Chiefs coach Andy Reid hints at making this offensive tweak after loss to Bills

Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid shared a general disappointment Monday following KC’s 30-21 road loss to the Buffalo Bills:

His team’s offense wasn’t as sharp as it needed to be when facing a top opponent.

“We can do better as coaches of making sure our guys can be put in positions to do better and to maybe back off a little bit on certain things that we’ve been doing,” Reid said Monday, “to help the players out so that they can play a little bit faster.”

Following a rewatch — and meeting with his coaches Monday — Reid hinted that the Chiefs would be looking into simplifying parts of the offense.

Specifically, Reid said his team might start to use motions and shifts less before the snap while hoping to declutter the operation.

“They’re little things,” Reid said, “but sometimes little things can add up.”

The shift could make some sense, given the Chiefs’ offensive personnel.

Three of KC’s top players, receivers DeAndre Hopkins and JuJu Smith-Schuster and running back Kareem Hunt, were late additions and not with the team at training camp. Wideout Xavier Worthy is also a 21-year-old rookie in his first NFL season.

A change like this also would align with what has helped the Chiefs in the past.

The most notable example was last season following a Christmas Day home loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy later said after that defeat Chiefs coaches met in an effort to “make things easier for the players schematically.” KC’s coaches shortened their play calls and limited substitutions. They also worked to get calls in quicker, hoping to make their pre-snap process more efficient.

It worked, with the Chiefs winning the rest of their games on their way to a victory in Super Bowl LVIII.

Reid also might be motivated to mix up the offense after seeing his team’s most successful drive in the fourth quarter. With the Chiefs down nine against the Bills, quarterback Patrick Mahomes engineered a 10-play, 70-yard touchdown march with the Chiefs using more of a hurry-up format.

“That was one of the positives,” Reid said, “and that’s something that I can help giving my guys an opportunity to be able to do those things.”

Reid, after self-evaluation, also admitted Monday he “might have been a little too conservative early on” with his play-calling against the Bills.

“But this is what we’re capable of doing,” Reid said of the late touchdown drive. “And it’s important that we get it down to where we can do that consistently.”

KC, at 9-1, remains in an enviable position. The Chiefs remain at the top in the race for the AFC’s No. 1 seed, while also two games clear of any AFC West opponent.

Sunday’s result still stung. It was the first time the Chiefs had lost since that Christmas game against the Raiders in 2023 — a span that lasted 328 days.

Reid said Monday that his team needed to “dig in” following the setback.

“These should hurt. You spend a lot of time in preparation for these games, and effort,” Reid said. “So you’ve gotta reach inside as coaches and players — not just the players here — but you’ve got to figure out the problems and work to solve them.”