The Kansas City Chiefs aren’t a very good team, so it’s no surprise that they don’t lead the league in very many statistical categories.
But they do lead the league in one: Fourth-down conversion attempts. The Chiefs have gone for it on fourth down 27 times this season, converting 13 of them. And although it might seem like the Chiefs’ 3-10 record should cause coach Todd Haley to re-think his approach to game-day decision making, Haley says he’s confident that more often than not, he’s made the right call.
“There are a lot of different factors that come into those decisions,” Haley said, per the Kansas City Star. “You go with what you feel. . . .
“Those are decisions you’ve got to make and you’ve got to make off what your team is doing on that particular day. I don’t think it’s anything you can necessarily predetermine what you’re going to do because you don’t know what the situation is going to be and when it’s going to be upon you.”
Patriots coach Bill Belichick was widely criticized this season for his decision to go for it on fourth down deep in the Patriots’ territory in a play that ultimately set up the Colts’ come-from-behind win, but Haley hasn’t faced much criticism for his fourth-down decisions -- probably because the Chiefs haven’t been in any big games.
And Haley says even the times when it didn’t work -- like a failed fourth down late in Sunday’s loss to the Bills, when the Chiefs were in field-goal range -- he thinks he did the right thing.
Said Haley about that failed attempt against the Bills, “I have no regrets about the decision.”