Today, the Kansas City Chiefs are playing for their third consecutive Super Bowl championship, a feat never before accomplished. However, the significance of today goes back over 50 years for me. I first became a Chiefs fan back in the early 1970’s when Hank Stram was still the Head Coach and Len Dawson was the Quarterback. The Chiefs had just begun a downward slide that would last in one form or another for 50 years.
I was there for the 18 seasons between 1972-1989 when the
Chiefs appeared in just one playoff game. When the Chiefs were coached by
people like Paul Wiggin, John Mackovic and Frank Gzanz, and presided over by GM
Jack Steadman. I was there during the Marty Schottenheimer years where we enjoyed
regular season success but suffered heartbreaking playoff defeats. Marty also
suffered the same fate in Cleveland, producing regular season success and two heartbreaking
defeats against Denver in 1986 and 1987. In Kansas City, Schottenheimer took
the Chiefs to the doorstep of the Super Bowl in 1993 before losing to the
Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game. Then came crushing defeats against
the Indianapolis Colts in 1995 and the Denver Broncos in 1997. Thus began a
21-season stretch between 1994-2014 where the Chiefs would not win a single
playoff game. This would include home playoff losses to the Colts in 2003, and
the Baltimore Ravens in 2010 and an inexplicable loss to the Colts (they sure
show up here a lot) in 2013 where the Chiefs blew a 38-10 lead. This was
another lost period for the Chiefs as they were coached by the likes of Herm
Edwards, Todd Haley and Romeo Crennel. Then came more heartbreak with home
playoff losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2016, the Tennessee Titans in 2017
and the New England Patriots in 2018.
The New England defeat in the 2018 AFC Championship Game
still ranks (and will probably forever rank) as the most heartbreaking defeat I
have experienced as a Chiefs fan. Nothing will ever top the Royals-Yankees Game
5 in 1977 in the heartbreaking defeat department, but this was a very close
second. I watched with absolute joy as the Chiefs intercepted a Tom Brady pass
with about 1:30 to go in the game and the Chiefs up 28-24. Only to watch it all
evaporate with an offside penalty on Dee Ford that gave the great Tom Brady the
opening he needed. Needless to say, Brady and the Patriots took full advantage.
What would it take for the Chiefs to break through? How much more could a long
suffering Chiefs fan take?
This is where I close with some reality (I am forever a
realist). As a Chiefs fan, with this
kind of history, I have felt eternally blessed by the past six seasons. We have
all certainly been blessed. There are plenty of others who are much more die
hard fans than I, who have a longer history with this organization. Today is
for these fans. I know that no fan of any team is entitled to a winning season,
much less a championship season. At the end of the day, this is just a football
game. I do not put my hopes and dreams in a bunch of football players, or in a
football team. To see a team that I have rooted for all my life have a chance
not only at a championship season, but to make history is just cool! GO
CHIEFS!!
