Arrowhead Pride
Welcome back to the Arrowhead Pride Mailbag! Each week, watch for your opportunity to submit your Kansas City Chiefs questions in The Feed, which is found on AP’s home page.
The Chiefs’ 22-19 loss to the Denver Broncos has left the fanbase desperate for answers. Let’s see what is on our readers’ minds.
Some of Andy Reid’s coaches have been with him for decades. Others have been in the league for as long as Reid himself — and it shows. Does the Chiefs’ coaching staff need an influx of younger talent?
Yes, the Chiefs absolutely need some new voices on the offensive side of the ball. After repeatedly finishing the season so late in recent years, there has been almost no attrition among the assistants. The offense feels stagnant — especially on the road against quality opponents.
But I don’t even know that they have to be younger voices.
When head coach Andy Reid came to the Chiefs in 2013, two of his best coaching decisions were bringing on former Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress (who had been his offensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles) for various analyst roles — and then hiring former University of Nevada coach Chris Ault (widely credited as the inventor of the pistol offense) as a consultant. Childress was 57 and Ault was 66 when they were hired to Reid’s staff, but both helped the scheme feel fresh after a disappointing end to his tenure with the Eagles. Childress also brought 44-year-old running backs coach Eric Bieniemy, who had been on his staff during his final season in Minnesota.
To me, the most glaring problem with Reid’s coaching this season is the degree to which defensive play callers most familiar with him (and quarterback Patrick Mahomes) have shut down the Kansas City offense. Eagles’ defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott (another former Reid assistant) and Broncos’ defensive coordinator Vance Joseph had all the answers against the Chiefs — even though each defensive unit was without key players.
The league also appears to have soured on Reid’s schemes. For the first time since 2015, this season opened with none of Reid’s former offensive assistants as a head coach — although the New York Giants have since named one-time Kansas City quarterbacks coach Mike Kafka their interim head coach after firing Brian Daboll earlier this month.
I see some calls across social media to fire Reid (as well as general manager Brett Veach). I feel that sentiment is asinine, so I will not entertain it.
But it is also clear that the coach needs to seek out new ideas to maximize the remainder of his esteemed career. I would like to see the team add a running game coordinator from outside of Reid’s coaching tree, because the Chiefs’ current philosophy on the ground appears to be badly outdated. I also wonder if there is a former offensive signal caller at some level who could take on Childress’...
