In the end, it was a sacrifice worth sacrificing. For the fifth time in history, the Kansas City Chiefs chose to spend the biggest holiday of the year on the gridiron away from family. As near and dear ones came home, sat under the tree to open presents, Patrick Mahomes was leading the Chiefs to a 29-10 bonanza against the Pittsburgh Steelers, securing the No. 1 overall seed in the AFC playoff picture and beefing up by his stellar form—he completed 29 of 38 passes for 320 yards and three touchdowns. Post-game, however, the emotions of a lone Christmas were palpable…

The Chiefs QB said, “Brittany’s a champ because I’m not there to help build the toys my family got, and the kids have opened up every single one of them.” Baltimore Ravens’ QB Lamar Jackson—who was set for the second match that evening against the Houston Texans—tried to be optimistic, but failed. “That means we’re good, but at the same time, I do want to celebrate at home sometimes with my family now. I don’t want to be playing on Christmas all the time — not all the time.”

So what do the teams do to beat the blues? A look at the Chiefs’ locker room will surely suffice.

“HO HO HO(w) ‘bout those CHIEEEEEEEFS!!” An Instagram post on December 25 read showing a humorous side to fans. In the footage, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were seen running and dancing into the locker room, donning shiny Santa Claus-style coats gifted to them by Netflix after their big win. As they entered, their teammates welcomed them with “Ho Ho” cheers and a big round of applause, excitedly celebrating the victory. Kelce, in particular, appeared extremely ecstatic, as he waved his jacket in an animated fashion! But we can’t deny the fact that the excitement reached another level when head coach Andy Reid made his grand entry.

The HC was seen entering dressed as Santa, complete with a snowy-white long beard and mustache that perfectly concealed his face. Everyone present in the room erupted in cheers, loudly roaring “Chiefs!” His attire for the day and the team’s hyped-up moment caught Clark Hunt’s wife, Tavia Hunt’s attention too.

Along with other fans, Mrs. Hunt too expressed her happiness on Reid’s gesture. Commenting on the post, she wrote, “This is my new favorite video ever!!” Wow! The head coach surely made his humorous space in Hunt’s favorite video-list. Along with this strong message, she also dropped some Christmas, laughing, and Santa emojis. But that’s not all!

Andy Reid also made sure to address his team on this special win with a motivational speech. The 66-year-old pumped his fist in the air, shouting, “How ’bout those Chiefs!” and delivering an inspiring speech. “Hey Merry Christmas, men! Proud of you dudes. Proud of you. For the present, you get homefield advantage (in the playoffs), my friends.” This made the entire crowd roar with pride. Indeed, it has become a favorite Christmas video of the year for not only Tavia Hunt but also the entire Chiefdom. But that’s not all!

The team also had a special surprise for their main man. “We got a little surprise for you. Clark will take over,” said Mahomes. The team’s CEO Clark Hunt, then began, “So, first of all, a lot to be thankful for today, right? Number one is Christmas. Secondly, we we’ve got the number one seed the whole way. All those games are gonna be at Arrowhead. And third, congratulations to everybody. And we’re gonna give Santa Claus [Andy Reid] a game ball here in a minute. Club record. 15 victories in a season. Never been done,” he said, following which an elf appeared out of a trunk to hand Reid a custom-made football engraved the words “SANTA CLAUS” in bright red.

The whole message read, “The game ball is presented to SANTA CLAUS … December 25, 2024”. Talking to reporters later, Mahomes—who was described as “Lamar Jackson’s kryptonite” by ESPN analysts—joked, “He’s getting kinda skinny. He’s getting kinda skinny for the Santa.”

But it was also a special day for Kelce. While he had spend it mostly alone, with Taylor Swift amiss in the stadium, the tight end made history for the most receiving touchdowns in NFL history (88), by surpassing former Chiefs player, Tony Gonzalez (87). But don’t worry. Swift was in on the celebrations, liking the team’s post celebrating the feat!

On a separate note, notably, the Chiefs’ Christmas Day shenanigans date back to 1971, when the NFL aired a holiday game for the first time. The Miami Dolphins defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 in double overtime in the AFC Divisional Game, in what is the longest game in NFL history till date (82 minutes and 40 seconds). Since then the team has played four more games—Chiefs beat the Raiders 31-30 in 2004, beat the Broncos 33-10 in 2016, and lost to the Raiders 20-14 in 2023.

Having said that, the latest Reid incident reminds us of what happened seven years back.

Andy Reid kept the surprise for this day?

In 2017, on Christmas Eve, the Chiefs crushed the Dolphins 29-13. As usual, coach Andy Reid approached the media for a post-game presser. But not everything was normal. On that day, Reid made his entry to the press conference room donning a Santa suit. Overwhelmed by that win, he first wished the reporters “Merry Christmas,” before starting off with their questions.

And now, after seven years, he again became the Santa for his team. It seems he kept the suit for the one right day, which arrived on December 25, 2024. Guess what? The 66-year-old is so elated that he decided to attend this year’s Christmas media interaction wearing the Santa pants. Yes! Although he changed the costume after his locker room session, he stuck to the red-shiny Santa pants for the rest of the interview.

Indeed, Andy Reid is the perfect coach when it comes to on and off-the-field appearance!