Ethermac Exchange-Andy Reid deserves the blame for Chiefs' alarming loss to Lions in opener

KANSAS CITY,Ethermac Exchange Mo. – Andy Reid was outcoached.

That hasn’t happened much – if ever – during Big Red’s glorious arrangement with Patrick Mahomes the past few years.

But it happened on Thursday night at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium as the Kansas City Chiefs unfurled their Super Bowl 57 championship banner, then got upstaged and embarrassed in a 21-20 defeat before a national TV audience in prime time.

Sure, the gritty Detroit Lions proved worthy of their preseason hype. And their aggressive coach, Dan Campbell, had his team prepared with the fundamentals to make a statement. Campbell sprung a big surprise, too, calling for a direct snap that worked while in punt formation deep in his own territory early in the game, which kept alive a 14-play TD drive that sent the signal the Lions indeed came to play against the defending champs.

Yet it wasn’t so much that Campbell outfoxed Reid.

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No, Reid outcoached himself with his bizarre game-management decision in crunch time.

Trailing 21-20 and holding three timeouts, before the two-minute warning, Reid went for it on fourth-and-25 while positioned on his own 30-yard line. Even with the history of miracles that we’ve witnessed from Mahomes, this was a bit much, given the risk.

Reid originally intended to go for it on fourth-and-20, but they were backed up by a false start penalty by Jawaan Taylor. The situational hole was dug by a holding penalty by Donovan Smith and a dropped pass by Skyy Moore on preceding plays.

All that funk and Reid went for it anyway, rather than punt to extend the game.

Why?

“I thought we needed to do that,” Reid said during his postgame news conference. “At that particular time, they drove the ball on us…We gave that a shot.”

And it backfired..

Mahomes, bless him, nearly bailed his coach and his team out, rolling left and then heaving a pass that Justin Watson might have…

Incomplete.

The decision was all about desperation. Reid could have flipped the field position, then left it to his defense to come up with a stop to get the ball back to his MVP quarterback. Instead, he opted not to punt and showed absolutely no faith in a defense that, even without All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones, he praised for its effort.

Maybe if Travis Kelce, the All-Pro tight end, was in the lineup, fourth-and-25 could have worked. If the Cheetah, Tyreek Hill, was still a Chief, they would have stood a chance.

But Mahomes was throwing to a receiver, Kadarius Toney, who dropped four passes, including the one in the third quarter that landed gift-wrapped into the hands of rookie safety Brian Branch, who raced 50 yards in returning the pick-six.

And, as great as Mahomes is, this went down on a night when the Chiefs were 0-for-7 on third downs in the second half. This was not trending as a good time to go for it on fourth down.

Surprised by the decision?

“It’s a situation where you’re going to have to get a stop, regardless, three-and-out,” Mahomes said. “Coach Reid decided to put the ball in my hands, and we were close to getting it. Obviously, it didn’t work out. But you’re going to have to get the three-and-out, regardless.”

Reid didn’t elaborate on the specifics of what turned out to be the final offensive play. Asked to shed light on the design of the play, Reid grumbled, “It was designed to complete the son-of-a-gun.”

Of course, the game wasn’t lost on one play. Yet you could see the one play coming on a night when the Chiefs offense just wasn’t clicking, even though Mahomes (21-of-39, 226 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT) threw a few beautiful dimes and made a handful of deft scrambles. It just wasn’t enough.

There were other questionable calls, too, such as a jet sweep to rookie Rashee Rice on the team's penultimate possession in the fourth quarter. The third-and-1 play lost 3 yards, blown up by defensive end Josh Paschal.

But the fourth-and-25 call was incredible on its own. Insulting, too, if you were on the other side.

“No respect,” Lions defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson told USA TODAY Sports. “You’re going for it on fourth-and-20, you’ve got no respect for us.”

Gardner-Johnson allowed that the greatness of Mahomes was an undeniable X-factor in Reid’s decision, but he still didn’t understand the logic.

“That’s not going against the players, it’s the coordinator not thinking we’re going to be prepared in the situation,” Gardner-Johnson said.

Reid has a new offensive coordinator, Matt Nagy, who held the post from 2016-17 and is now replacing the departed Eric Bieniemy. But Reid still calls the plays and makes the decisions on when to go for it on fourth down.

The buck on this one stops with Big Red.

“I just thank A.G. for putting us in the right situation to win the game,” Gardner-Johnson said, referring to Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn.

The right situation. Usually, Reid is one of the best in the NFL when it comes to situational football. Not this time.

Campbell, meanwhile, said his gutsy decision to fake a punt from his own 17-yard line wasn’t so much about needing to send a message or take risks to slay a champion in a hostile environment.

“I think it says I trust my punt team,” Campbell told USA TODAY Sports. “I trusted ‘em, and I’ve got a lot of faith in those guys. It was the right time to do it and the guys executed.”

If only Reid had faith in his defense and punted on fourth-and-25. It might have been the difference that set up another Mahomes comeback.

Then again, Campbell indicated that he wasn’t as stunned as most of us were with Reid’s controversial game-management in crunch time.

“I also know who they’ve got,” Campbell said, referring to Mahomes. “They’ve got that quarterback, and you’ve got three timeouts in your pocket. Actually, I didn’t think it was that bizarre, honestly.”

What?

Standing in a hallway outside the festive, noisy visiting locker room in the bowels of Arrowhead, just as Mahomes walked by headed to the parking lot, Campbell reiterated his point.

“Yeah,” he said. “When you’ve got Mahomes, anything can happen.”

Just not always.