Chiefs coach Andy Reid opened himself up to second-guessing on Sunday afternoon when he opted to go for it on fourth-and-two from the Steelers’ 4-yard-line early in the fourth quarter.
The Chiefs were down 12-3 and many thought kicking a field goal to make it a one-score game would have been the prudent thing for the Chiefs to do. They called a pass to tight end Demetrius Harris instead and it was ruled incomplete after Harris and Steelers safety Sean Davis wrestled over the ball.
Reid said he didn’t think Harris had control of the ball when asked why he didn’t challenge that ruling.
After the game, Reid said “hindsight ends up being that you wish you would have kicked it” but that he felt the team hadn’t been close to scoring a touchdown to that point in the game when discussing his decision to go the other way.
“I don’t worry about the questions that will be asked afterwards; I do what my gut tells me to do,” Reid said, via the Kansas City Star. “I thought that was the right thing to do. Again, we hadn’t been down there or really moved the ball too much. If nothing else it backs them up and gives us an opportunity to come back and win the game. Which we did. We had an opportunity there to win the game. So these are the things I’m thinking about. I’m preaching to the team to stay aggressive without being stupid.”
The Chiefs forced a punt and scored a quick touchdown on their next drive to cut the score to 12-10, but Antonio Brown caught a pass off Phillip Gaines’ helmet and turned it into a 51-yard touchdown that left the Chiefs with two scores to make up in a little more than three minutes. They couldn’t and there are no more unbeaten teams in the NFL as a result.