How Chiefs Keep Level Heads as Ominous Waves Approach

“It's about consistency,” center Creed Humphrey said Wednesday. “It's about showing up every day, about coming in on game day, executing, doing your job, things like that. The ship's not sinking or anything. We're still right where we need to be. Just making sure we're coming in and improving each week.”

The captain of the U.S.S. Kansas City Chiefs is tired of talking about it, too. Patrick Mahomes said Wednesday that the secret isn’t marine biology. It’s simply understanding that the self-inflicted setbacks they’ve made this season can’t continue to happen, especially when they’re 1-6 in close games.

“More than anything,” Mahomes said, “we just got to execute a higher level. And I thought we've done a lot of good things, but at the same time, we made a lot of mistakes that we haven't been able to overcome.

“And so, we gotta be better and those bigger moments, not make those mistakes, and at the end of day, go prove it. You got to prove it on game day, and that's something that I believe we can do.”

Why they believe it

They believe they can do it because they’ve done it before. All-Pro cornerback Trent McDuffie said the Chiefs will tap into their December pedigree, including Patrick Mahomes’ 29-7 career regular-season record in games Dec. 1 and later.

Watch McDuffie Discuss Below

“You play your best football in December,” he said Wednesday. “And the attitude around here is understanding where we're at, that we have a shot. We're still in the hunt, and we just take it week-by-week, game-by-game, and make sure we go out there and execute our gameplan so that we do have a shot when it comes to playoffs.”

December football

Since Andy Reid took the reins of the Chiefs in 2013, the Chiefs are 46-16 (.742), including 10 consecutive winning records from Dec. 1 and forward. The last time the Chiefs had less than a winning record in those months was 2014, when they went 2-2.

That season, not coincidentally, also was the last time Kansas City missed the playoffs. To avoid such a significant disappointment this year, Reid said they can’t sit in denial. They need to be honest with themselves.

“I'm big on reality,” Reid explained Wednesday. “What's real? Why are we where we are? What can we do to fix that? So, that's what I look at. And try to give the guys that, so they have something to work on.

“Likewise, as a coach, that's how I look at it for myself, or the coaches. Where are the problems? And let's work on fixing those. And if you do that, takes your energy to get it right, and that's what we're striving to do.”

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