The Kansas City Chiefs lost a brutal game on Sunday Night Football. Kansas City fell 20-10 against a surging Houston team, which puts them under .500 at 6-7 on the season. One crucial play ended up costing the Chiefs during the fourth quarter, and it came up repeatedly during postgame interviews.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid took responsibility for a disastrous fourth-down call against the Texans on Sunday night.
“I put the guys, offensively, in a tough position with the fourth downs [calls],” Reid said, per ESPN's Nate Taylor. “I was trying to stay aggressive with it. I take full responsibility for that. I thought we could get it. It's important that you take advantage of opportunities. In hindsight, it was wrong. I messed that one up.”
Kansas City went for it on fourth down during a pivotal point in the game. Reid called a shotgun passing play with Hollywood Brown lined up in the backfield. The played resulted in an incomplete pass to Rashee Rice with Patrick Mahomes targeting him over the middle of the field.
Shockingly, making an aggressive call like that was a career first for Reid. He had never before went for it on fourth down with the score tied in the fourth quarter or overtime and with his offense inside its own 40-yard line.
Failing on that conversion gave the Texans the ball in great field position. They scored a touchdown to go up 17-10 just a few minutes later.
Was Chiefs' fourth-down failure a bad call or good defense by Texans?
On paper, Reid made a good call by going for it.
The Next Gen Stats and ESPN Analytics' model agreed with the decision to go for it on fourth down. But Houston simply played great defense.
Even Patrick Mahomes praised Houston's defense for making that fourth-down attempt extremely difficult.
“They did a good job of passing off the crossers,” Mahomes said. “I tried to get the ball to Rashee. I think I was a little late. [Texans cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.] made a great play breaking on the ball. We just have to execute at a higher level in those big moments. It's something we haven't done this year.”
Unfortunately for the Chiefs, they will face another stingy defense in their next game.
Next up for the Chiefs is a Week 15 matchup against the Chargers.
