Andy Reid roundup: 4 takeaways from the Chiefs’ head coach

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid met with the media through a Zoom conference call on Tuesday, two days after the team’s Super Bowl LVII victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

Listen to the full presser above or click here.

In his opening statement, Reid joked that he was about to partake in his 50th press conference in the last few days before saying that quarterback Patrick Mahomes feels good. The Chiefs — and Mahomes himself — feel he will be OK to participate when organized team activities (OTAs) roll around. Reid then said the team would have a meeting Tuesday before talking to each player individually to close the season.

Then the head coach took questions, which we have rounded up in four takeaways:

Reid explained what continues to drive him amidst two championships before praising the quarterback, yet again.

With Sunday’s win, the Chiefs have now won two Super Bowls in four seasons.

“The thing that drives me is the day-to-day process, the teaching of being a coach and working with these young guys — young men that want to be great at what they do,” said Reid. “They’re already the best in the whole world at what they do because they’re in the National Football League, but giving them an opportunity even to be the best of the best so that drives me but it’s also the same thing that allows you to potentially go win it again or go to another Super Bowl, it is that you don’t look at the whole thing there.

“You don’t – you get in, you (get) work in and give your best effort every day and drive yourself that way and if the guy next to you is doing that and the guy next to him is doing that and so on then you have a strong team. But it’s one thing to talk about it, it’s another thing to get in and do it and so that drives me. I like to test myself that way and I like to have players around me that do the same thing.”

It sounds like getting to coach quarterback Patrick Mahomes helps Reid’s motivation.

“He’s done as much as anyone’s done in the game with these first few years,” said Reid. “The way he’s wired, his hunger to be great is – there’s a longevity part of that; the more you do it over and over, that really determines how great you are. And that’s just how it goes. And he has a great feel for that. He knows that there’s a time in there – very similar to what I told you about what drives me, what drives a team, what should drive a team is that day-to-day process.

“So go through [it]. We give the coaches a calendar, we give the players a calendar, go through and dissect it and make sure that your days are all lined up on the days you’re going take off, what you’re going to do there and then the days that you’re going to work. And exactly what are you going to work on to make yourself greater than you already are. And so, we all need to make sure we get that done here in the next little bit.”

Reid mentioned the tough reality the Chiefs will face over the next few days.

The Chiefs were able to reach the mountaintop with the roster they constructed in 2022 — but the truth is that Wednesday will be the last time this particular team’s players will be together.

“I mentioned this to the team this morning that we’re not going to all be here, in this room next go around – next time we gather but the majority probably will be here,” said Reid. “That’s normally how this thing works so our offseason, we’ve really got to attack it and then whoever’s new that comes into the team, they’ve got to do the same.”

For some players, their meeting with Reid and their position coach will be the final time to hear what’s needed to improve before their return or moving on to play for somebody else.

“You’re going to meet with your coaches,” said Reid. “If you don’t know your strengths and weaknesses, make sure that you and your coach talk about it and so you have something that you can go out there and attack knowing that these coaches in the National Football League are going to be studying every move that you made this past season and they’re going to come up with answers.

“You’ve got to train yourself in that manner where you attack those issues and be in great shape doing it.”

Reid outlined what’s ahead for the Super Bowl champions over the next few weeks.

It sounds like the head coach intends for his staff to get right back to work after Wednesday’s championship parade (more information on that here).

“We start right away on scheme evaluation – so once the parade’s over,” said Reid. “The guys are going to have time off, but everything’s – we’ve got iPads and everything’s on these iPads. We can watch every game, every snap, end zone, far copy – we’ve got it all.

“So, they’ll start going back through and doing player evals of our guys that we have here now and then we’ll lead that into scheme evals when we get back.”

The title defense begins now Thursday.

Reid revealed he enjoyed some local Kansas City cuisine when he returned on Monday evening.

“I went to Pizza 51,” laughed Reid. “I got a mushroom and sausage pizza, how about that? And a salad just to make my chubbiness feel good.”

Never change, Big Red.