Long-term lessons learned from KC Chiefs tough win over Titans

Resilience Is Important

This game felt like a playoff contest and that’s good when it comes to getting ready for the playoffs.

Last night, the Tennessee Titans played the sort of tough, physical matchup that often accompanies football in the winter. The Titans are tough-as-nails in the trenches—on both sides—and deserve serious credit for playing up to the Chiefs when Vegas and everyone counted them out from the beginning. They had an absolute zero at quarterback and still nearly stole a road win over the Chiefs coming out of a bye. They were chippy and got under the Chiefs’ skin and put up a serious fight the whole way.

And the Chiefs still won.

These Chiefs are used to putting up fireworks and dazzling with their diverse offense. Typically we’re talking about the surprise offensive performer of the game—”Oh, Mecole had three touchdowns this week!”—and the speed of a young and growing defense. On Sunday, the Chiefs didn’t realize Arrowhead would resemble a ring instead of a field until the Titans came out of their corner in the second round and served one jab after another. Fifteen game minutes later and the Chiefs looked up to a losing halftime score and a complete loss of momentum.

Andy Reid and company will learn a lot of lessons from this very game. A lot of players will take away personal applications from the way they endured and adapted, the way they stood tall despite bleeding, the way they never gave up in the face of fatigue and frustration. Think about a defense that kept having to hold the Titans to yet another punt because, for some reason, the Chiefs offense with future Hall of Fame players on it couldn’t score past the first quarter. These games build resilience and that’s what this team needed.