Reid has consistently donned his rose-colored playoff glasses week after week, insisting that the Chiefs could get back on track if they could fix some small details.
Yesterday the Chiefs coach got closer to acknowledging the obvious, which is that his team is in serious trouble, and Reid also owned up to a couple of coaching mistakes he made in the fourth quarter with a pair of high-risk conversion attempts on fourth down.
The one he took with ten minutes left and the Chiefs deep in their own terrify was the more painful of the two. Facing a fourth-and-1 from their own 31, Reid elected to throw, and the pass from Patrick Mahomes to receiver Rashee Rice fell incomplete incomplete.
"I put the guys, offensively, in a tough position with the fourth downs [calls]," Reid said in a story written by Nate Taylor of ESPN. "I was trying to stay aggressive with it. I take full responsibility for that. I thought we could get it. It's important that you take advantage of opportunities. In hindsight, it was wrong. I messed that one up."
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes tried to defend Reid, as he always does. Mahomes had one of the worst statistical nights of his career behind a battered offensive line, and it was Will Anderson Jr. who pressured the Chiefs quarterback into throwing the ball into Houston’s sticky zone defense before Rice was able to come open.
"They did a good job of passing off the crossers," Mahomes said. "I tried to get the ball to Rashee. I think I was a little late. [Texans cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.] made a great play breaking on the ball. We just have to execute at a higher level in those big moments. It's something we haven't done this year."
Mahomes is right about the execution. The Chiefs made big mistakes throughout this game, and with Rice and tight end Travis Kelce dropping balls they typically catch with ease.
The quarterback also defended his tight end, who has had an up-and-down season, as Kelce refused to take questions. Instead he left that to Mahomes, who clearly sees the writing on the wall.
"Every season I've had with him these last few years, I try to cherish because you never know [if this will be his last]," Mahomes said of Kelce, a 13-year veteran. "He got himself in great shape this year and he's played great football. He'll have the option to do whatever he wants to do after this season, but I know one thing: He'll give everything he has for the rest of this season to try to give us a chance to make a playoff run. We know the chances are getting lower and lower."