KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s been a while since Andy Reid donned a Santa Claus suit for his pregame locker-room speech, but the jolly red suit came out Wednesday at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh for a jolly good reason.
Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC and a first-round bye in the NFL playoffs on Christmas Day with a 29-10 win against the Steelers.
Shortly after Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce burst into the joyous visiting locker room, fresh off an on-field interview with the Netflix Christmas Gameday crew and wearing holiday-themed, Santa-inspired “MVP” coats, Reid entered dressed as Santa for his signature “How ‘bout those, Chieeefs!” postgame breakdown.
HO HO HO(w) 'bout those CHIEEEEEEEFS! pic.twitter.com/87ZoRuooPs
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) December 25, 2024
He said Kansas City’s present for Christmas was home-field advantage in the playoffs before Chiefs Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt praised Reid for leading the team to a franchise-record 15th win.
That’s when longtime Assistant Equipment Manager Chris Shropshire popped out of a rolling equipment case to present Reid with a game ball.
“I didn't pack it,” Reid said of the Santa suit. “One of my elves did. ... I can't tell you the secrets, but there was an elf involved — for all you non-believers out there, doggone it.”
Plenty of people have refused to believe in Kansas City this season despite back-to-back Super Bowl wins and a glistening 15-1 record, but they overcame a difficult path to AFC’s top seed, including three games in the last 11 days.
“There's only one way you beat a challenge, you just take it head on, man,” tight end Travis Kelce said. “I’ve got a lot of love for Coach Reid and the way he's challenged us throughout this process, these last three games, and how he's challenged us all year. We don't get 15 wins without the leadership of that guy right there.”
But the Chiefs rose to meet the challenge.
“Nobody said, ‘This is hard;’ nobody complained,” McDuffie said. “It was just like, ‘Let's just go out there and win all three games.’”
Kansas City won at Cleveland on Dec. 15, topped Houston six days later at home then overpowering the Steelers on three days’ rest in Pittsburgh.
“It showed the toughness of the team and I think we got better as the games went on,” said Patrick Mahomes, who threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns Wednesday afternoon. “The guys, they're mentally tough and they're physically tough. We played some really good football teams, some hard-fought battles, and the guys came away with three wins. Getting that No. 1 seed is important. It's like winning a playoff game, so I was happy to get that done.”
Reid credited his coaching staff for arguably the season’s most dominant performance on Christmas Day.
“Nags with his game plan, putting this together on a short week, that’s a tough thing to do,” Reid said. “Those guys, when they had free time, which it wasn’t a lot, they made sure they got a solid game plan as did Spags with his crew and coaches,” Reid said. “I just think all the coaches did a nice job. Then, the players buying into it on a short week and studying to make sure that they weren't flopping around out there. I thought they were very diligent with that.”
The reward is plenty of rest in the coming days.
Kansas City is locked into the No. 1, so the sole goal Jan. 5 in Denver will be to avoid injuries.
The Chiefs get to skip the Wild Card weekend, so the next significant action won’t come until mid-January.
“Three games in 11 days is crazy for anybody,” McDuffie said, “but I thought we handled it very well. I think the coaches did a good job at physically helping us out, giving us a little more time mentally to do things.”
—
