ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- Their first meeting together Monday to start training camp was paramount. Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid emphasized one word to motivate his players at the very beginning of their 2025 campaign.
"The main thing is urgency, just keep that up," Reid said Tuesday of his message to his players. "Everybody's expectations are high. When it comes down to the work, you take care of that here, the foundation that you build here."
No one in the room on the campus of Missouri Western State University needed to be reminded of Super Bowl LIX. The Chiefs walked off the Caesars Superdome field with heads bowed and green and silver confetti falling on them, the coronation for the Philadelphia Eagles dethroning them as the NFL's champions. Reid, though, wanted the Chiefs to understand that they must improve, and as soon as possible, to re-establish themselves as a top Super Bowl contender.
The Chiefs are in position to have a successful month before returning to their usual training facility. The team doesn't have any player holding out -- or holding in -- and Reid plans to have plenty of repetitions that feature starters against starters.
"It kind of helps you out on some of those extra workouts that you don't want to do," quarterback Patrick Mahomes said of losing in the Super Bowl. "It keeps that in your mind."
Through two practices, Mahomes has demonstrated his urgency with his decision-making ability and his pinpoint accuracy. He has completed deep passes to his fastest receivers (Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown), targeted No. 1 receiver Rashee Rice often, and has given opportunities to newcomers (rookie Jalen Royals and Tyquan Thornton).
"You always have to get better," Mahomes said. "That's something that people lose track of when you have success. We didn't win that last game, but we had a lot of success last year. I think sometimes people want to be stagnant. They want to go out there and do it over again. We have to get better."
One reason for Reid to reference urgency with his players is the fact the Chiefs are still the team being hunted by the rest of the contenders in the AFC. The Chiefs have won the AFC West a record nine consecutive times. Their archrival, the Las Vegas Raiders, have a new coach and quarterback combo in Pete Carroll and Geno Smith. The Los Angeles Chargers and the Denver Broncos are young teams that reached the postseason last year. And then there are the Chiefs' other rivals -- the Buffalo Bills, the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans -- who have made improvements to their rosters in the offseason.
The Chiefs don't have much time, either. They will be featured in the NFL's second stand-alone game of the regular season on Sept. 5 when they face the Chargers in São Paulo in the season's first international game. The following week, the Chiefs will host the Eagles.
"We took a heartbreaking loss," safety Bryan Cook said Wednesday. "It's just understanding what the ultimate goal is and why we do this, why we come to training camp. It's all for that bigger goal. For us to come up short, it was unfortunate. But I went to three straight in three years. That's all I know."
Steve Spagnuolo, the Chiefs' longtime defensive coordinator, said he feels that the amount of time the team spends in St. Joseph for training camp for him gets shorter every year.
For comparison, Spagnuolo smiled Wednesday when he explained that camp in 1983 with the Washington Commanders, as a personnel intern, included a two-month run-up and six preseason games.
"You had all this time to get [a player's body] ready," Spagnuolo said. "It's different now, so the sense of urgency to be ready when you come in is really important."
Spagnuolo's first meeting with his unit was also memorable.
"I just felt compelled to tell them, 'Don't ever take this for granted,'" he said. "It gets hard out here and all of that, but at my age [65] I'm happy to be in the first meeting at training camp, have a job and be healthy enough to do it. These guys don't realize how fast it goes by."
When Spagnuolo was done with his unprompted message, he watched his players nod in agreement. They're all feeling the urgency.