Andy Reid: Loss to Raiders on Christmas 'a good wake-up call'

The AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs had ups and downs during the regular season, and their struggles were on full display during a stunning Week 16 home loss to the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas Day.

But the Chiefs, who had lost four of six games at that point, bounced back and are 5-0 since then, including the playoffs. Additionally, Kansas City's offense looks more like the explosive unit that helped Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, and Co. win multiple Super Bowls.

"That was a good wake-up call for us," Reid said Monday about his team's loss to Las Vegas.

Reid said the energy from Raiders players might have inspired the Chiefs down the season's final stretch.

"They came out with great emotion," Reid said. "(Coach) Antonio (Pierce) had them ready to go. But that emotion was the thing that jumped out at you, that they played with. I think it gave our guys a nice little, for (lack of) a better term, wake-up call, that we need to step things up here, that things aren't just going to fall in our lap. ... Here's a team that went through some adversity, and they stepped up and were able to present themselves like they did.

"We were able to learn from it and move on. I felt all along, though, we had the ability to do that. We just, like I said, we needed a little kick in the tail there."

Since that loss at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs have won four games with their starters while averaging 23.7 points per contest, up from roughly 20 points over their previous appearances. Reid's outfit also took down the Los Angeles Chargers 13-12 in Week 18 while resting its main offensive players.

The Chiefs entered the 2023 season as the reigning Super Bowl champs and with the NFL's top-ranked offense. However, the offensive unit dropped out of the top 10 in scoring for the first time in the Mahomes era. Kansas City finished the campaign with an 11-6 record, its most losses since 2017.

Meanwhile, KC's defense has put on a show all year to help the club win despite its offensive inconsistency. The defensive unit most recently held MVP front-runner Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens to 10 points in the AFC title game to lead the Chiefs to their fourth Super Bowl appearance in the last five seasons.

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