KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With the Kansas City Chiefs mired in a three-game losing streak and dropping five of their last six games, head coach Andy Reid knows that fundamentals and Xs and Os can only take his team so far without the mental fortitude necessary to pull themselves out of the rut.
“We have a good locker room and guys get along well,” Reid said. “It doesn’t mean they aren’t emotional and want to win, everyone wants to win. That’s part of this game. It’s an emotional game. We have a very close locker room.”
Reid reiterated again his belief that every player and coach owns a piece of the losing streak and that not all falls on the shoulders of quarterback Alex Smith.
“I think it’s not just Alex,” Reid said. “I think people do that, and I told you that I’ve got to get better at doing my part. Each position has got to do better. This is a team game and so everybody has a piece of the pie.”
The numbers somewhat support Reid’s contention. Smith found his name in the league’s MVP discussion when the Chiefs stood 5-0. He passed for 1,391 yards with 11 touchdowns to zero interceptions with a passer rating of 125.8. During the last six games, Smith has passed for 1,482 yards with eight touchdowns and four interceptions with an 88.6 rating. That’s still above his career mark of 86.9.
Smith said he takes responsibility for his own mistakes during the losing streak that have hurt his team. That self-evaluation also convinces him that the team remains close to putting things back other on offense.
“I take a chunk of plays for me that definitely could have been better,” Smith. “It is the little things on all of them. I felt like the margins are that little in this league. That is the difference between playing really well and then not and then losing games.”
For Smith, turning things around starts with greater attention to detail.
“Obviously, quarterback play starts with your eyes and your feet,” Smith said. “Those have to be in the right place and I have to be on time. You have to go out there and play, certainly. You just have to go play. There are a certain amount of plays that go as rehearsed. And then there’s a huge chunk that don’t. Then you have to use your instincts and fundamentals to go out there.”
Reid does not feel that Smith and his teammates are pressing, but he does believe the losing streak has their attention.
“I think there’s an urgency,” Reid said. “We want to do better than what we’re doing. Nobody, I think you know this, you’re in this business, nobody wants to lose. That’s not why they’re in this business. So everybody’s trying to do their best to win the game. I see that. We’ve just got to do a little better. Again, that’s my responsibility so it starts there and everybody has a piece of it.”