Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid made a decision late in the first half of his team’s game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday that left many viewers scratching their heads.
The Chiefs were leading 14-13 and had 3rd-and-20 deep in San Francisco territory with 11 seconds left in the first half. Rather than take one or two shots at the end zone, Reid decided to attempt the field goal on 3rd down. Harrison Butker missed the 39-yard attempt wide right.
Twitter was not kind to Reid.
https://twitter.com/NFL_DougFarrar/status/1584302434872332289
https://twitter.com/LombardiHimself/status/1584302357013139457
https://twitter.com/ThomasGower/status/1584302315703439361
Reid opted to attempt the field goal on 3rd down because the Chiefs had no timeouts remaining. He figured the smartest play was to take the easy three points and go into halftime up 17-13. The last thing the coach wanted was Mahomes to take a sack or something to go wrong and have his team end up with no points.
The real issue is that Butker missed the kick. Reid was safe to assume his kicker could make an easy 39-yard field goal. Had that happened, the decision would not have been scrutinized nearly as much.
