The Chiefs chased a 2-14 season in 2012 with an unlikely playoff berth. And that wasn’t the most unusual development in Andy Reid’s first season with the team.
Up 38-10 in the second half of a wild-card playoff game against the Colts in Indianapolis, the Chiefs authored one of the all-time postseason collapses, losing 45-44.
With rookies, quarterbacks, and injured players reporting for camp on Sunday, the process of climbing out of the valley of 0-0 has begun once again, with higher expectations and an important lesson learned.
"[W]hat can we learn from that?” Reid said to reporters on Sunday. “Heck, there’s a ton you can learn from that game right there on how to finish. You have to know how to do that. There is no time to let your foot off the accelerator. That can make us a better team going forward. That I think is a positive. As much as it hurt and hurts when you lose any game and particularly a playoff game, those hurt, but at the same time, it’s something you can learn and build on for this coming year.”
The Chiefs will have to apply that lesson week in and week out, if they even hope to be in position to blow a 28-point lead in January. The Chiefs took big hits on both lines of scrimmage in free agency, and the signs are pointing to a step back in Reid’s second year.
Then again, not making the playoffs at all could be better than a meltdown for the ages.