The 2023 regular season is in the rearview for the Kansas City Chiefs as they set their sights on another Lombardi trophy. A constant conversation throughout the year has been the inconsistent production from the offense mixed with the dominance of the resurgent defensive unit.
Chiefs safety Justin Reid has preached the potential greatness of his unit dating back to training camp. He has been looked upon as a leader in the secondary during his two seasons in Kansas City and has seen the balance of strength on the team favor the offense in 2022. He spoke about the dynamic of the two sides during his press conference with reporters on Wednesday.
“A beautiful thing about defense is, it doesn’t matter what the score of the game is, doesn’t matter if you’re up, you’re down, the mission is always the same,” Reid explained. “Go out and stop them. Don’t let them get first downs, don’t let them drop the ball, get a turnover whenever you can. So we know we don’t have to worry about, kind of like, (the) four-minute offense to worry about the clock or whatever.
“The mission is always the same. And that’s to get the ball back to our offense as many times as possible. So I think that we have a very special group. I set that since training camp, and I’m happy that the rest of the world has got to see it, too. But it’s not about again, not about what we’ve done already. It’s about what we’re going to do. So we’re going to prepare for it.”
The Chiefs’ defense has received praise in many different metrics as one of the best in the NFL this season, improving yearly under defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. The unit’s success, however, hasn’t soured their mindset of the offense during their struggles in 2023.
