Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid met with the media over Zoom conference call on Monday, a day after the team’s 31-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.
Watch the full presser above or by clicking here. Here were the most significant takeaways:
Reid explained that the Chiefs will first take a break, then get to roster evaluation.
Fresh off the Super Bowl loss, the Chiefs plan to go about their roster evaluation process with clear minds.
“That’s what’s important about stepping back here for an inch,” said Reid. “You can kind of reflect and think and scheme-eval and do those things. And we’ll get right on our personnel evals here with the coaches this week and make sure we knock that out and give that to (general manager) Brett (Veach). It will be important that when we do that as coaches and give our reports to Brett, that we look at the whole picture and not necessarily make it off of one game.”
Reid assured that two straight Super Bowl trips would not impact whether the Chiefs keep certain individuals headed into next year.
“I don’t think it does — I think you come in and you evaluate,” he added. “You step back first, and you kind of pump the brakes 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 and coaches know it and players know it and it’s all part of it. So we’ll do that. We’re not going to change that part of it, and we’ll be clear with our evaluations as we do that, as real as we can be.”
Reid shared what he felt like the Chiefs could learn from the experience.
“It’s tough to get here,” said Reid of the Super Bowl. “I’m proud of the guys. I mentioned that [Sunday] night, that it’s not an easy road getting back. That’s why most teams don’t get back and then if you do... it’s not always a guaranteed win. They were better than we were [Sunday]. We made too many mistakes, whether it was me calling the plays, putting guys in the right position or right down the line as you go. You make that many mistakes against a good football team and they weren’t making as many mistakes, and you’re not going to win at this level. You got to come into these games, you got to be sharp.”
Reid said there is a process for the Chiefs to speak with the league regarding the penalty disparity in the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs were called for 11 penalties, resulting in 120 yards. The Buccaneers were called for four penalties, resulting in 39 yards.
“We have the opportunity to voice our gripes to the league and they do a good job on responding to it,” shared Reid. “So really for whatever I think or what they think, the calls were made, and it’s obviously — it’s a shame that we had that many in that big a game that possibly were that close of a judgment call.”
Reid was asked about how the Chiefs may go about bolstering their offensive line in 2021.
Patrick Mahomes faced more pressure than any quarterback in Super Bowl history, as the offensive line was without Eric Fisher, Mitch Schwartz and Kelechi Osemele.
“I’m not obviously pointing my finger at the offensive line — we have guys that were moving around a little bit, and they take great pride in their work and busted their tail,” Reid said.
It did not help that last year’s starter at right guard, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, and rookie Lucas Niang opted out of the 2020 season. At this writing, they are expected back for 2021.
“With the guys that are injured that are potentially coming back or opted out... we’ll kind of get all that covered here in the next couple days. I don’t think that outlook is bleak by any means. We should be good there, and then Brett will obviously keep an eye on that, as he does everything. Just see how that works, but I’m optimistic going forward and I’m proud of the guys and the effort that they gave last night.”