Every New Year's Eve I think about it. If you're a true Chiefs fan you know what I'm talking about. It was five years ago yesterday.
We're at 8-7 barely hanging on to playoff hopes. Two weeks earlier we'd endured a horrific loss to the Chargers, and only a gimme win over a weak Raiders team a week later had us still on life support.
On the morning of last Sunday of the season we handled Jacksonville while New England was easily taking Tennessee out of the running. The Steelers were having a hard time with Cincinnati, though, but we got that splendid Santonio Holmes catch and sprint for a touchdown in overtime to dismiss the Bengals. Then, glory be, the Niners wore down the Broncos in another overtime win and shazam --
We're in the playoffs.
Five years ago yesterday, one of the magical Chiefs moments of all time.
But here's the thing.
That is one of our most magical moments?
I mean, hey, I'm really taking nothing away from it. It was wonderful.
But in reality, this is really hurtin' -- that this is what we're most proud of over the past however-many years of Chiefsosity.
There's that, but, ahem, no big-time clutch division snatching win, no spectacular postseason performance to defeat a team everyone thought was invincible, no scintillating run through the playoffs captivating the attention of an entire nation, no absorbing Super Bowl hype about the Chiefs and their chances in the biggest game whatever those chances might be.
No, sadly, no. And yes, I do spend a lot of time on this blog sharing the woeful story of our beloved team. Sure, it could be seen as a pity party, but to be honest I do write all of this for the therapy, yeah, to relate to those who feel the same way -- I make no apologies there, in fact, I do enthusiastically invite you to the party...
But I also do it just to say what's what about the Chiefs, and mostly for the past many years it has been less that stellar to say the least.
You don't think I want to say all kinds of delightfully awesome things about the Chiefs? Really? For one you've seen me write glowingly about great-things Chiefs, I do it all the time -- I've even been very guilty of looking too longingly through the rose-colored glasses and been wrong quite a bit about how good we are!
For instance look at today's game! Our defensive backfield was just amazing, again! I've always raved about our terrific Brandons and our safeties like Kendrick Lewis, and this without the rose-colored glasses! These guys were beast again, and what's more amazing they've been doing it without Eric Berry in there! I can even give a shout-out to Sabby Piscitelli, the guy who I once saw somewhere rated the worst D-back in the league.
Hey, he was still part of the core that showed there is simply no way Tim Tebow can do the comeback thing without solid pro-form passing skill. Down 7-3 with a minute left, he just could not do a thing with our D-backfield in there. Really, he hadn't seen that all year.
Welcome to the real NFL, Tim Tebow.
So while our defense did another fine job, our offense... Errrghhh...
Our offense.
Final end-of-season stat: The Chiefs' offense scored 18 touchdowns this season. 18. Eighteen total. Do you know how contemptibly pathetic that is? That's barely a single touchdown a game. I mean it is really hard to mince words here. The numbers speak for themselves, and if you watched this team play all year you'd know.
It was all right there to watch.
Just for comparison, Green Bay's quarterbacks, Aaron Rodgers and his scrub back-up who played just for today, finished the season throwing three times as many touchdown passes alone as the Chiefs entire offense scored.
I'm not going to get into all the why's and wherefore's until next week when I write my special final post of the season with the standard riveting analysis of the season.
But one thing I want to point out from this game is something that is critical for us to address in order to be on track for future success.
With the one minute left the Broncos started at their own 25 to begin that last patented miracle drive they've become so famous for. The Chiefs defense knew -- as everyone in the universe knew -- that all they had to do was smother the receivers (which again, they do very well) and contain with a very simple four man pass rush, and the game would be theirs. Sure enough three straight passes did not get them the first down, until Wallace Gilberry slammed into Tim Tebow's knees. Bam, just like that, personal foul, 15-yard penalty, first down Denver.
Now, if you are on any team and you want to win the game for you and your teammates and your mom and dad there cheering in the crowd, and you are told in the least uncertain terms possible, "Make sure you don't go into that drawn circle on the ground over there and spin around three times clockwise with your hands on your head while singing 'Hello, Dolly' in falsetto," don't you think it'd be reeeeeeal easy to just plain NOT DO THAT???
Now, pretend you're an NFL player on an NFL team making bazillions of NFL dollars, and you are told, "All you have to do is not run into the quarterback's knees. I mean, really, listen very carefully: just stand there, push on the O-lineman a few times, glare at the quarterback and wave your arms around frantically at times, BUT DON'T RUN INTO HIS KNEES," you'd think those instructions would be reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally easy to follow!
But no.
We have to shoot ourselves in the foot yet again.
And that's the whole point about this.
The whole episode illuminates the need for a head coach who can get this team, ahh, here's the word, get ready for it because it is a wonderul, wonderful word --
Disciplined.
Oh, I like that word. It is a marvelous, marvelous word, don't you think?
That the Chiefs would have it.
And I'm not just talking about regular plain old pro football discipline.
I'm talking about teams-that-regularly-compete-in-the-playoffs discipline. Teams that go at least 11-5 every year, who don't have the extraordinarily stupid, profoundly annoying, and contending-team-eviscerating penalties happening over and over and over -- I mean we had a bunch of those yet again in the game today!
And that means we get that coach who can do that.
But our offense did squat. Dexter McCluster's TD run? A thing of beauty. Don't get me wrong -- a thing of beauty.
But that was it. It - it - it.
We just need the guy that'll unlock this team's potential. Look at what Jim Harbaugh did with the already very talented and amazingly underachieving 49ers.
We need the guy like that who's going to get this team to not only be the class of the AFC West (which admittedly should not be hard to do these days) but to be one of the class teams in the NFL.
But again, next week is the season analysis post.
For now, just pride again in a team that finished the season with a good win, and while it wasn't like 2006, it's still always good, and perhaps even a positive note to get the team a bit excited for next year.
(And hey, even with the win, the Raiders were still booted from the playoffs when they lost their game! Oh yeah!)
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