KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Andy Reid was outcoached.That hasn’t happened much – if ever – during Big Red’s glorious arrangement with Patrick Mahomes the past few years.But it happened on Thursday night at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium as the Kansas City Chiefs unfurled their Super Bowl 57 championship banner, then got upstaged and embarrassed in a 21-20 defeat before a national TV audience in prime time.
Sure, the gritty Detroit Lions proved worthy of their preseason hype. And their aggressive coach, Dan Campbell, had his team prepared with the fundamentals to make a statement. Campbell sprung a big surprise, too, calling for a direct snap that worked while in punt formation deep in his own territory early in the game, which kept alive a 14-play TD drive that sent the signal the Lions indeed came to play against the defending champs.
Trailing 21-20 and holding three timeouts, before the two-minute warning, Reid went for it on fourth-and-25 while positioned on his own 30-yard line. Even with the history of miracles that we’ve witnessed from Mahomes, this was a bit much, given the risk.
Reid originally intended to go for it on fourth-and-20, but they were backed up by a false start penalty by Jawaan Taylor. The situational hole was dug by a holding penalty by Donovan Smith and a dropped pass by Skyy Moore on preceding plays.
