The Kansas City Chiefs were left for dead on Christmas Day. Having their worst performance of the season in a loss to the Las Vegas Raiders at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs weren't going to have home-field advantage in the conference.
There were doubts outside the Chiefs organization Kansas City would reach the Super Bowl, having to go through Buffalo and Baltimore on the road to emerge out of the AFC. Kansas City won both games en route to winning the Super Bowl.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid told Football Morning in America he texted Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce prior to Super Bowl LVIII, thanking him for the wake-up call for his football team.
"I texted him," Reid said. "I just said, 'Hey, beautiful facility, first of all. And I appreciate you kicking our tail because you taught us a lesson. You get complacent in this business, the margin between winning and losing is tiny. You better step up.'
"There's a time and a place for these players that have been here before. You know what it takes. If you're the veteran that's dropping the ball or you're the veteran getting the penalties, you better figure it out. Figure it out quick. This season's gonna go down."
The Chiefs didn't lose a game after that loss to the Raiders, winning six straight in order to capture the Super Bowl title. Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie also admitted after the AFC Championship victory over the Baltimore Ravens the Raiders loss was motivation for them -- albeit in a different way.
"We heard it all year, from Game 1 when we lost to the Lions," McDuffie told CBS Sports. "Everybody doubted us, but good thing about this team is we don't hear nothing. You feel me? We don't care what people got to say. We trust each other to go out there and win games, and we ended up in Vegas."
The loss to the Raiders fueled the Chiefs, who weren't "the Chiefs" until after that defeat.
