Chiefs Emphasizing Staying Locked In Ahead of Super Bowl LVII
The Kansas City Chiefs are just days away from playing in their third Super Bowl in four years, something most NFL teams wish they could accomplish. With a matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles on the horizon, the team is hard at work getting ready on multiple fronts.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid already had some injury updates on multiple players who are trying to work their respective ways back into the lineup by game time next Sunday. As those efforts continue, Reid also made it clear from the beginning of the week that he wanted to have a good chunk of his club's game plan prepared and installed before arriving in Arizona for Super Bowl LVII week. That time flies by quickly once the teams' planes touch down, with media obligations and other elements taking up time that is usually spent elsewhere. It's still possible to get legitimate work in during that week, though, and Reid said the Chiefs are ready for that process.
“You can," Reid said. "Yeah, you can. (Executive Vice President of Communications) Ted (Crews) does a good job of kind of managing that. And that it’s important that we have an office – each coach will have an office – so that you can focus in on that. Players – we’ll have meeting rooms – they can focus in when they’re in there. So, yes you can, but on the other hand, Karen (Kornacki), we want to get it done here. Get the foundation of it in here, and then when we’re down there, we can go back and review it, so that’s what we’re doing.”
Having been to the "big game" three times already — including once with the Eagles — Reid has a clear advantage when it comes to experience dealing with a pre-Super Bowl environment. That benefit can't be measured, but it gives his coaching staff and players more insight into what things will look like during one of the busiest weeks of the year. General manager Brett Veach undertook quite the effort by investing in a youth movement during the offseason, bringing in multiple players who are still coming off their first couple of playoff games. They haven't seen anything resembling the Super Bowl before.
Heck, even quarterback Patrick Mahomes (27 years old) is at an age where most players don't have much — if any — championship game experience at the highest level. Despite that, Mahomes just hosted the AFC Championship Game for the fifth straight year and will play in his third career Super Bowl on Feb. 12. Mahomes is no stranger to going through the Super Bowl week motions, and he said he wants to make sure his younger teammates understand exactly what could be ahead of them so they don't get distracted.
“Yeah just trying to give them a blueprint of how that week goes," Mahomes said. "Obviously, you can see it on the schedule, but I want them to see it from a player’s perspective of how much stuff you have to do outside of football and how you can still manage that and get your stuff done the right way. The Super Bowl week is special, it’s a special week, but it’s not about being down there the week of the Super Bowl – it’s about winning the game. I want guys to keep that at the front of mind and so enjoy it, enjoy the whole entire week but make sure you’re prepared to go out there and play your best football as well.”
Of those on the Chiefs' current 53-man roster, nearly two dozen players weren't on it a year ago. Several who were brought in leading up to the 2021-22 campaign haven't experienced a Super Bowl yet. Linebacker Nick Bolton, a second-round pick in the '21 NFL Draft, is one of them. While the 22-year-old has played in a pair of AFC title games, he understands that this is a different beast. Much like Mahomes and Reid, however, he's laser-focused on football primarily. Their messages weren't lost on him.
“Just kind of control what you can control, put your best foot forward in football and let everything else on the outside handle itself," Bolton said. "I kind of feel like that’s been important just for me and a lot of the other young guys we’ve got on our defense is just trying to knock out (the) off-the-field stuff early and just worry about football from here on out.”
