The Kansas City Chiefs are on the brink of NFL history as they look to become the first team ever to win three straight Super Bowls. Winning back-to-back Super Bowls and making it to a third in three years are already remarkable feats. Those accomplishments are only achieved by the best franchises in professional sports. Right now, every member of the Chiefs is talking about how the team’s culture of winning has led to this moment.
It starts at the top with head coach Andy Reid, who has led the Chiefs to 12 consecutive winning seasons after becoming the team’s coach in 2013. As you would expect a head coach to do, he used his time speaking to the media to highlight how good the team has been all around.
“I’ve been put in leadership positions from the time I was younger, so I was very fortunate that way,” Reid said. “You don’t look ahead in this thing. You’ve got to take care of business every week because of the parity in this league. We just try to take it literally week by week… It’s a conglomeration of all of the hard work that the guys have put in. Whether it’s coaches and players, there’s so much time and effort that goes into each game… I wouldn’t say it’s one thing that jumps out at me. I’d just say it’s that whole body of work. Ya know, three years of work in this league, it’s like dog years. There’s a lot that goes into it.”
There isn’t just one person who receives all the credit for this level of success. Every player and coach needs to do their job in order to win as much as Kansas City does. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes recognized that organizational excellence has led to this run of success for the Chiefs.
“I know how blessed I am to be in the organization and on the football team that I’m on,” explained Mahomes during a February 5th press conference. “It’s a culture that has been set by coach Reid. Throughout the whole organization, it’s about winning. It doesn’t matter how it’s done. It’s about coming to work every single day, and leaving it all on the football field, and winning football games. I think that’s what has kind of made us so successful over the last few years. Hopefully, we can carry on that tradition.”
Even newcomers understand that the Chiefs do things differently than other franchises. Wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who was traded to KC in October, described the environment as a “championship culture.”
“I’ve never been on a team that has won Super Bowls. It’s a championship culture,” Hopkins said. “I mean, it’s really not that complicated, honestly. It’s just a championship culture here, man.”
“You see the opportunities you’re going to get, and you never know what’s going to be your last one,” Mahomes added. “To be able to be in the Super Bowl again is always special… It’s been a heck of a run, and hopefully, we can continue as my career goes on.”
It’s quite likely that Patrick Mahomes will make it back to another Super Bowl after this one. He is only 29 years old and is already playing in his fifth Super Bowl. Either way, it’ll take organizational superiority from top to bottom to continue winning championships, something the Chiefs are built to do.