LAS VEGAS — Time is no match for the Chiefs’ defense.
The return of so many familiar characters — from Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce on one side to George Kittle and Nick Bosa on the other — makes it feel like the last Super Bowl matchup between the 49ers and Chiefs happened just the other day.
At least until you look at it this way: Nine of the Chiefs’ defensive starters Sunday in Super Bowl 2024 were not part of the team for that victory against the 49ers on Feb. 2, 2020, six still were in college at the time and their rookie first-round draft pick was a high-school student.
The Chiefs did the near-impossible and completely overhauled one side of the ball while still remaining an annual Super Bowl contender.
Why?
Or, more importantly, how?
“Age was some of that factor in this NFL world of free agency and change,” head coach Andy Reid said, deferring credit to general manager Brett Veach. “We took some bumps and bruises early last year, but those young guys got better toward the end and then just picked up and have done a nice job this year. The job that Brett does in free agency and the draft is second to none.”
The result is an entirely new recipe for success that is approximately equal parts Mahomes and the youngest defense in the NFL.
The average age of Chiefs’ defensive players with at least one game played during the regular season is 25 years, 279 days old, per NFL research.
The only other time that the league’s youngest defense reached the Super Bowl was the 2009 Colts.
“We’re always talking about football ‘get-it,’ ” defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said. “I think in today’s football, these guys need to be smarter than they used to be. It’s not four defenses against five offensive plays.
“The game has just expanded that way, and I just think to do the things you want to do to defend offenses in this league, the guys have to have a pretty good IQ.”
The Chiefs initially became an extension of Mahomes’ college career in the Big 12 by winning shootouts.
They averaged 28.8 points per game from 2019-22 and never finished lower than No. 6 in scoring over those four seasons.
But a transformation took place this season into the type of team that can win defensive slugfests, allowing the second-fewest points per game (17.3) in the league.
The 17 points the Chiefs scored to beat the Ravens and punch a Super Bowl ticket would not have been enough to win any of the previous five of their six straight AFC Championship game appearances.
“I think guys understood that we could play a different way to win football games,” Mahomes said. “You saw how dominant our defense can be.”
Four of the Chiefs’ defensive starters from the 2019 team that ended a 50-year championship drought now were out of the league this season: Cornerback Bashaud Breeland and linebackers Reggie Ragland, Damien Wilson and Anthony Hitchens. The changes don’t end there.
One of the most dominant pass-rushers in postseason history (Frank Clark), the defense’s former heartbeat (safety and co-captain Tyrann Mathieu) and an undrafted cornerback ascending toward a 2023 Second-Team All-Pro selection with the rival 49ers (Charvarius Ward) were allowed to leave in free agency.
“The biggest trap that championship teams fall into is keeping guys for too long,” one former NFL executive told The Post. “There is a sentimental attachment associated with winning. And it can be so difficult to find the right chemistry that keeping the nucleus together to make another run becomes attractive and can cloud decision-making.”
Veach, who the Chiefs declined to make available for this story, did not make that mistake.
A willingness to turn over the defense and rely on Mahomes-to-Kelce in the interim is one thing.
Batting close to 1.000 in free agency and the draft is another.
“The reason to come to Kansas City is to win,” safety Justin Reid said, “and for opportunities like this to play in big-game situations.”
Reid signed a three-year, $31.5 million free-agent contract to replace Mathieu, with the Veach-relayed understanding that part of his job was mentoring a young secondary.
Six weeks later, the Chiefs used seven of their 10 picks in the 2022 draft on defense, including five defensive backs.
“Learning Spags’ defense is tough, especially when he has so many different checks and calls and stuff that we can do,” second-year cornerback Trent McDuffie said. “But I feel like our rookie class when we came in was kind of special because it felt like everybody almost had known each other for years even though we just met. Everybody was always there to help each other.”
The defense likely to start Sunday includes the following homegrown starters still on rookie contracts:
- CB Trent McDuffie (2022 first-round pick, five forced fumbles and a First-Team All-Pro selection this season)
- Defensive end George Karlaftis (2022 first-round pick, 10.5 sacks this season)
- Defensive end Mike Danna (2020 fifth-round pick, 6.5 sacks this season)
- Linebacker Nick Bolton (2021 second-round pick, 180 tackles and a Super Bowl touchdown last season)
- Linebacker Leo Chenal (2022 third-round pick, 65 tackles this season)
- Cornerback L’Jarius Sneed (2020 fourth-round pick, two interceptions and widely considered the biggest Pro Bowl snub)
Five defensive contributors off the bench fit the same description.
“I think this can be a group of guys that can really do some special things in the future,” Karlaftis said, “but we [also] have a chance to do something really special this week.”
Defensive tackle Chris Jones — who could be the most sought-after free agent in the sport this offseason — is the Chiefs’ longest-tenured defensive player, with 75.5 sacks since 2016.
No one is more impressed with the way his supporting cast was rebuilt on the fly.
“We kind of had bigger names on defense last year than we had this year,” Jones said. “But this defense outperformed last year’s defense and showed that type of progression. What Spags was able to do with these young guys was remarkable.”
If Justin Reid was the prize of the Chiefs’ 2022 free-agent class, linebacker Drue Tranquill was the steal of 2023 on a one-year, $3 million deal. He shared a recruiting text from Andy Reid that told him to “see red and think Super Bowls” as he weighed his options.
Why did Tranquill fit in? The same reason all the defensive additions have meshed.
Call it the Chiefs’ personality.
“Humble, hard-worker, able to take constructive criticism and willing to fight through adversity,” Justin Reid said. “Things aren’t always going to go your way, but we’re going to need you to make that next play.”
