful, including innumerable reps for our safeties at cornerback positions, and an underappreciated move to get Tanoh Kpassagnon on the field by putting him in the middle of the defensive line.

If you’re talking about how the 2020 Playoffs end differently than all of the nightmares before them for Kansas City, you can’t tell that story without talking about defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

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