Andy Reid has been here before. He’s been in the NFL for a long time so he’s faced a blowout before. He’s faced questions about his team before. The uncertainty of a team who just got blown out.
“You need to learn from it,” the Chiefs coach said on Monday. “That’s the important part. You take a good hard look at it, you learn from it and try to correct your mistakes so it doesn’t happen again.”
When I say he’s been here before, I mean it. In 2008, Reid’s Eagles were blown out by the Ravens, 36-7. This made the Eagles 5-5-1. How did Reid’s team respond? They put up 48 the next week and rattled off three in a row to secure a playoff spot and move onto the NFC Championship game where they lost to the Cardinals.
The 2004 Eagles were shut down by those same Steelers, 27-3. How did Reid’s team respond? They scored 49 the next week en route to six straight wins. They lost the Super Bowl that year.
The 2003 Eagles opened up with a 17-0 loss followed by a 31-10 loss. How did Reid’s Eagles respond? They won 12 of their next 14 games on the way to an NFC title game appearance.
We can keep going. The 2002 Eagles had a 22-point loss against the Colts. They responded by winning six in a row and appearing in a title game.
These are obviously different teams. The 2004 Eagles are not the 2016 Chiefs. I get this isn’t a perfect comparison but it does show you that very good teams - teams that won playoff games and appeared in a Super Bowl - have had bad weeks.
I’ll put my money on Big Red’s team responding.