Chiefs show respect, empathy for Belichick
FOXBOROUGH – Andy Reid is no stranger to laying a humiliating defeat on Bill Belichick and the Patriots.
In 2014, his Chiefs beat the Patriots, 41-14, on national television, after which analyst Trent Dilfer and the media buried Tom Brady and the Patriots’ dynasty as dead and gone.
In 2017, the Chiefs came into Foxborough and spoiled the Patriots’ fifth Super Bowl banner celebration, blowing them off the field, 42-27.
But Sunday afternoon’s game at Gillette Stadium was different. The Chiefs had a chance to blow out Belichick and the Patriots, and instead took pity.
The Chiefs won handily, 27-17, but kept the score respectable. With two minutes remaining, sitting on the 4-yard line, Reid took a knee three straight times instead of punching the ball into the end zone.
“I mean, it was the right thing to do,” Reid said.
The kneel-downs even gave the Patriots the ball back with 35 seconds left. But Reid knew the Patriots wouldn’t try any last-minute maneuvers.
Reid took his cues from Belichick, who had punted from midfield early in the fourth quarter, then sat on a timeout at the end. Belichick already had given up. The game was over.
Reid could have tacked on another score and made all the hometown fans who took the Chiefs minus-10½ points a lot happier. But Reid has too much respect for Belichick, his old rival.
It’s already bad enough for Belichick without Reid running up the score. The Patriots dropped to 3-11 with the loss, Belichick’s worst record in 24 years as head coach.
It’s increasingly looking as if Belichick will be fired at the end of the season.
No one likes to see a legendary coach fall apart like this. Certainly not Reid, who is 5-7 all time against Belichick but 5-3 with the Chiefs.
Reid spent a good chunk of his postgame press conference serving as Belichick’s press secretary.
“This Patriot team is so close,” Reid said. “Their number of losses against one score is crazy [seven].
Number 1 in the league there, and that defense, Steve [Belichick] and his crew, they’ve done a nice job with that defense. They’re salty.”
The Chiefs didn’t help
Belichick’s cause by winning. But they spent much of the postgame defending Belichick and singing his praises. It was almost as if they were speaking directly to Robert Kraft and the fan base, urging everyone to show more patience for Belichick.
“I just got all the respect in the world for that guy,” said Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who was held to five catches for 28 yards. “Every single time I go up against him it’s the toughest job in the NFL, to go up against a Belichick defense.”
This is a Chiefs team that doesn’t exactly love the Patriots. They lost an epic AFC Championship game in the 2018 season to Tom Brady and Belichick, 37-31, in overtime. They are now chasing the Patriots’ dynasty, with two Super Bowls and counting. Reid is only 38 coaching wins behind Belichick on the all-time list.
But the Chiefs see what’s happening to Belichick — the losses piling up, the weekly rumors about his job, the damage to his legacy — and did their best to stem the tide of negativity.
Reid called Belichick the “best in the business, ever. Nobody better, not that I’ve gone against.”
Patrick Mahomes, 3-1 against Belichick with three straight wins, was asked if he was more focused than usual this week following the Chiefs’ second straight loss.
“I think I’m always this focused when I’m playing against Coach Belichick . . . because how great of a coach he is,” Mahomes said.
The Chiefs’ support for Belichick was noble and a true sign of respect for a man who has accomplished more than any head coach in modern NFL history.
“I got a feeling that guy still has some football left in him,” Kelce said.
It was also a sad sign of how far Belichick and the Patriots have fallen. Gone are the days of visiting teams celebrating raucously after winning in Gillette.
Now they just pack up and leave.