KC Chiefs issues linked with Britt Reid by local and national media

As you have heard many times by now, we are all shocked by Kansas City’s 3-4 start. They have arguably the worst defense in the NFL. They are third in total yards and eighth in scoring, yet they lead the NFL in turnovers.

The Chiefs just got destroyed 27-3 by the Titans. Derrick Henry, Tennessee’s best player by far, hardly contributed to the win, yet the Chiefs still lost by 24 points, the biggest loss in the Mahomes era.

Ever since the AFC Championship game win over the Buffalo Bills, the Chiefs have been blown out in three games. First in the Super Bowl against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in Week 5 against the Bills, and this past Sunday against the Titans.

Some media outlets are asking if Britt Reid is somehow linked to the Chiefs’ frustrations.

In Patrick Mahomes’ first 53 games, including the playoffs, the Chiefs have lost just nine times. The 53 games span from his debut in Week 17 of the 2017 season through the AFC Championship game in January of 2021. (This excludes games where Mahomes was absent a couple of games due to a knee injury plus when the team rested all of its starters in Week 17 of the 2020 season.) The worst loss of the Mahomes era was by eight points.

Since then, the Chiefs lost by 22 points to the Buccaneers, 18 points by the Bills, and 24 points by the Titans. After never suffering a blowout loss in Mahomes’ first 53 starts, the Chiefs have now been blown out three times in their last eight games, dating back to Super Bowl 55.

None of this makes sense. How does a team with this much talent, which has never been blown out with Mahomes under center, suddenly play poorly and get blown out multiple times?

Again, none of this makes sense from a football standpoint.

Whether it is on this website, another media outlet, or social media, everyone has mentioned the turnovers, Orlando Brown’s bad pass-blocking, the struggles of Chris Jones and Frank Clark, Dan Sorensen’s missed tackles, and so on. There are a plethora of mishaps with the Chiefs right now on the field.

As I am sure every Chiefs fan noticed, the level of play has changed drastically since the AFC Championship win. The play-calling has been suspect. The team has gotten worse. That also happens to be the same time Britt Reid—Andy Reid’s son and a former Chiefs assistant coach—was involved in a car accident that severely injured a five-year-old girl.

As you may remember, Britt Reid was involved in a car accident on February 4, three days before the Super Bowl. He admitted to consuming multiple drinks and said he took Adderall. He has a criminal trial date on April 18.

Back to the lingering effects. Don’t take our word for it. Former NFL executive and podcast/radio host Michael Lombardi spoke on how the Chiefs look different since Britt Reid’s car accident on his podcast, “The GM Shuffle.”

"Michael Lombardi: I really believe this, AD (Adnan Virk). The Super Bowl hangover is certainly a factor, but more than anything, I think Andy and what happened to his son and the car accident [before] the Super Bowl, there is a residual effect of all that and I don’t know what’s going on in their locker room, but they don’t play with the same intensity or the same fiber that they had in the past.Adnan Virk: That is certainly a fair point, Mike. These guys are human beings. Andy Reid has dealt with a lot of personal stuff involving his kids and how could that not impact you at some level? The 24-point margin, the largest loss of the Mahomes era including the playoffs. Three points [scored against Tennessee], the fewest points since he took over at the quarterback."

Lombardi is a former NFL executive, having worked for the Patriots as an assistant to the coaching staff and was briefly the Browns general manager and vice president. He’s held various titles with five different teams. Lombardi probably knows a thing or two about how an off-the-field distraction can impact a team. He certainly believes Britt Reid’s car accident is still playing a role and impacting Andy Reid’s mindset.

Kansas City Star columnist Sam Mellinger appeared on the “The Border Patrol” on Sports Radio 810 Monday morning with Steven St. John and Nate Bukaty. The topic of Britt Reid did come up while talking about the team’s issues.

"Nate Bukaty: There’s 1,000 different things: personnel decisions, players getting arrested in the offseason, players having contract issues, players moving positions, all of those things.To me, the events that led up to the Super Bowl and the Super Bowl are kind of tied together because you can agree with me on this Steven (St. John) I have pushed back ever since the Super Bowl on the idea that it was just the offensive line and if it wasn’t for the offensive line injuries, the Chiefs would have won the game. I thought the team looked off the whole game and I thought it was across the board, maybe with the exception of Mahomes doing super-human things. I thought everybody played poorly and everybody looked distracted and I felt like that ever since.I am not saying it’s all because of the events that led up to the Super Bowl, but it all seems like it started there and then has snowballed. Then they did get their butt’s kicked and that does cause the heavyweight champ to lose a little bit of self-confidence and that swagger and aura of invincibility, and it causes other teams to look at you a little differently and think ‘yeah we can take these guys down.’ And then all of the other things that have come from that. Does that make sense? Is it possible to say that those events had a huge effect on the trajectory of the team? Even if they don’t explain everything that happened, they were a part of it. Is it a fair thing to try to argue or at least speculate on?Sam Mellinger: I think what you’re saying that it’s not just one thing and that all of these things are kind of tied together. I agree with that. I know that a lot of people have their theories, right? It’s all this, or it’s all Spags, or it’s all Andy Reid is distracted either by what happened with his son or the health scare that he had or Mahomes and all of his stuff."

As you can see, Bukaty was very careful with his wording, avoiding Britt Reid’s name. He referred to the events “leading up to the Super Bowl” multiple times. But we all know he is referring to Britt Reid’s car accident and how Andy Reid was not in the right mental state to coach a Super Bowl 72 hours later.

Mellinger was more upfront about it. Later during his radio hit, talking about how the Chiefs struggled to cover the spread in games last year, Mellinger did say “before Britt Reid.”

Many Chiefs fans on social media have brought this up for quite some time. Perhaps the media was wanting to avoid the subject in fear that they would get a negative tone from Andy Reid since they speak to him in his press conferences throughout the week. The local media also wants to avoid having to deal with PR members from the team.

Lombardi does not cover the Chiefs. He does not interview Andy Reid nor deal with the Chiefs PR department. He is more than willing to speak candidly and give his opinion on the matter.

Regardless, the media is bringing it up. The team’s change in attitude and performance in games came right after Britt Reid’s car accident. The media is right to question and discuss whether that has an impact and whether this has had an effect on Andy Reid’s ability to coach.

Given that a couple of people in the media have commented on it (I am sure there are more that we may have missed), more members of the media will join the discussion, especially if the Chiefs continue to struggle.