The Buffalo Bills held off the New England Patriots on Sunday, preventing the Kansas City Chiefs from locking up the AFC’s 1-seed. They very nearly gave the Pittsburgh Steelers some big help, as the Chiefs would’ve had nothing to play for.
Because of how good Andy Reid’s teams have been over the years, there are plenty of examples to look at. If you go far enough back to 2004, his Philadelphia Eagles clinched the 1-seed with two weeks to go in the regular season. He rested Donovan McNabb, Brian Westbrook, and other important starters for the final two weeks of the regular season. They went on to lose in the Super Bowl that year. Clearly the extra rust didn’t come back to bite him.
Throughout his career, Reid has had his playoff positioning locked up on eight different occasions. He rested key starters on nearly every opportunity he had. The only exception was 2018, when he significantly reduced snaps for key starters, but some of them still played limited snaps. That came after he rested starters in 2013 and 2017 and both ended in one-and-done playoff appearances. He may have gotten a bit shy from those losses to inform his decision in 2018, but he has since returned to his ways of resting key starters in 2020 and 2023.
Most recently, the Chiefs rested Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Donovan Smith, L’Jarius Sneed and others in Week 18 of last season after locking in the AFC’s 3-seed with no possibility to move up or down in the final week.
In all of his years resting starters they have only lost their first playoff game two of eight opportunities. That is enough success to continue the trend.
History very clearly tells us that Reid likes to rest his starters when there is nothing to play for. He’s never had the opportunity to rest for two weeks while with the Chiefs, but he did so 20 years ago with the Eagles.
All that to say, the Steelers will not be catching a break this time around with the Bills’ 1-seed hopes still alive. The Chiefs won’t be resting players like Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, or Chris Jones, though Jones is dealing with an injury from Saturday’s game.
The Steelers need to stay even with the Baltimore Ravens the rest of the way if they want to win the AFC North and host a playoff game. The Chiefs resting starters certainly would have helped the Steelers’ case.
