Chiefs head coach Andy Reid’s teams are famously good coming off a bye week.
His teams are now 19-3 in the regular season after a week off, and 6-2 in the postseason following a first-round bye.
Of course, the club also won Super Bowl LIV last year in Reid’s second big-game appearance as a head coach.
Tight end Travis Kelce was asked about that success on Thursday and said it has to do with Reid’s attitude toward preparation.
“I think what he does best as a leader, as a coach is he challenges the guys to meet expectations. We’ve had the full game plan in for the past two weeks and we’ve been able to get after it in practice,” Kelce said. “He’s very aware it’s Week 20, Week 21, whatever you want to call it, and a lot of guys are banged up. But at the end of the day, we have to get our work in. So it’s a little bit of trust between both sides and making sure that the’s going to keep us fresh.
“But I think just going into a bye week before the actual game, coach Reid does a great job of just challenging us to make sure we don’t miss a day, we don’t miss a snap, we don’t miss a rep. And sure enough, I think we’re as ready as we’ve ever been this week.”
We’ll see if the extra week of prep leads to a fast start on Sunday.