Patrick Mahomes and many Kansas City Chiefs starters have enjoyed a nice rest before their first playoff game.
After defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers 29-10 in Week 17, the Chiefs secured the AFC’s No. 1 seed and a bye in the postseason. With nothing to play for, Kansas City elected to rest their players in Week 18, giving them two weekends off of football.
On Monday, former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick joined ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” to discuss what it is like to have a bye in the playoffs. He shared a congratulatory message to the Chiefs and Lions before diving in.
“Well, look, it’s great to be a one seed,” Belichick said. “Congratulations to Kansas City and Detroit for winning the playoff game last because that’s effectively what happened. They move on to the next round without even having to play, and that’s a great situation.”
The new North Carolina Tar Heels head coach proceeded to mention how the Divisional Round matchups unfold for the No. 1 seeds.
“But I’ll say this, when your the No. 1 seed like those two teams were, you have the least amount of predictability on who you’re going to play,” Belichick added. “So, if any of the wild-card teams win, you can play them, whoever the lowest seed is. If all the wild-card teams lose, then you play the lowest, then you play the lowest division seed. So you can end up playing a four, five, six or seven seed based on how the weekend comes out. I’d say from that standpoint, there’s less predictability on who you’re going to play as the No. 1 seed.”
Both Belichick and Chiefs coach Andy Reid know what it takes to earn the No. 1 seed. Throughout their careers, both coaches have clinched the top seed seven times.
Still, Reid has a lot of catching up to do if he wants to reach the heights of Belichick, who won six Super Bowls alongside Tom Brady with the Patriots.
The Chiefs will battle the Houston Texans in the quarterfinals on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET.
