Lessons Lions Can Learn From Chiefs
Examining what the Detroit Lions can learn from the Kansas City Chiefs.
Transcript
00:00 John, the Chiefs have done it again.
00:01 They have won a second consecutive Super Bowl title.
00:05 What can the Detroit Lions learn from those Kansas City Chiefs?
00:09 Yeah, Vito, back to back for Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid.
00:12 The Detroit Lions, real interesting season this year,
00:15 getting all the way to the NFC Championship game,
00:18 only to fall to the San Francisco 49ers.
00:20 And you look at a game like that, Vito, the big game,
00:24 you realize that two teams really
00:26 are playing at a high level.
00:28 And I just look at that contest, and you
00:29 recognize the magnitude of each play.
00:32 You saw Patrick Mahomes lead his football team,
00:35 make the critical plays when needed.
00:37 And one of the lessons that the Lions obviously got to learn
00:40 is that you need to go into a game like that knowing
00:43 all of the rules, knowing what it means to play in overtime,
00:46 the aggression, potentially what it would mean to go up
00:50 against one of the best quarterbacks
00:52 in the National Football League.
00:54 And look, in the end, you look at the 49ers
00:57 and what their mantra was going into that game, it was take it.
01:00 And I think the Lions, if they have an opportunity
01:03 to get there in New Orleans next year,
01:05 they have to go out there and you
01:07 have to play at a high level.
01:08 The 49ers didn't play clean.
01:10 They turned the football over.
01:12 They made too many mistakes.
01:13 And a lesson that you recognize, too,
01:16 is the Chiefs played a real solid defensive game.
01:20 You realize defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo
01:23 is one of the game's great defensive minds.
01:27 And he really carried and elevated that Kansas City
01:30 Chiefs football team.
01:31 You recognize, yes, it's great to have Patrick Mahomes, who
01:34 can do so many things.
01:36 But at the same time, Vito, you saw a defense in the Kansas City
01:40 Chiefs that when they needed a play,
01:43 you saw Chris Jones pressure Purdy,
01:45 who missed an open target in the end zone late in the game.
01:49 And it's, to me, somebody that looks at football
01:52 from that lens, it's so true.
01:55 I think the biggest lesson that you saw
01:58 is defense wins championships.
02:00 And yes, the Lions have built a great offense.
02:03 You saw how far it was able to take them.
02:05 Really elevated that football team
02:08 from being irrelevant to being a team in the Final Four.
02:11 But if you're going to be an organization that
02:13 takes the next step forward to not only get
02:15 to games like that against great teams, but to win it,
02:20 the best players have to make the plays.
02:22 And I hope for the Detroit Lions you recognize
02:24 the importance of special teams, the importance of defense,
02:27 and also, too, that when the moment comes
02:30 and it's in the fourth quarter, potentially late in the game,
02:35 everything gets magnitude.
02:37 And just like in life, Vito, everybody
02:40 has to raise their game in crunch time.
02:42 And so for the Detroit Lions, they learned that lesson,
02:45 unfortunately, the hard way against the 49ers,
02:48 in that when it was crunch time, things fell apart
02:52 for Dan Campbell's squad.
02:54 And John, no doubt about it, the Lions need more playmakers
02:56 on defense, too.
02:57 John, thanks for all the time.