Kansas City Coach Andy Reid Looking To Add To Incredible Post-Bye Record

Most people go on vacation to get away from work, but Kansas City Chiefs' head coach Andy Reid obviously goes on vacation to go to work.

How else to explain the longtime Chiefs' mentor's incredible record in games coming out of the bye week?

Reid's ability to get his teams to play winning football after a week off has become legendary. Counting his 14-year tenure with the Philadelphia Eagles, in 27 years as an NFL head coach, Reid has a 22-5 regular-season record in games coming out of a bye, an .815 winning percentage that is bested only by John Harbaugh's .833, though Harbaugh has posted a 15-3 post-bye record in one-third fewer games than Reid.

When you add in Reid's 11-4 postseason post-bye record counting games after wild-card weeks off and following the two-week breaks before the Super Bowl, his overall 33-9 record gives him a .786 winning percentage with extra time to prepare for a game.

In a 2021 interview of Reid conducted by Myles Simmons of NBC Sports, Reid claimed there's no secret sauce that enables his teams to consistently play winning football coming out of a bye.

“Oh, I get asked that every year,” Reid said at the time. “I’m not sure what it is. We go back and we try to redo everything and make better corrections, but I don’t know if there’s any secret there. I think everybody kind of does that.”

With that in mind, rest assured that Reid is already deeply immersed in a pinpoint evaluation of what he's seen from the Chiefs over the first four weeks and what needs to be fixed or tweaked moving forward.

Granted, there has been more bad than good as Kansas City entered its week off with a perfect 4-0 record, but from this perspective, there are three areas that Reid may be paying special attention to before the Chiefs return to action on Sunday, Oct. 18, at Arrowhead Stadium against the Los Angeles Chargers.

1. An offensive line that is allowing too much pressure on quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Though the Chiefs improved to 4-0 on Sunday with a pulsating 30-27 road win over the Las Vegas Raiders, a season-long trend continued as the offensive line continued to have problems protecting Mahomes.

The root of the problem appears to be the continued absence of left tackle Josh Simmons, who is suffering from a bulging disc in his back. Rookie Kahlil Watson has filled in admirably, but opposing defensive ends have begun to figure him out and are generating more sustained pressure on Mahomes. Career backup Mike Caliendo is now operating at left guard, which puts more pressure on standout center Creeds Humphrey to maintain his high level of play from snap to snap.

Through four games, the OL group has been better at run blocking as running back Kenneth Walker III leads the league with 537 yards rushing and he already has two 170-yard-plus games.

A return to health from Simmons and a more stable interior will help the Chiefs as they move forward after the bye.

2. A pass rush that is not generating enough sacks.

Things looked hunky-dory for the Chiefs' defensive line in Week One when the unit rolled up four sacks of Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix with nine pressures, three hurries and three knockdowns as Kansas City coasted to an easy 31-10 victory.

Since then, however, it's been mostly crickets in the opposing team's backfield when it comes to sack generation.

In subsequent games against the Indianapolis Colts, Miami Dolphins and the Raiders - granted, all victories - the Chiefs have recorded zero sacks. To be honest, the Chiefs are still pressuring the opposing quarterback at an acceptable rate with George Karlaftis III recording seven hits against Raiders' QB Kirk Cousins, the highest total for any player in a regular-season game since Pro Football Focus began tracking the stat in 2021, while adding an NFL season-high-tying 11 pressures.

In total, though, the Chiefs have not put the opposing QB on the ground enough, with rookie linemen R Mason Thomas and Peter Woods still looking to fully gain their NFL sea legs.

3. Building and utilizing a downfield passing game.

This conundrum appeared to be on the verge of being solved on Sunday as receiver Tyquan Thornton was in the midst of fashioning the best game of his career with five receptions for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Then he suffered a brutal dislocated ankle after hauling in a 55-yard pass; the injury, which admittedly could have been worse, will shelve him for 12-16 weeks.

Which puts the focus back on Xavier Worthy. The third-year receiver still has the speed to take the top off a defense, but he still has not proven he can do it consistently.

Worthy did have his most productive game of the season in Las Vegas, with four catches for 70 yards, but that gives him just 14 receptions for 133 yards (9.5 average per catch) after four weeks following a combined 10 grabs for 63 yards over the first three weeks. Reid has to expect more from Worthy.

All in all, though, the fixes Reid needs to make are straightforward. Thanks to Walker's instant impact in the backfield, Travis Kelce's bounce-back season, Mahomes' reliable magic and a defense that is bending some but not breaking too often, the Chiefs find themselves in an enviable position.

And with the currently winless Chargers up next, it's easy to expect Reid to put the fixes in place and Kansas City to come out with another post-bye victory on Oct. 18.