After it was announced Monday morning that Kansas City Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco will miss at least four weeks of the season — and likely much more — with a fractured fibula, head coach Andy Reid addressed the team’s immediate plans in his opening statement during the team’s customary press availability on Monday.

“As far as Pacheco goes,” he said, “we’re going with the guys we have here. Now Veach is going through his list, looking at people. We’ll see where that goes. But we’re blessed to have some good people here.”

Rookie free agent Carson Steele — who the Chiefs list as a fullback but Reid typically calls him a running back — likely tops Reid’s list of “good guys” available to play. In Sunday’s 26-25 win over the Cincinnati Bengals, Steele had seven attempts for 24 yards. But late in the second quarter, he also lost a fumble that led to a Cincinnati field goal.

“Well, he’s going to have to step it up in that role,” Reid noted. “But I think he likes to be challenged — and I think this will be a good challenge for him. He’s obviously got to keep the ball high and tight. He had the fumble yesterday — (although) he doesn’t have a history of that — so he’s got to make sure he learns from that.”

The others are veteran Samaje Perine — who joined the team when the final cut to 53 players occurred — plus practice squad players Emani Bailey and Keaontay Ingram. But Reid doesn’t have much information on any of them.

“Well, one of the full-backs,” he began, “I haven’t been able to give him (the ball) that many times — or a few of them… well, all three of them actually. So I would say I have confidence in them. I just haven’t experienced it with them yet.”

And then there’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who has the most experience with the team — but is now on the team’s Reserve/NFI (non-football injury) list. Even if he’s cleared to play, he can’t be activated from the list until the Chiefs have played four games.

“Yeah, that’s part of the equation,” Reid admitted. “So we’re going to figure all that out and see how it all fits together. But we know he’s there. We just don’t have him here for the next few weeks.”

Reid spoke to Pacheco twice Sunday night and said the running back is “in a better position.” But Reid’s comments also made it clear that Pacheco is very unhappy with the situation.

“That’s tough,” Reid said. “I talked to some kids who came to our house after the game. I said, ‘You know, sometimes you guys get emotional after you lose a game. You never want to lose that. I mean, here’s a kid who loves the game. He had tears; he was emotional. But you never want to lose that. It’s an emotional sport. And nobody loves playing more than they want to play. So you’re going to see that.’

“And that’s the beauty of this sport.”