ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — In most ways, really, the Kansas City Chiefs’ plummet back to Earth was absurdly overdue.

Following a half-century of postseason despair, after all, they suddenly had appeared in five Super Bowls in six seasons against all gravity in a league dedicated to creating parity.

So last year’s 6-11 dud was a long time coming, especially since it largely was a byproduct of the Chiefs’ excess success.

Start with the fact that in those previous six seasons the Chiefs crammed in an entire extra season-plus with 21 postseason games. That meant one endless season after another, flowing into compressed offseasons, disadvantageous end-of-round draft statures and the ever-arduous schedule that the NFL formula assigns division winners.

So much for the rational part of an exasperating season that marked the first time since 2014 that the Chiefs failed to make the playoffs. Patrick Mahomes’ season-ending knee injury in Week 15 further marred and muddled it.

While Mahomes rather remarkably seems on-track to be the starter when the Chiefs open the 2026 season on Sept. 14 against visiting Denver, a fundamental question remains:

Was last season the end of an empire, or a blip … into a reboot?

Or, less dramatically, just something indiscernible in between?

It’s something that we’ll really only know by how this season goes, especially with reasonable doubts about how fast Mahomes can return to form, the capacity of the receiving corps and such flux on defense.

But say this for the Chiefs.

No matter how worrisome it might have seemed that coach Andy Reid last season kept suggesting the Chiefs were right on the verge of breaking through, no matter the insinuations that injuries and the whims of one-score games were at the heart of it, they’ve been anything but in denial since then.

As team president Mark Donovan put it on Wednesday while speaking at the opening of training camp at Missouri Western, the focus forward began almost instantly after the Chiefs lost their season finale to the Raiders in Las Vegas.

“I mean, on the plane ride home: ‘What are we going to do to fix this, and what do we need to do to fix it?’” Donovan said.

The open communication, as Donovan described it, included chairman and CEO Clark Hunt and Donovan soon asking Reid and general manager Brett Veach, “What do you need? … What do we need to change to fix this?”

“Those are the conversations that were driven by Andy,” Donovan said, smiling and adding, “like, ‘This isn’t happening again.’”

As he considered the crossroads, Hunt pointed back to 2014 and what he called “concerns” whether Reid “should continue to be the coach of the Chiefs.” Part of that time included navigating a season on the brink early in 2015.

“Fortunately, we made the decision that we thought he had a bright future,” Hunt said Thursday with a smile. “And he’s certainly lived up to that.”

It’s one thing to say all of the above, of course, and another to take substantial measures now to reset.

Especially on offense, where Reid’s genius is undeniable but results have stagnated the last few years.

Whether by virtue of personnel, schemes or play-calling, the team that had finished in the top six in NFL scoring the previous six seasons — including leading the league twice — has finished 15th, 15th and 21st the last three years.

Reid’s constancy is one of the gifts that has led him to the pinnacle of the NFL as the fourth-winningest coach in league history. He trails only Bill Belichick (six) and Chuck Noll (four) in Super Bowl victories.

But he also hasn’t gotten where he has without knowing there’s a fine line between staying the course and sheer stubbornness.

And such momentous changes as bringing back Eric Bieniemy as offensive coordinator and the Chiefs signing Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III to revive their running game heralded Reid’s recognition of the moment.

Reid and his staff “know what didn’t go right,” Hunt said. “Andy’s made the adjustment that he feels like he needed to from a scheme standpoint, but also from a personnel standpoint.”

To what degree Reid engages those gears, and any other brewing secret sauce, will be a matter looming over camp and the early part of the season, in particular. So much so that Reid decided to have a little fun with it on Wednesday when he was asked how much the Chiefs plan to change what they do based on Walker’s skill-set.

“I think we’re probably going to run every down,” he said, smiling.

Flip as he was being, it seems evident on the surface — and to Donovan and Hunt — that Reid has embraced turning forward.

When the coach said Wednesday “we’re not worried about what went on before,” the message wasn’t obliviousness, but a matter of processing and mindset.

Just like you might be condemned to repeat history if you don’t remember it, after all, you could get paralyzed marinating in it.

That was part of what Hunt wanted to get across when he addressed the team Wednesday evening.

“You can’t think about what happened last year, and you can’t look ahead,” he said. “You’ve got to be focused on winning the day …

“It’s time to move forward. That’s certainly Andy’s mentality.”

Not by ignoring the past, presumably, but by being informed enough by it to let it go.

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