How the AFC champion Chiefs were built

After a 50-year wait, the Kansas City Chiefs have finally made it back to the NFL's biggest stage. Awaiting them in Miami, with football immortality on the line, are the kings of the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers.

The AFC champions rebounded in dominant fashion from last year's loss to the New England Patriots in the conference title game. Kansas City engineered an epic 24-point comeback win against the Houston Texans in the divisional round before downing the Tennessee Titans.

Here's how the Chiefs built the team that's on the precipice of the franchise's second Super Bowl title:

Key players

A second chance for Big Red

Andy Reid sits seventh on the all-time head coaching wins list, behind Don Shula, George Halas, Bill Belichick, Tom Landry, Curly Lambeau, and Paul Brown. Those six have combined to win 29 NFL championships, while Reid is still seeking his first.

It was supposed to happen in Philadelphia, where Reid spent 14 years at the helm of the Eagles. He turned around the NFC East team almost immediately upon being hired prior to the 1999 season, racking up five straight campaigns with double-digit wins from 2000 to 2004 after going 5-11 as a rookie.

That period also included four consecutive trips to the NFC Championship Game. Reid's Eagles lost their first three conference title contests - which helped cultivate the head coach's reputation as someone who couldn't quite get his team over the finish line - before finally breaking through in 2004, only to lose to the Patriots in Reid's lone Super Bowl appearance prior to this season's.

After going 12-20 in 2011 and '12, Philadelphia moved on from Reid, who was snatched up by Kansas City. The head coach quickly rediscovered his winning formula to reward the Chiefs for believing he was still capable of leading a franchise to glory.

Reid's offenses continued to be the envy of the rest of the league during his first five years in Kansas City, with two of his coordinators - Matt Nagy and Doug Pederson - taking head coaching positions. But, too often, Reid's lauded system was compensating for a lack of talent at the quarterback position instead of enhancing it.

At QB, good isn't good enough

Most teams would stand pat after finishing the previous season with double-digit wins and a quarterback coming off their second Pro Bowl appearance in four seasons. But the Chiefs aren't most teams. Instead of riding the safe option, the AFC West club boldly kickstarted its run to Super Bowl LIV by rolling the dice during the 2017 draft at the game's most important position.

From 2013 to 2016, Alex Smith led Kansas City to its best run of success since the early '90s. Three playoff appearances, a division title in 2016, and 43 regular-season wins would usually cement the job of everyone involved, especially the quarterback with the pedigree of being a former No. 1 overall pick.

However, the Chiefs weren't satisfied. While the offense showed flashes of greatness, it was held back by the limitations of its quarterback. Smith was efficient and rarely made mistakes, but there was a sense that the Chiefs' offense, with one of the league's best play-callers in Reid and talented playmakers like Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce, was capable of much more.

For the ability to take Patrick Mahomes at No. 10 overall, Kansas City traded the No. 27 pick, a third-rounder, and its 2018 first-round selection to the Buffalo Bills. Previously, the Chiefs always relied on reclamation projects, mid-rounders, and unremarkable veterans under center. They never had their own guy. In fact, remarkably, Mahomes was the first quarterback taken by the Chiefs in the opening round since 1983.

It feels ridiculous in hindsight, given Mahomes' all-time start to his career, but he was a divisive prospect. The big-armed Texas Tech standout was far from a sure thing, let alone someone capable of winning the MVP award in their first season as the starter. There were concerns about his erratic decision-making and struggles to stay on script.

Fortune, though, favors the bold, and Kansas City was rewarded for its forward-thinking approach with perhaps the most talented quarterback the NFL has ever seen. Mahomes' list of achievements already includes: joining Tom Brady and Peyton Manning as the only quarterbacks to throw 50 touchdowns in a season, delivering two AFC West titles and back-to-back playoff byes, and leading the third-highest-scoring offense in league history.

Speed, speed, and more speed

If there's one defining trait to this iteration of the Chiefs, it's their game-breaking, mind-boggling speed on offense.

It all starts, of course, with Hill, who's perhaps the fastest player in the entire NFL. Since being selected in the fifth round of the 2016 draft, he's been the most dominant downfield threat in the league thanks in large part to his safety-spinning top gear.

Not satisfied with having just one turbocharged receiver on its roster, Kansas City selected Mecole Hardman in the second round of last year's draft. Hardman's 4.33-second 40-yard dash ranks in the 95th percentile for receivers, according to MockDraftable, and his elite speed immediately translated to the NFL level. The rookie made the Pro Bowl as a returner and his 20.69 yards per catch ranked first among receivers who hauled in at least 25 passes.

While Sammy Watkins has failed to live up to the enormous free-agent contract he signed in 2018, the veteran isn't exactly slow, either. Watkins clocked in at 4.43 seconds in his 40-yard dash and showcased how dangerous he can still be with his 114-yard, one-touchdown performance against the Titans.

Throw in running back Damien Williams (4.45-second 40, 83rd percentile) and tight end Travis Kelce (4.61-second 40, 87th percentile), and it's clear Kansas City has made it a priority to be the fastest team on the field each and every game. And the Chiefs have the perfect quarterback to take advantage of that speed in the ultra-aggressive Mahomes.

Their ability to score at any time, from any part of the field, has been crucial this postseason. Most teams would've been down for the count after falling behind 24-0 in the first quarter to the Texans, but Kansas City can engage a gear that most offenses can't even imagine.

Final pieces to defensive puzzle

Kansas City's defense was among the best in the league during the Smith era. Headlined by franchise legends Justin Houston, Derrick Johnson, and Eric Berry, and under the guidance of defensive coordinator Bob Sutton, the unit finished fifth, second, third, and seventh, respectively, in scoring from 2013 to 2016.

Yet, when it came to the playoffs, Sutton's unit wasn't able to keep the team in it. The Indianapolis Colts engineered a 28-point comeback while racking up 536 yards of offense in 2013, and Kansas City was destroyed on the ground in losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2016 and the Titans a year later.

No one could stop Mahomes and Co. during the 2018 season. They scored at will. But, unfortunately, so did their opponents, with the defense dropping off a cliff and finishing 24th in scoring and 31st in yards. The culmination of the regression under Sutton came in the AFC Championship Game loss to the Patriots, in which the Chiefs failed to sack Brady a single time and gave up 524 total yards.

Amid fears of wasting another year of the championship-caliber offense, the Chiefs moved on from Sutton and set about remaking their defense.

Former Los Angeles Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo took over as coordinator, implementing a switch from a 3-4 to 4-3. The scheme change led the Chiefs to make a pair of dramatic trades. Former first-round linebacker Dee Ford was sent to the 49ers, while defensive end Frank Clark was acquired from the Seattle Seahawks. Finally, Kansas City spent big in free agency on do-it-all safety Tyrann Mathieu.

The bold moves have fueled the Chiefs' run to Super Bowl LIV. The pass defense ranked sixth in Football Outsiders' DVOA and tied for fifth in interceptions, forming an ideal counterpunch to the high-flying offense. Meanwhile, Mathieu pushed himself into the Defensive Player of the Year conversation with a stellar second half of the regular season, and Clark's four sacks are the most in the playoffs.