In a sense, you can thank Bill Belichick for motivating the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV.
The legendary New England Patriots head coach has made the "Do Your Job" mantra famous, emphasizing to his players that they can find success by simply executing their role in the game plan and not trying to "do too much."
But the Kansas City Chiefs apparently have a different take on Belichick's credo.
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In a recent interview with the MMQB's Albert Breer, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo shared Kansas City's new-and-improved version of "Do Your Job:"
Spagnuolo calls it My Job Plus. The idea? You take care of your job first. Then, you can do a little extra.
“I know Bill [Belichick’s] big thing is do your job and all that,” Spagnuolo said late last week. “We believe in doing our job. And then if you can do a little bit more, that’s the plus part of it. And throughout the [Super Bowl], guys did that."
Spagnuolo then credited "My Job Plus" for leading to several key plays in the Chiefs' 31-21 win over the San Francisco 49ers, including defensive end Terrell Suggs sniffing out a Raheem Mostert screen pass to prevent a potential touchdown in the first quarter.
"He did his job by being a contain rusher,” Spagnuolo said of Suggs. "But then he did more than that. He felt the tackle, he just felt the whole O-line, that it wasn’t a true pass play, that it was a screen. He came off, and made a play on the screen."
In reality, there's probably not much difference between "Do Your Job" and "My Job Plus" aside from semantics. Belichick's players aren't robots programed to only fulfill their assignments; he just wants them to stay disciplined and do their job first before trying to make the extra play.
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But Spagnuolo -- whose New York Giants defense upset the undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl XLII -- saw a motivational opportunity in tweaking Belichick's mantra to get the most out of his defensive unit. And judging by the Chiefs' Super Bowl victory, his ploy worked.
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