‘Most exciting that we’ve had’: KC Chiefs coach on wild finale to NFL regular season
Like the rest of America, Andy Reid watched in awe as the final games of the NFL’s 2021 regular season unfolded on Sunday.
The Chiefs’ head coach couldn’t help letting out several chuckles Monday as he spoke about the possibility of a tie in Sunday night’s wild, overtime affair between the Raiders and Chargers. A tie would’ve pushed both the Chargers and Raiders into the playoffs, eliminating Pittsburgh.
“I figured they wouldn’t take a knee,” Reid said. “That’d be hard on the quads to take that many knees.”
Reid and the Chiefs’ coaching staff had already turned their attention to preparing for Pittsburgh in the first round of the playoffs. After all, they’d felt the chance a tie might shake up the seeding was “slim to none.”
But as the game progressed and madness ensued …
“We were down the last two minutes going, ‘You know what, we might be playing the Raiders,’” Reid recalled. “It was something. It was quite a game.”
Eventually, the contest ended with a 47-yard field goal, ensuring the Chiefs will indeed play the Steelers at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night.
But that wasn’t the only crazy game of the day.
First, the two-win Jaguars came to life and trounced the Colts 26-11 to knock Indianapolis out of the playoffs. The Ravens-Steelers rivalry game went to overtime, keeping Pittsburgh’s playoff hopes alive while extinguishing Baltimore’s slim chances.
With the top seed in the AFC on the line, the Texans overcame a 21-0 deficit and took the visiting Titans to the wire — though they’d eventually lose 28-25. In yet another overtime game, between the Rams and 49ers, San Francisco crawled back from a 17-point deficit to punch its ticket to the playoffs. Oh, and the two-win Lions somehow knocked off the Packers, 37-30.
All followed, of course, by the epic finale between the Chargers and Raiders.
Reid has been coaching in the NFL since 1992, when he was an assistant with the Packers. Three decades is a long time, but even across that span, nothing quite compares to the theatrics that this particular Sunday had to offer.
“I think it’s a great tribute to the National Football League for making the last week as exciting as it was,” Reid said. “I mean, this Week 18 for 17 games was unbelievable. I’d probably say maybe the most exciting that we’ve had since I’ve been in (the league).”
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 1:50 PM with the headline "‘Most exciting that we’ve had’: KC Chiefs coach on wild finale to NFL regular season."
