The Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII and became two-time defending NFL champions, but the 2023 regular season fell below an acceptable standard for quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid.

The Chiefs‘ offense, normally so explosive, ranked only ninth in yards, while Mahomes threw a career-worst 14 interceptions during the regular season before clicking into gear for the playoffs in January. In order for Kansas City to return to its dominant best in 2024, Reid and his coaching staff are asking Mahomes to operate a little bit differently.

In the early days of preparing for 2024, Reid — the only head coach for whom Mahomes has played in the NFL — is needling his star quarterback in an attempt to get him to quit throwing short “checkdown” passes to a running back or wide receiver. Reid wants Mahomes to be more vertical and trust his arm strength with a new receiving corps.

“He throws little jabs at me like, ‘Oh, you want to throw the check-down here?”‘ Mahomes said. “I’m like, ‘I got you, Coach; we’re going to push it.’ It has been fun.”

Mahomes’ last true “deep threat” was Tyreek Hill, who has suited up for the Miami Dolphins since a blockbuster 2022 trade. But Kansas City this summer signed Marquise “Hollywood” Brown in free agency and drafted speedster Xavier Worthy in the first round of the NFL Draft, giving its two-time MVP quarterback new weapons in the passing game.

The Chiefs are already signaling that they are willing to be more adventurous and daring on offense in an effort to become the league’s top-ranked unit again. With Mahomes willing to re-emphasize verticality and sling those kinds of passes, a third MVP award — and a third successive Super Bowl — might not be far behind.