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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith took the field with 47 seconds remaining Monday night, with Kansas City and the Washington Redskins in a tie game. The Chiefs had all three timeouts as they took over on their own 25-yard line, and it seemed like just another day on the practice field. The result was a six-play, 50-yard drive that produced a field goal and led to a 29-20 win.
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"On offense sometimes you have a drive to finish off a game, sometimes you've got to go get points to win one," Smith said. "We've spent a lot of time in all those situations practicing them."
Time on task, Smith believes, is the key to the got-to-have-it moments -- those times in a game when you a play is needed for the team to win.
In seasons past, the Chiefs found it difficult to muster fourth-quarter comebacks or game-winning drives. But not this Chiefs team.
Kansas City started the 2013 season with a nine-game winning streak, but the chasm between that team and the 2017 edition is deep, according to the veteran quarterback.
"I think this team has been through way more as a whole," Smith said. "The core of this team has been through a lot, played on a lot of big stages, is much more experienced."
That experience showed Monday night on the game-winning drive.
"We go through that exercise every week, every single week about what we like, what we want," Smith said. "Because every week they're different, they're different based on the matchup, based on tendencies."
Smith freelanced on the first big play of the drive, scrambling out of the pocket on second down and finding wide receiver Albert Wilson for a 37-yard gain to the Washington 34-yard line. The quarterback had a similar scramble earlier in the game, keeping the ball for 32-yard gain up the right sideline.
Smith said of the late-game play, "Luckily I felt like that time around I got some attention on me, and Albert was able to kind of hit the seam there."
That play flipped the field, but the Chiefs needed one more gain to put the ball in position for a field-goal attempt. Smith fired a pass to receiver Chris Conley for a 10-yard gain, setting up rookie Harrison Butker for the decisive 43-yard kick.
"We had a lot of options on that play," Smith said of the pass to Conley. "Knew we were potentially getting pressure, and they did, they brought everybody down and were bringing it. Two guys peeled on the back, and I was able to hit Conley behind, which was really nice."
The Chiefs (4-0) have won many games since Smith and coach Andy Reid arrived in Kansas City in 2013. But the losses, especially the three postseason defeats, have sharpened the club and helped build its character.
This team expects to win. Linebacker Frank Zombo played on that first Reid team in 2013, and he said this team feels different.
"I think we trust the guy next to us way more," Zombo said. "We've done so well the last five years, had a lot of winning seasons, and yeah, I think we expect to win every time we go on the field on Sundays and Mondays."
Linebacker Derrick Johnson, another longtime Chief, said success doesn't surprise the 2017 squad.
"Now we expect to win more often," Johnson said. "We have a really good group, well-coached group and high-character guys that are taking care of business offensively and defensively."
