Kansas City Chiefs (9-1)
at
Los Angeles Rams (9-1)
Tomorrow is the big day for the two hottest teams in the league, at least for this regular season. This is the match-up that many NFL fans have been eagerly anticipating for quite a few weeks, when we see the team with the best record in the AFC, the Kansas City Chiefs, visit the team with the best record in the NFC, the Los Angeles Rams (it feels more natural to say that, then the other city that this franchise used to come from).
Sean McVay is the head coach for the Los Angeles Rams, and in his second season, he has the Rams and their fans thinking anything and everything is possible. With a 9-1 record, and one of the hottest offenses in the league, they look like serious contenders to become the number one seed in the NFC, and to possibly make a run deep into the upcoming playoffs. The Rams had been a fairly miserable team before McVay took over last season, but they went 11-5 and won the division, although the were immediately eliminated from the playoffs. This year, they clearly seem to be looking to make a bigger impression when the playoffs finally roll around. The Rams have not yet officially won the division yet, but with a whopping 4 1/2 game lead over their next closest competitors, the Seattle Seahawks, the Rams have actually been the de facto division champs for quite a few weeks already.
Part of his success has been looking to other coaches, and other approaches, that he admires. And not least of these would be Andy Reid, who has been one of the most accomplished head coaches since he first took over for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1999. Fairly quickly, the Eagles ranked among the elites in the league, qualifying for the postseason in his second season, and then qualifying for four consecutive NFC Championship Games, and five overall in an eight year span, over the next decade or so. He went to Kansas City in 2013, a team that had finished 2-14 the year prior. He got the Chiefs going right away, as they started off 9-0, and finished the season at 11-5 overall. Kansas City has been a consistent playoff contender ever since. He does not necessarily get the respect that he deserves, most likely, because he has not won the Super Bowl. He got the Eagles there once, although they narrowly lost to New England following the 2004-05 season. But he has the Chiefs looking like a serious contender this year, as they raced off to a 5-0 start, and currently are tied with the Rams with a 9-1 record, the best in the NFL.
Now, these two teams, and these two coaches, finally meet in a game that was supposed to take place in Mexico City, but which the league took away because of poor field conditions.
You do not get to that level of success accidentally. And McVay will readily tell you that he admires Reid's approach to the game - particularly on offense - quite a bit. And that is not just lip service. Here he is, explaining how he watches what Reid has his teams do week to week:
''Every single week they do something where you say, 'That's pretty good. I'd be lying if I said we haven't stolen some of their stuff this year.''
Reid also admires what McVay has done in Los Angeles, taking a perennial losing team to regular contenders, and even to elite status, with realistic hopes of reaching the Super Bowl. Here is what Reid had to say about McVay:
''He's done a phenomenal job,'' said Reid, a Los Angeles native who lives in Orange County in the offseason. ''He came up through a good system. He's put his own flair to it. He's a smart kid. I am proud of him for the job he's done.''
The level of dominance that each team has displayed has been mighty impressive, and to some extent, even frightening. The numbers that both teams are putting up rank among the most impressive offensive outputs in league history. If the Chiefs continue on this level, they should finish the season with 560 points, which would allow them to take their place with some of the best offenses in league history - the 2013 Denver Broncos, the 2007 New England Patriots, and the 2011 Green Bay Packers - as the most productive offenses in NFL history in terms of points scored and overall production. Indeed, young quarterback phenom Patrick Mahones leads the league in passing yards, although it should be noted that Rams young quarterback prospect Jared Goff is right behind him at number two.
Nor is this success limited to the passing game. KC's Kareem Hunt won the rushing title last season, but right now, it sure seems like that title will go to the Todd Gurley II, who has been simply phenomenal for the Los Angeles Rams this season, and has even garnered some mention of his being the NFL MVP for the year that he has had, possibly.
So, it will be a huge game on Monday Night Football, obviously. And it seems that both sides are okay with this game having been moved from Mexico City, which could have been a distraction. McVay, the Rams coach, feels optimistic about this game being played at the legendary old Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The very first Super Bowl was played here, and another Kansas City Chiefs team played on that day, as well. The Rams will soon get a new, flashy stadium, but the Coliseum seems a fitting location for such a huge, even historical game, as McVay explains:
''We're certainly not going to complain about getting the chance to play at the Coliseum in front of a great atmosphere.''
It really should be a terrific game, and hugely entertaining. It should also be the most intriguing Monday Night Football game in a long, long time, possibly since the 10-1 New York Giants visited the 10-1 San Francisco 49ers back in early December of 1990!
Enjoy!
Here is the link to the article about McVay and Reid that I used in writing this blog entry, and from which I got the quotes used above:
Vaunted offenses meet in Chiefs' relocated clash with Rams The Associated Press GREG BEACHAM (AP Sports Writer) The Associated PressNov 15, 2018,
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