Organizational Intelligence
 

I am continually amazed at how smart this team is. I think this team walked in to Baltimore and housed their bitch asses. Not because they overwhelmed it with talent - they were way more talented than us. Not because of effort. They were PUMPED. The reffing was pretty consistent, they obviously had home field, the weather wasn't a huge factor. We beat them because we were way smarter than they are. Very Belichickian.

Now we know Andy is a great play designer and same with Spags, who if he has talent has always been successful. But even then, we all crushed Andy for dumb stuff. And for a long time, we weren't that team. The Luck game doesn't happen to this team.

And the players are huge here. Kelce used to be good for a dumbass play or penalty a game. Now he's the smartest player on the field most of the time. Mahomes is the smartest QB in the league. Sneed definitely baited Flowers on the taunting, he held his leg for just a tick too long and Flowers went over the edge. Same with Kelce baiting his PF. Mahomes was yelling at his guys "finish but under control" so he (probably they) recognized that pushing past the whistle will blow the game like the Ravens did. Add in stuff like Pacheco continuing his route when Mahomes ran to pull his defender out of the play against Buffalo just warms my soul.

So how do we get from where we were to where we are now? I know Andy is a good coach and fosters learning and intelligence. And I know older players get smarter as they age, but the secondary in particular is really young. Is it just winning? Do players listen to Mahomes in a different way than they did Alex because he's awesome? Do players buy into the whole organization because of success?

Or is it something else? Is Mahomes just that ****ing good that he covers all the mistakes and it just appears that we're smart? I don't believe that, but I think it has an impact. Mahomes allows some flexibility, but **** this team is good.

Anyway, it is a lot of fun rooting for a smart football team (especially after watching mouth breathers like Squimin Herman Mother****ing Sack of **** Edwards) and watch ****hole teams like the Ravens(and if I'm being honest - preMahomes Chiefs - sadly.

What do you guys think?

Listening to all the info and podcasts I could this week about the game and such.....I think it's continuity and leadership.

That was always the thing with the Patriot run stuff. They'd lose some staff here and there but they always kept the main cogs in it moving together. They were cohesive but not nepotistic...you constantly had to "kill to eat" so the edges stayed sharp.

But one thing that goes unnoticed and we don't talk about..when other teams and organizations are having to decide on hires and philosophies, the best organizations are drilling down on the minutia things....focusing on the right stuff I suppose.

Then you have the respect and reverence Andy brings and then what Kelce and Pat bring and guys just follow and feed off it.

It's just a perfect storm of leadership, brains and commitment. EVERYONE is on the same page and if they are not, they are not on the field (looking at you Toney...)

This team picks each other up, believes in each other but does not tolerate dumbassery. We've had a "down" year that is better than most teams' good to great years. And we're in the SB because of it.

This team has become inevitable. And that stuff feeds on itself. The Chiefs are the truth. That is all.

You answered your own question, the answer is...

D - all of the above

The second half was all about leaning into the defense.

In years past they never would have been that conservative on offense, and it might have cost them the game.

The Chiefs just KNEW they didn't have to score again until it was a one-score game, and they didn't press the issue. They waited to play their trump card until they absolutely had to.

And we have a pretty good trump card.

Overall playoff sideline atmosphere tells the whole story, even back to last years SB.
That's coaching and attitude.

Plus, our leaders are vocal and back it up on the field.

At some point it's almost unfair to the teams we're playing, because none of them have as much playoff experience as us, except Buffalo at this point.

And we just keep stacking playoff experience for younger players now.

And Spags and Reid and a lot of their assistants have all been here since 2019.

The absolute weight of that iceberg just gets on top of teams and crushes them when the Chiefs have an advantage in a game. The only thing that stops it is turnovers and penalties.

The consistently great, almost always in the playoff mix franchises of the last two decades before we came along, were basically the Steelers, Patriots and Ravens

And they all shared a few common traits, with a few exceptions

Consistency at head coach
A franchise or borderline franchise QB
They all primarily drafted and developed their talent
And they were never afraid to cut an aging, expensive star

Pats and Steelers had the coaching consistency, Baltimore less so but it wasn't a total revolving door with them

Steelers didn't always have Big Rape, but they were still in the hunt every damn year with guys like Kordell Stewart, Charlie Batch etc

Ravens had Flacco for the second SB, a borderline franchise guy at his peak

Bill had Brady of course, but Bledsoe got things started for them

And ALL of those franchises were never too sentimental about ditching long in the tooth stars who priced themselves off the roster

Now we have all of those same traits that produce dynastic results

Coaching stability
Elite quarterback
Savvy drafting and roster mgmt
Never overpay an aging superstar, unless he's your QB

Seems like they have a good idea of who they want on the team, and perhaps more importantly, who they don't want on the team. They've had a couple loose cannons on social media, but for the most part come off as very business like.

Overall, I'd say like the shirts they were wearing the other day.... everyone is all in. Offensive line is ****ed? Go fix it. Defense is costing games? Go fix it. Mahomes is working out guys in the offseason and I'd really have to guess has a lot of say in things. And I'd have to guess that's leadership first and foremost and knowing your role from day one... what you're doing there, how to succeed, etc, etc. They aren't an organization that wouldn't have a clue what to do if it snowed and players had to get to practice.

Back on board I see.

This post gave me a BONER

Huh? Baltimore is not way more talented than this team. A few cooked vets on defense having career years and their QB has made ZERO strides at all in his career. Chiefs are better at HC, QB, and on defense. That's all you need in the playoffs. Other than Zay, those skill positions they have no legit threats with Andrews cooked and OBJ washed up. Likely fluke ass did nothing.

QB Chiefs
RB Chiefs
Wr/TE Chiefs
OL Chiefs
DL Chiefs
LB Ravens by a hair
Secondary Chiefs
HC Chiefs

Does that look like a far mote talented team to you? They FEASTED on turnover differential all year and the Chiefs had a huge negative turnover difference....look what happened when they lost it.

Agreed. The Ravens were just the Ravens this year, same as any other except for a weaker AFC conference.

This is an absolutely loaded Chiefs team that's overlooked somehow now talent wise due to fluke turnover luck all year (that's flipped in the playoffs)

HOF QB
Dynamic RB
Elite O line
HOF TE
Stud rookie WR
All Pro DT
2 All Pro CBs
4 deep LBs

This is FAR from some plucky underdog story ROFL It's a 14 to 15 win team with 4 or 5 total plays going the other way.

you left our 13-sack defensive end, wrecking crew linebackers and cagey hard hitting safeties, and our elite special teams

Kicked the shit out of Tyreek in round one, go to Buffalo and dick punch them in their own house, then go to Baltimore and shut Lamar the hell down and watch Mahomes and Kelce play literally perfect games. All this a few weeks after getting fisted by Vegas. It makes no sense.

They just flip the switch, and they beat whoever they want. They have another level that normal teams just don’t have. It’s almost spiritual at this point. They are playing on a different wavelength than other franchises. It’s just incredible to watch.

It all starts with Clark hunt. The guy took his gig and he went out and made the flashiest move possible. He hired Scott pioli who before we knew anything about the patriot way bullshit was the Michael Jordan of gm candidates. It sounds ridiculous in hindsight but we forget that he wasn't ****ing around from the very beginning. Even though he fell under piolis spell he listened to the fan revolt and he went and put the full court press on Andy Reid. He made damn sure Reid wasn't leaving kc without a contract. And Reid jumped because he believes in the family culture hunt would build after a few tough personal and professional years in Philly.

From there Andy Reid took a winning team and a very good QB and decided that wasn't good enough. With full support from the org he went out and grabbed Patrick mahomes. And then Clark looked at the cap and realized that the guy who built a real good roster wasn't good enough to get the job done, so we fired Dorsey and brought in veach. Both of these moves probably don't occur without full blessing from Andy Reid. And then mahomes extends because the culture is perfect for him. KC is tailor made for a Texas boy. I kinda think it's a little luck that the cornerstones of our franchise, Kelce and mahomes, both also happen to be GOATworthy purely from a leadership standpoint.

When you start with the right culture all the pieces fall into place. It's why we are often picky about the big personalities we bring in. And it's why this team has played confident even when it was easy to point fingers at each other.

But you are right they are an EXTREMELY intelligent organization as well and that's the difference between them and other elite teams

Yeah, had to give a shout out to Clark hunt because he's surrounded himself with so much greatness people forget his role in all of this. It's a fine line as an owner between giving a shit and micromanaging and he straddles that line perfectly. There was a time in the pioli era where we thought he was kinda both. Managed the team from Texas yet micromanaged decisions. He surrounded himself with a leader in reid that more represented what he stood for and the rest is history. Dude cares a lot, he's very good at this but he also knows to trust the experts even when those guys suggest firing very important members of the "family"

Yep. Lamar is...Lamar. No growth, no change, same dude, just more experienced. But he's largely the same guy.

It's funny how everyone was convinced the Chiefs took a step back, when really they were struggling with a new setup that took them longer to sort out than usual.

Holy shit we'll be awesome next season. Gotta get this SB, because a 3-peat is a definite possibility.

14-6 this year and look how much had to go wrong for it not to be 17-3 or 18-2 ROFL

13-5
15-4
16-2 (chargers, no)
14-6
17-3
14-6

an epic run of sporting greatness

You forgot the "Dad" bod. That was the key.:)

When your highest paid player, who doesn’t need more money , who already has two ring and HOF resume is still working his ass off in the offseason/during the season it helps bring the rest of the team into a similar mindset .

Moe Mantha told me about being traded the oilers while Greztky/messier the whole gang was still there and the first time he met Wayne it was not a friendly hi welcome to the team etc.. it was “ we are not going to play down to your level , we expect you to raise your game to ours” something like that and if you don’t we will find someone who will, he had few good stories about going to the playboy mansion too not really sports related but seeing that can help motivate guys to achieve excellence I’m sure.

Reid's demeanor is a huge factor. Players listen and don't have unnecessary fear of a little mistake killing their career like a Bill Belichick.

Dang, I didn't realize Gretzky could be like that. He seems like a pretty nice guy in the interviews.

I mean, we already knew that. It's why I said the regular season really doesn't matter as long as we make the tourney. Once there, I like our chances against anyone.

It was different this year, though. We had to go on the road to do it and we simply never looked that good in the regular season. Usually we have a stretch of play that makes you think ‘Ok, this team can win it all.’ We never really had that this year, they just looked off all season.

It was more of a gradual switch in earlier years. This time, it was instantaneous. They just nutted up and made it happen in the toughest of circumstances we’ve faced in the Mahomes era. It was damn impressive.

It was always mental. Catching the ****ing football isn't that damned difficult and it's the exact same guys we had doing it last year and leading the league in offense. They were just shitting the bed for a while with stupid mistakes and it seemed like everyone expected someone else to make the big play.

Well, there was no one else. I guess they finally realized that if they shit the bed in the playoffs there was no savior coming - they're just responsible for tanking a Pat Mahomes led offense in the playoffs.

They did bench 2 of the guys who were causing problems (Toney & Moore). MVS has stepped up his game in the Playoffs, which is nice to see. I would say Rice has stepped up his game as well. He had some fumbles and drops during the first half of the season.

Mahomes & Kelce have certainly stepped up their game in the Playoffs. Patrick is avoiding the dumb throws into tight coverage, while Kelce seems more focused on catching the ball and hanging on to it for dear life.

Everyone involved will need to bring one more day of very strong focus, very strong execution to avoid the stupid mistakes that killed them in so many games earlier this season.

I dunno that I agree with that. In the playoffs, sure, but over the 17 game season, no.

QB - Chiefs (obviously)

RB - Chiefs but not by as big of a margin as you'd think CEH was getting snaps.

WR/TE - Kelce is GOAT and inject rice into my veins, but they have Likely who is good (I'm not even counting Andrews - much to the dismay of the douchbag fans that were here). Flowers OBJ and Agholor are probably better than Rice MVS and Watson. They've been awesome in the playoffs but our WR have 17 other games of pure ass. Ours performed better than theirs - which is the whole crux of the post. But on paper their guys are better.

OL - Ravens. I love our guys, and again, their performance in the playoffs has been better, but over the 17 games, Nope. Especially when you factor in penalties (Dog**** penalties on Trey Smith notwithstanding)

DL - Chiefs but by hair - their guys are ****ing good.

LB - Ravens

Secondary - I don't know that it's Chiefs. We don't have anybody like Kyle Hamilton. That guy is a ****ing wrecking crew back there. I like Sneed better than their guys, but I don't know if we kept Spags and swapped rosters that the Ravens would be better. Their guys are pretty ****ing good.

HC Chiefs (obviously) although Harbitch has been good there.

Fact of the matter is our roster looked like fire roasted assholes a good chunk of the year, and theirs dominated. Playoffs are different obviously, but this team was ****ing GOOD. And we went in their place and took their cookies.

Yeah, the Miami game is tough because the weather was so ****ing brutal. But we decimated them vs taking a last second Tua brainfart to beat them on a neutral field.

The Ravens game though, especially the first 2 drives were a level of performance that the offense hadn't performed at any time during the regular season.

It is different this year. And I think a lot of it is the Organizational Intelligence in the OP.

I just wish we hadn't let the Broncos win streak end. That's kinda ruined the whole season for me.

I really just can't even get into the SuperBowl.

Moe said the team would not even listen to Sather after games and would wait to hear what Gretz would say etc.. even on the bench Gretz would go after guy “ hey Moose are your going to do something this game “ messier” **** you , what about you do something “ Gretz “ oh ya **** you I’ll show you “ etc.. shit like that after the playboy mansion episode they lost Messier for 2 days , never made the plane back to Edmonton , Sather on the plane was like “ where the **** is moose” Gretz” don’t worry about it , he will be at practice Tuesday”