What I REID Into It

January 15, 2022

Now that the longest regular season in NFL history has come to an end it’s time for the Kansas City Chiefs to begin the work that needs to be done to go back to the Super Bowl. The Chiefs have already made it back to a number of familiar goals as they enter the post-season.

The Chiefs are back in the AFC Playoffs, back to being the AFC’s #2 seed just like in a 2019 post-season run that ended in Super Bowl 54. On top of that the Chiefs are back to hosting a playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers just like in 2017 and in 1994. The Chiefs came up short on January 15, 2017 falling to the Steelers 18-16. A better memory for Chiefs fans came from the January 8, 1994 meeting when the Chiefs beat the Steelers 27-24 in overtime.

Just like four times during the regular season the Chiefs are back on Sunday Night Football in American seen each week on NBC. Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth will provide nationwide coverage of the Chiefs/Steelers Wild Card playoff game. This is a rematch of a regular season game played just three weeks ago on Sunday, Dec. 26 that saw the Chiefs roar out to a 30-0 lead on the Steelers on the way to an Easy 36-10 home victory.

The Chiefs enter following a 12-5 regular season and another AFC West Division Championship. The Steelers enter following a 9-7-1 regular season that saw them finish second in the AFC North to the Cincinnati Bengals. Both teams know the post-season well as the Chiefs are led by QB Patrick Mahomes who will be starting his ninth post-season game. Mahomes has started two Super Bowl games and so has Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger.

Heading into post-season play injuries are always a concern for teams especially after the long 17 game 2021 season. The Chiefs got good news about a number of their injured starters this week. On Wednesday everyone practiced including TE Travis Kelce, WR Tyreek Hill and RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire who were all on the injury list just last week. The Steelers are also relatively healthy even after a bruising 16-13 overtime win at Baltimore last week just to make the playoffs.

The Chiefs just three weeks ago showed everyone their talent level compared to the Steelers. The post-season is a whole different scene than the regular season so one can expect the Chiefs will not sprint out to a 30-0 lead like before. Despite the proud nature of the veteran-led Steelers the Chiefs goal of going back to the Super Bowl will continue with another home playoff win this one by a closer margin.

That’s What I REID Into It for this week.