Chiefs at Broncos - Week 17 - Record: 4-12

Can you believe it? In Denver, meaningless game for us, do-or-die-and-need-help meaningful for them, and we come in there

And pummel them.

Jamaal Charles has officially made us completely forget Larry Johnson. He zoomed off for 259, not only the highest rushing total in Chiefs history but one of the top performances by anyone in NFL history. Derrick Johnson, our stunningly athletic one-time star defender-- this year just floating around here and there-- goes to the bank twice with interception returns.

This game was sweet from the beginning because for once, for once it looked like we were all about getting the job done from play one. When I watched the very first play from scrimmage I could swear I was looking at that beautiful Steve DeBerg play-action --remember that?-- sure enough it was Matt Cassel using Charles to draw up the defense then firing a perfect strike to Terrance Copper for 50. Bam. Then another BAM. Bam, bam and in four plays we got a touchdown, amazingly, the first one all season from the first offensive drive of a game.

We got the job done.

We cannot lose sight of the fact that a single game does not a team make. Okay, sober time now, we're now officially in the off-season so let's be candid. This has been the worst period of play the Kansas City Chiefs have ever endured. Worse than those miserable mid-70's years, worse than the lean John Mackovic years (he never had a team with fewer than six wins), even worse than the ridiculously awful Frank Gansz years (even he managed to get four wins in each of his years). Since that glorious last day of 2006 when we miraculously shot into the playoffs, we've played a total of 48 regular season games and have won ten of them. Do the math. That's 38 big huge smackin' losses.

You'd think that with all of this we'd have a losing franchise record, but we actually have a winning record overall (385-358-12). There are a couple of reasons for this. One, the Chiefs were bad-ass good in the 60's and 90's. Yes, all around the mediocrity in our history, we had those two wonderful decades. And two, the Chiefs were never really very bad in any year. I know that's hard to believe even with our beloved Frank Gansz in the mix there, but it is interesting that in our worst years we've only been very average, never a 1-15 record or even anything close to it outside of 2008. That's nothing to cheer about, yes, but still...

This is why I bring up this last spate of Chiefs play--these past three years of horror. Taken together they indeed represent the worst times the Chiefs have ever experienced. Last year we set a record for least number of sacks. This year (for all intents and purposes because it isn't an official record, but close enough) we settled in with the teams who had record dropped passes, around 50 on the season. Our defense was ranked dead last in the NFL. And what cannot be quantified is our abject failure to get any meaningful push on either side of the ball-- arguably the most important part of the game.

But, ain't no way I'm ending the last blog entry of the season that way. I only do so to amplify the stakes here. The fact is, there is that hope.

And it is very real.

I'm not just whistling in the dark. There are some very positive things going on. Two plays in particular that just made me proud to be a Chiefs fan, because they just did so well blocking. Jamaal Charles' first touchdown was just a five-yard scamper, but the blocking made me think about what we had in 2003 when Priest Holmes so splendidly danced through the line. And the first of Derrick Johnson's interceptions was taken back with the help of phenomenal blocking by his defensive cohorts.

With all the accolades I have to mention our kickers, yes our kickers. Ryan Succop tied a record for FG percentage by a rookie--how awesome it was to see him bang through just about every shot he had. And Dustin Colquitt nearly got to a record for most punts inside the 20 in a season. That is great.

Today the Chiefs were gelling and making things happen as a team--oh how sweet...getting the job done. That this happened there in Denver, our first win there since 2000, extraordinarily sweet. We put up a whoppin' 44 there today, the most in their yard since 1966. Sweet sweet sweet. This game was a complete and utter joy to behold.

Now it's on to April and the beacoup load of draft picks to keep building on this. What a fantastic way to go into the offseason. Oh please know this is by no means the best it can be...

I eagerly await the the last game of the regular season when it is way way better than this, when we actually move on to the playoffs.

If we can build on this, and there is every reason to believe we can, it'll happen.

I confess, I confess with an overflow of the most heartbreaking memories that there have been many times when things looked bright for us, and later things went very, very badly. I so very well know this may be one of those times. Many of the pieces are indeed in place, particularly in the front office, that make the hope real, and while sometime later it could all end very badly yet again, I can only close this season with the thought--especially after this final game of '09--

That at least there is that very bright hope for now.

It is very good indeed.
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