Andy Reid was surprisingly candid about Chiefs’ defensive struggles Saturday

One thing that needs to be realized going into this post is that Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is never going to publicly criticize his players.

As a media member, that can be frustrating but it’s the reason players love to play for him and probably one of the reasons why, in 2018, he’ll be coaching his 20th consecutive season.

I bring that up here because a little criticism is the most you’re ever going to get from Reid, and that’s what we got on Saturday afternoon during his press conference.

Bears quarterback and former Chief went 15 of 18 for 198 yards and two touchdowns on the Chiefs’ first-team defense. Daniel also had six carries for 47 yards on the ground.

One of the players Reid was asked about was new Chiefs cornerback Orlando Scandrick, who was victimized by a double-move courtesy of Bears up-and-coming receiver Kevin White.

Scandrick bit, and the Bears and White scored a 29-yard touchdown.

“He got caught on a double move,” Reid said of Scandrick during his post-game presser. “That’s going to happen. He’s just kind of getting used to what we’re all about. He’s a veteran player and he’ll be all right. One positive is he was challenging during the day. So we’ve got to do better with that. On the back end, just get up and, you know, challenge. That’s primary.”

Reid was asked if he was worried about CB David Amerson, who also surrendered a touchdown.

“I’m not, but you’ve got to tighten it up a little bit,” Reid said. “You’ve got to do better than what we did today. He’s a willing worker, so he’ll get back and do that. I’ve seen him do better. He’s just got to pick that up. Again, he’s one of the new guys that the more he plays and sees these things, what he can kind of get away with.

“We’re also playing man-cover. That’s where he’s getting in trouble there. So he’s got to learn the angles and the routes and all of that that they’re using. This is all valuable for him.”

One of the prevailing thoughts out there is that the Chiefs may have underestimated the Bears, who opted to go with their second-teamers Saturday.

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Reid essentially said that mentality is unacceptable.

“Yeah, listen, human nature might be that, but you’ve got to fight that,” Reid said. “I’ve seen Chase. You all have seen this. San Diego had a chance to go to the playoffs if they beat us. And Chase goes out and plays like this right here. So you’ve got to, you know, you can’t let your guard down at all you’ve got to continue to challenge, you’ve got to tackle. Those are the things I was looking for. We’ve got to do better on that.

“Our tackling wasn’t good. You’ve got to go back to the offensive side. Same thing there. Our blocking wasn’t good enough in the run game. So they were throwing a few different looks at us. But that will help us during the season. They’re a little bit full-season mode here as they go on offense and defense. So it was great work for us here. But we’ve got to do a better job blocking.”

Reid typically rests all of his starters for the final preseason game, but perhaps the Chiefs run some of their defensive players who may need the reps, like Scandrick and Amerson, on Thursday night against the Green Bay Packers.