Chiefs' defense is a warm comforter

A 26-7 win on a frigid night starts KC on another playoff run

Steve Spagnuolo

The young coordinators line up like airplanes on a runway. They are the head coaches of tomorrow, having bottled up lightning for a season. Josh McDaniels rode his relationship with Tom Brady to three head coaching jobs (two of them he took, all of which he lost). Now it’s Bobby Slowik, the brain behind C.J. Stroud. It’s OK. A lot of people who “taught” Tiger Woods made a lot of money too.

Meanwhile, Steve Spagnuolo, 64, is leading his little corner of the Kansas City Chiefs into another NFL playoff semifinal. They outshivered Miami, 26-7, on Saturday night. There’s been a lot of talk about the Chiefs finally having to pack up and play a road postseason game this year, thanks to their sputtering, underachieving and thoroughly unacceptable 11-6 record. But if the Steelers somehow win at Buffalo Monday, Kansas City will be right back at Arrowhead Stadium next weekend.

Besides, what do they say about defense? Right. It travels. Spagunolo has run the winning Super Bowl defense for the Chiefs twice and the Giants once, and none of those games were played on their own homefield.

Spagnuolo got his head coaching shot with the St. Louis Rams, losing 28 of 38 games with offenses that ranked 32nd (last), 26th and 32nd in points. It ended mercifully. Coordinating is a different skill entirely. It is full of those nerd-out details that head coaches must rise above. When Spagnuolo took a coaching class as he pursued a physical education degree at Springfield (Mass) College, he was told to come up with a football playbook. The one he turned in was 100 pages thick. Now it’s bigger, and it confuses the other guys, not Spagnuolo’s.

This year’s defense ranked second in both points and yards-against. It also ranked second in sacks and QB pressures, and third in fewest missed tackles. It gave the fast-tracked Dolphins three touchdowns in eight quarters. As Patrick Mahomes’ yards-per-attempt dwindled from 8.1 yards to 7.0 and his passer rating faded to a career-low 92.6, Kansas City became defense-reliant. That is preferable to the alternative, because even the most feckless Draft Kings participant knows that Mahomes can find his former wings at any moment. Mahomes knew he might struggle a bit in Saturday night’s minus-6 conditions, but he gained 41 yards in two runs while the Dolphins were chasing his receivers. He also has found a satisfying new partner in rookie Rashee Rice, who frolicked for 130 yards in eight carries Saturday.

The Chiefs have given Spagnuolo the ingredients. Linebacker Nick Bolton, cornerback Trent McDuffie and edge rusher George Karlaftis are recent first-round draft choices. Interior lineman Chris Jones, who successfully held out for elite money last summer, was a first-round pick in 2016. It’s the youngest starting defensive unit in the league, and plays with that kind of quickness, and it brings hammers from everywhere. Jones and Karlaftis led the club with ten and a half sacks apiece, and six other Chiefs had at least three.

On Saturday, the longest Miami run was 14 yards, and the Chiefs made sure Raheem Mostert couldn’t provide a running baseline for the Dolphins’ big-play ambitions. Kansas City was creased for a score by Tyreek Hill, but denied Miami on 11 of 12 third downs.

During this week’s this-is-your-life tribute to Bill Belichick, the Patriots’ 16-0 regular season of 2007 inevitably came up. Spagnuolo, then running the Giants’ defense, was waiting at the end of that track. He rotated frontmen Justin Tuck, Michael Strachan, Osi Umeniyora, Fred Robbins and Barry Cofield and created pop-up nightmares for Tom Brady, and the Giants used other fortunate events to win that Super Bowl.

Spagnuolo was on Andy Reid’s staff in Philadelphia, too, but became frustrated when Reid prevented him from working for Minnesota. Reid was afraid he would lose Jim Johnson, the pass-rush guru who ran the Eagles’ defense, and if he did he didn’t want to lose Spagnuolo. Giants’ coach Tom Coughlin solved that by hiring Spagnuolo. The leading tackler on that Super Bowl defense was Antonio Pierce, the interim Raiders coach.

Spagnuolo was one of five kids, raised by a divorced mom. One night he came home to Grafton, Mass. from Springfield College, and he told Carol he was headed out to watch the All-Star baseball game with four of his friends. Carol asked him to stay home instead because his grandfather was coming over. Reluctantly, Steve did. The next morning, he learned that three of those friends had died in a wreck at 1:50 a.m.

That only doubled Spagnuolo’s drive to get somewhere in the business, although he was filling most hours in the day anyway. In Philadelphia, his handouts were almost like college applications. “If you’ve got time to do all this,” said the Eagles’ Jeremiah Trotter, “I know you’re not spending enough time with your wife.”

In Mahomes’ five years of play, the Chiefs have reached five AFC Championship Games and three Super Bowls, with two wins. Their 11 wins this year was their fewest in that run. They might have strayed during the second half of their season, but they never got lost.

And even though they play in mid-America, they lead the NFL in TV commercials, none more endearing than the Snickers ad in which the end zone artist spells “Chefs” in block letters.

Some might snicker that there was no “O” in “Chiefs” this year. Most AFC teams can swear they saw, and felt, a “D.”