Chiefs coach Andy Reid might have a few play calls he wants back in his 478 career games as a head coach, but he didn’t get 307 victories by playing it safe.
That’s why Reid retracted his statement Sunday night that he regretted deciding to pass on 4th-and-1 from Kansas City’s 31 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
“Well, listen, we’ve been so good in that area — whether it was run or pass — and so, I felt we were in a good position,” Reid said Monday, recapping the 20-10 loss to the Houston Texans. “I thought we had a good play. Again, I thought it was the right thing to do then. This is terrible to say in a situation like this because we didn’t win and we didn’t get that. But I would probably do that same thing again.”
Houston scored its only second-half touchdown after taking over on downs. Prior to the failed fourth-down attempt, the Chiefs forced five straight punts to open the second half. Four of those possessions were three-and-outs.
In Reid’s defense, the Chiefs are 22 of 29 on fourth down this season.
Reid said he understands the pain that follows when play calls and late-game decisions don’t pan out. But he reviewed the game situation once more Sunday night after saying the call was one he “messed up” and came out with a different perspective.
“I thought the risk-reward was right for that time. It slapped me in the face, though. It didn’t go that way,” Reid said.
The Chiefs went 1-3 in November and are not in the current playoff picture with four games remaining in the regular season.
Kansas City (6-7) is far from mathematically eliminated, a point Reid made Monday.
With the Chargers (8-4), Titans (2-11), Broncos (11-2) and Raiders (2-11) left on the schedule, the Chiefs can feasibly get to nine or 10 wins to stand a chance in the wild-card picture. But with one loss to the Chargers on the books and head-to-head defeats at the hands of the Broncos, Texans (8-5) and Jaguars (9-4), the margin for error is zero.
“I have learned over the years that anything’s possible,” Reid said. “I communicated that to the guys. They were down in the dumps after the game. I mean, they put their heart and soul into that thing and we came up short. At the same time, there’s a way you’ve got to pick yourself up and get yourself going again. And hope is always a good motivator there. I think our guys realize that. I mentioned it to them after the game.”
