Making the Playoffs Is Cool, but the Chiefs Have Bigger Goals in Mind
The Kansas City Chiefs have officially reached the point where making the playoffs doesn't even excite them anymore. While the team remains locked in on its next opponent, there's a bigger goal to work towards: winning another Super Bowl.
The Chiefs entered Sunday night's game against the Denver Broncos seeking their seventh-consecutive victory over their divisional foe. Wins haven't been hard to come by for the reigning champs, but recent victories have been hard-fought. Dating back to a contest with the Carolina Panthers before the bye week, Andy Reid's team has won its last four games by an average of 3.75 points. Finding ways to win the ugly ones is important — and it prepares the Chiefs for the rest of their season.
As the AFC West grows stronger and more competitive, the harsh reality is that consistent blowouts within the division may be a thing of the past. No two games are the same, and taking things week-by-week has gotten the Chiefs this far. After the playoff-spot-clinching win Sunday night, that message still rings true as the team strives to improve each week and remembers the end goal it has in mind.
When asked about securing a playoff spot, quarterback Patrick Mahomes acknowledged the gravity of the moment but also emphasized that the job isn't even close to finished for the Chiefs.
"It's kind of your first step, you want to find a way to get into the playoffs, Mahomes said. "But like you said, we have bigger goals."
Safety Tyrann Mathieu admitted he didn't even know the Chiefs had clinched a playoff berth until it was mentioned by a media member in the postgame press conference, but he agreed with Mahomes that it was an achievement — just a procedural one for a team with their sights set higher.
"I think any time you're able to win 10-plus games in this league, I think it's always a beautiful thing," Mathieu said.
Part of the reason Mathieu was oblivious to the Chiefs' secured playoff berth was that his head coach never brought it up.
"Listen, to win, to be in the playoffs, that's a great thing," Reid said. "And you're right, we do have work to do here, so we didn't talk at all about it in the locker room about the playoffs."
For pretty much any of the NFL's 31 other clubs, qualifying for a playoff spot is a huge deal. To do so after just 12 games is even more spectacular. For the Chiefs, it's just another day at the office. Business as usual.
It's not that everyone within the organization is numb to success. They recognize that what they're doing is brilliant. In that same breath, they're coming off the franchise's best season in 50 years. They know what winning a Super Bowl feels like and until they achieve that feeling of euphoria again, they'll keep their heads down and work hard each week in preparation of new challenges.
Speaking of challenges, tight end Travis Kelce noted that the team's ultimate goal is to win the big game, but it won't come without constant progression after every game.
"Accepting that challenge every single week and trying to become a better team because of it is a mentality that we have," Kelce said.
Kelce has the same set of goals as everyone else, and even after becoming the first tight end in NFL history to post five 1,000-yard seasons — all in a row, in his case — his eyes remain focused on the prize.
After a game against an inferior opponent in which many things went wrong and execution was poor, the Chiefs know there's plenty of room to grow. That's a welcomed sight for them, and a scary one for opposing teams. With four more regular-season games remaining, there will be plenty of opportunities to fine-tune and tweak things before a possible deep playoff run. If the leaders of the team have anything to say about it, those weekly improvements will pay off in a big way come January and February.
