KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If you rewatch Andy Reid’s opening remarks after the Kansas City Chiefs’ unsightly 22-9 win over the New York Giants on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, his subdued demeanor would more likely suggest he was addressing a loss than a win.

With good reason after a game the Chiefs’ head coach termed at times “hard to watch” and, in fact, included some “dumb things.”

“A good win to get,” he’d call it, “in particular when you haven’t had one.”

So, sure, it beats the alternative — especially since it averted an 0-3 start that would have threatened to derail the Chiefs’ season early.

“As ugly as it was, a win is a win,” guard Trey Smith said in the locker room afterward. “You look at last season; we had a ton of wins like that.”

Well, yes and no.

Because as unsatisfying as a good number of those wins last season were, they reflected something more and different than what we’ve yet seen from this team: a foundation of having won back-to-back Super Bowls and being on trajectory for an unprecedented third in a row buoyed by a certain intertwined mystique.

At a certain level, those Chiefs had cultivated and earned such an aura of invincibility and sense of inevitability that they essentially knew they’d find a way … even as opponents often seemed to be gravitating to the trap door that would do them in.

Because of their first 0-2 start since 2014 being ladled over the alarming 40-22 loss to the Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, though, this didn’t feel like a win that rebooted all the good mojo.

As much as it at least was a step in the right direction, it still was unpalatable and unconvincing against a winless Giants team.

A team that last week gave up 40 points against the now 1-2 Cowboys and graced the Chiefs with two what-are-you-doing interceptions thrown by Russell Wilson and a 52-yard pass interference that helped Kansas City take the lead for good at the end of the first half. And whose kicker suffered a groin injury announced just before the game.

Something at least for now just feels out of whack with this version of the Chiefs, who, yes, managed some fine things defensively and via the suddenly fascinating connection between Patrick Mahomes and Tyquan Thornton: He had five catches for 71 yards, including the game-breaking 33-yarder to set up Kareem Hunt’s 1-yard TD run to essentially put it away with 6 minutes 3 seconds left.

But the night was underscored by eight penalties for 85 yards — three of which were instrumental in all the Giants’ points.

And another preposterous Travis Kelce outburst toward Reid — who was having none of it this time, even leaning into the oncoming Kelce. As ever, Reid downplayed it after the game but … come on, Travis.

It also was marked by Harrison Butker missing another field goal and a PAT — albeit one made more challenging by Hunt’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

Then there were even a couple quirky plays by Mahomes, who described it thusly:

“I kept throwing the ball backwards,” he said. “That’s not good.”

As far as he could remember, he’d never before inadvertently lateraled the ball when attempting to throw forward. But he did it twice on Sunday while carelessly targeting Isiah Pacheco, and the second nearly was a disaster: New York’s Bobby Okereke scooped it up with a chance to take it before Mahomes crashed into him and took back the ball.

“I will say that was a great tackle,” Mahomes said, smiling, though later adding it was hard to take too much credit for fixing his own mistake.

So the Chiefs came through when they had to, and they cobbled and spackled together a win. There’s certainly nothing to apologize for in the win, and maybe it’s quibbling to say this feels more like treading water than a fresh start.

Reid was right to say it was “important to take a step forward” with the achievement, because you certainly can’t start to gain momentum or traction without a first step.

And no doubt he’s correct when he points out that the offense has been held back by “one thing here, one thing there. Some of that can be that you’re just trying too hard at times. And then some dumb things can happen.”

Just the same ...

It also seems clear that the Chiefs’ offense is at best a wonky work in progress while it’s waiting for the return of injured receivers Xavier Worthy (shoulder) and Rashee Rice, who is suspended for the first six games of the season.

As such, they remain a team seeking to prove and find itself after so many years when their margin for error was enhanced by the X-factor of their accumulated success.

That’s what comes with winning an NFL record 17 straight one-score games … and having the streak expire with the 27-21 opening loss to the Los Angeles Chargers and be echoed in a 20-17 loss to Philadelphia in Week 2.

That’s what came with a team that had been 19-4 in September games since Mahomes became QB1 in 2018 … and going 1-2 this September.

And that’s what they’ve enjoyed against their daunting next opponent, the Baltimore Ravens. Mahomes is 5-1 in matchups with Lamar Jackson.

Win that one, and you can start to believe in a reset.

Lose and the Chiefs also will lose another layer of mystique — one that would leave you wondering about the substance, too.

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