In 2024, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt signed Reid to a contract extension that runs through the 2029 season. Hunt said he expects Reid to coach the entirety of the new deal. The word Hunt used last week to describe Reid was one that took him a few seconds to find.
“He’s reinvigorated,” Hunt said. “Going through multiple years where we were playing in the Super Bowl, creating these really short offseasons, put a lot of stress on him, as well as the entire team, including coaching staff and scouts. He’s really benefited from having some time to really step back and think about [last] season, think about what didn’t go right and think about what kind of changes need to be made.
“I do sense that he’s excited to get started.”
BACK IN JANUARY, several people in the Chiefs organization acknowledged how a number of small issues within the team over the past few years had compounded on top of one another last season.
The Chiefs still had the talent to win games last season: They ranked sixth in points allowed per game, Mahomes had a strong season before getting hurt, and top players on the roster (tight end Travis Kelce, pass rusher Chris Jones and cornerback Trent McDuffie) were still productive. But they fell in key moments in close games -- something they hadn’t done the previous season. They went 1-9 in one-score games, the worst such record in the league. Mahomes, for the first time in his nine-year career, experienced a three-game losing streak as the starter.
“Just from a fatigue standpoint, fatigue wasn’t all physical,” Hunt said. “I think a lot of it was probably mental.”