Sunday's win over the Baltimore Ravens has given the Kansas City Chiefs a chance at another Super Bowl. On the outside, the Chiefs looked like a force to be reckoned with as they bested the AFC's top-seeded team to claim the Conference Championship. However, things didn't always go as planned throughout the season. The reason why the Chiefs are playing like a top team once again stems from a particular regular season loss, as Andy Reid puts it.
During Christmas Day, the team faced the Las Vegas Raiders in what could be described as a sloppy outing for the Chiefs. In a span of seven seconds, Kansas City committed two turnovers which resulted in back-to-back defensive touchdowns for the Raiders. Las Vegas ended up taking the victory, 20-14.
Andy Reid recently spoke to reporters and mentioned how the game was a wake-up call for the team.
“I think that was a good wake-up call for us,” Reid said, per NBC Sports' Myles Simmons. “I think it gave our guys a nice little…a wake-up call, that we need to step things up here, that things aren’t just going to fall in our lap…We were able to learn from it and move on. I felt all along, though, we had the ability to do that. We just, like I said, we needed a little kick in the tail there.”
What made the loss even worse was how the Chiefs had only won two out of their last five games entering Christmas Day. Safe to say, the team had enough. Since then, the Chiefs have won five straight and are now on the brink of another Super Bowl Championship. Their final test comes in the form of Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers on February 11.