Kansas City Chiefs must find out whether Super Bowl was aberration or sign of trouble
The Chiefs will have difficult decisions to make over the next couple of months, a process that starts this week. Coach Andy Reid, along with his coordinators and position coaches, will submit player evaluations to general manager Brett Veach.
The front office will assess the evaluations and the finances. They’ll operate with a lowered salary cap and higher-priced quarterback than before.
But the initial phase of 2021 preparations begins in familiar territory.
Their own facility in Kansas City.
Before all else, the Chiefs must determine the guys they can’t afford to live without and, well, the players they will have to move on from. There will be changes. Always are.
These decisions awaited the Chiefs regardless of the outcome of Sunday’s Super Bowl. But do the conclusions change after the wrong end of 31-9 blowout against the Buccaneers?
Viewed through the lens of how it all ended, there’s plenty of work to do. The offensive line needs help, most glaringly. But viewed through the lens of the entire season, the Chiefs are in a good spot, a team that reached a third straight AFC Championship Game and a second straight Super Bowl.
Which lens carries more influence?
“That’s what’s important here about stepping back for an inch,” Reid said at his season-ending news conference Monday. “You can kind of reflect and think and scheme (evaluate) and do those things.
“It will be important that when we do that — when we give our reports to Brett — that we look at the whole picture and not necessarily make it off of one game.”
It was about this time last year that the Chiefs were installing their plans to go after another Super Bowl. At a parade in downtown Kansas City, players had collectively decided to do all they could to keep the band together.
They might not have that same assistance this offseason, though they still retain an X-factor as they assemble the roster. Players know the Chiefs are a contender. They know where Patrick Mahomes plays football. That will help draw talent in March and April. It might even help preserve some of their own talent.
That’s the initial step over the next several days — a true honest evaluation of their own roster. An evaluation of their existing depth chart, its strengths and weaknesses.
For 18 weeks, the latter appeared to be a short list.
For the final one, it grew lengthy.
The Chiefs believe they will see more teams play them in the manner the Buccaneers did — an emphasis on taking away the sideline and deep routes and trying to pressure the quarterback with just four rushers. On Monday, quarterback Patrick Mahomes said he plans to study the game film over and over again, an expectation those defensive looks will become commonplace.
So there is an urgency to respond to the loss.
But there’s a more measured thought to put it into context. The Chiefs will won 14 of 15 games with their starters. Still had the best regular season in franchise history. Still rolled through the AFC portion of the playoffs.
It’s all a factor. They’ll determine the weight of each.
For all of the buzz free agency and the draft supply, that might be the most important question of the offseason. Was Sunday an aberration, or is it a sign of some necessary change?
“I think you come in and you evaluate,” Reid said. “You step back first and you pump the breaks for about a minute. And then you go ahead and you make those kind of judgments.
“Those are tough calls. That’s a tough thing to do. But it’s also part of the business. Coaches know it. Players know it. It’s all part of it. We’ll do that. We’re not going to change that part of it. We’ll be clear with our evaluations as we do that and as real as we can be.”