Oh the woeful Old-AFL teams.
Today it was the Patriots suffering in the final throes of this year's embarrassment. Yes, AFL fans, yet again there will not be an AFL team winning the Super Bowl. Indeed there won't even be one in it. This year's AFC representative will be the Baltimore Ravens, and it will not be an AFL team, namely the Bengals Bills Broncos Chargers Chiefs Dolphins Jets Patriots Raiders or Titans.
I did my own little statistical study of AFL appearances and wins in playoff games since the last AFL team won the whole thing, eight years ago when the Patriots did it. There are ten AFL teams in the AFC, and six not-AFL teams. That gives the AFL a 63% chance to do great playoff things, while the not-AFL'ers-in-the AFC (Browns Colts Jaguars Ravens Steelers Texans) have a 37% chance. And yet, of the 87 AFC playoff spots there have been since '04, 45 have been taken by the non-AFL'ers, to 42 for the AFL'ers.
And wins? That's even worse. 26 post-season games have been won by the non-AFL'ers, to only 17 for the AFL'ers. Again, that non-AFL success is with only six teams of the 16 in the AFC. Oh, and by the way, eight of those 17 were won by New England. And, um, how many of the remaining nine were by the Chiefs?...
Okay, everyone who's a true genuine Lamar Hunt fan, everyone together now...
::SIGHHHHHH::
Still, this must mean that it is time. I know I've said this before, but THIS IS THE TIME. The time is now, NOW when it has to be, the time for the Chiefs to explode as THE representative of that proud AFL contingent and BE that team that starts to dominate. We're due, we are so due.
Let's get right to it. I want to first finish up this year by looking at the dregs of the past so we can ever-so revel in the great success of the future. As I promised before, here for my last post of the 2012 season is
The Worst Seasons of the Kansas City Chiefs - All-Time
(Again, all kinds of rabid discourse about the placement is not only allowed by wholeheartedly encouraged. Here they are in my opinion. Brace yourselves -- the reminiscing here will be quite wrenching.)
Now, before I start, there were all kinds of honorable mentions that I at least have to get on the page. In fact, please know that really -- any of these years could be on the list of top five, so no argument there. 1987, 1999, 2007, 2004, 1988, 2008, 1977, and certainly I could mention at least a little something about each, most I think somehow involving Frank Gansz. Hey, just about any year in the 70's and 80's is eligible. Thing is I really want to get to the meatier awfulness. Besides, any Chiefs fan certainly knows the horror that encapsulates each of those years.
So once again, the ickiness please.
5. 1998
I absolutely have to put this year in the top five because it was the year that did me in. It was November 17, 1998, on that very day when I made the firmly bold decision to be, ta-dah, sports celibate. Really. I simply could not take it anymore. In fact, I wrote a whole post in a blog series a few years ago detailing all of this, the short version is that the Chiefs kicked-living-ass outta the gate, then utterly, utterly collapsed. Just hearing Bubby Brister ramble for a 30-plus-yard touchdown run to help the Broncos beat us on Monday night at Arrowhead was just too much to take.
Yes, I cracked.
That was it. When I recently looked back at the results from the rest of that season for the first time since that day, I noted that we pretty much stank the rest of the year, too. Weird. Didn't know a thing about it. Didn't know a thing about anything Chiefs until in 2003 I did decide I'd allow myself the pleasure (as it was) to just watch or listen to games on Sunday -- nothing else.
4. 2011
Yes, I had to put last year way up here in the top five of Chiefs abysmalosity simply because of the insane string of ACL injuries we suffered right at the beginning of the season which sunk the whole season before it even really started. I mean seriously, I cannot think of any other team in the history of anything that had happen what we had happen.
First it was Tony Moeaki, then it was Eric Berry, then it was Jamaal Charles. Three of our very best, gone. We ended up getting shellacked each of the first three games we played, until, hey! We started playing better! We actually won a few games, and ironically it was said the reason was our exceptional pre-season conditioning. The problem was that every one of the AFC East teams just shredded us and Todd Haley showed he just could not handle a whole franchise as a head coach.
I could add how awful our quarterback situation was then, too, but ya know? Maybe this whole thing is a blessing in disguise, to the extent that maybe, just maybe, Chiefs management will really fully see the catastrophe that is signing some 57th round draft pick barely-capable-as-a-back-up to be the team's savior.
We have all new leadership people -- head coach, general manager, all that -- that's great. But if we keep Matt Cassel around I'm going to be really angry. The whole point is that we have just got to see through a guy like Cassel who admittedly looked so much like a quarterback that it was easy for someone less perceptive to fail to see he had nothing.
Same thing for Brady Quinn. It should've been the same thing for Steve Fuller, Todd Blackledge, the rest of the quarterback flunkie parade through our history.
Well, now we have way more perceptive people running things, right?
3. 1996
Did you notice that for all the wonderfulness the 1990's were for the Chiefs, when you look at it, it really did suck actually. Look at all the years that appear on at least one Chiefs Game Today "Worst" list (the other list is here): 1994 (ouch), then 1995 (OW-ee ouch), then this one (don't worry I'll get to the gory details), then 1997 (::groannn::), then 1998. Throw 1999 in there, yeah, the one when the Raiders beat us at home on the last day of the season keeping us from getting into the playoffs, and you've got quite an agonizing decade there.
1996 was easily one of the worst, and would've made the "Playoff Edition Worst" because of the nature of what happened, except that, ahem, we didn't make the playoffs.
Why? Well, let's see. We dominate Detroit at their place on Thanksgiving and only have to win one more game to get right back into the playoffs, as we should of course -- we'd been there six straight times. It was becoming a habit except that we still had to get to that Super Bowl. So, let's go do the getting-to-the-Super-Bowl thing. Except we can't beat the Raiders at their place. Fair enough, we'd blistered the Raiders over and over during 90's. I figure they could win one or two.
Indy is next at home, perfect revenge game from the previous year's stunning playoff loss to them, except we can't beat them then either.
So we're at 9-6 for the last game of the year in Buffalo, and we just can't beat them either. We're now at an unbelievable 9-7 but hey! We still have a chance to back in to the playoffs if Jacksonville loses to Atlanta. At the end of that game Atlanta drives down to the Jaguars one-yard line, and can't score the touchdown. But hey! A field goal from all-time super-kicker Morten Anderson, will still win it! Yay!
Except that Anderson misses the 18-yard chip-shot of all chip-shots.
You - have - got - to - be - kidding - me.
2. 1974
This was the year that truly got the misery of all things Chiefs going for years, and years, and years, and -- okay I'll stop now.
Now I didn't know a thing, really, about what happened with the Chiefs during those years. Yes, I was still a passionate fan, but I was into high school stuff and when you're a teenager there're just so many other things pulling on you.
But guess what.
Right now I'm reading the Lamar Hunt biography by Michael MacCambridge, remember? And sure enough, this was really the year that sunk us. The Chiefs actually had winning seasons in '72 and '73, hard to believe but they did.
Then the wheels started to come off, and the reasons are ones we all know too well. Hank started becoming too autocratic, and this drove Jack Steadman nuts. Stram was summarily fired after the season and without him Steadman just fumbled all the football-oriented decisions the Chiefs had to make. To his credit he hired Jim Schaaf in 1976 to do all that, but, come on, Jim Schaaf. More years of Chiefs misery.
Another reason was the typical one that hammers any franchise for years on end: Really dumb player moves. The Chiefs had some of the most notoriously idiotic trades and signings, and all this was coupled with the more famous and indeed very profound factor of hanging on to guys way past their primes. Of course a huge part of all that was our ruthless failure to draft and develop a quarterback, and I think around 1974 was when the idea was calcified that we could pluck another Len Dawson from somewhere anytime we wanted and be just fine.
The one thing I had always considered was a perfectly good reason for Chiefs woefulness but never heard much about was one confirmed by the book. Sure enough: Lamar was just spending too much of his time and energy with all that pro tennis and pro soccer crap.
That's the critical leadership deficit right there.
It just cannot be said enough. You don't want your owner meddling in things he doesn't know anything about, but you gotta have him there supporting the team with 100% of his football attention.
I can't say that I don't see Clark doing that right now as the Chiefs prepare (really hopefully) for the next era of Chiefs football. He did aggressively snatch up highly respected Andy Reid, and the fact that he did means he really has a authentic desire for the Chiefs to excel. I personally still think we have to rely on retreads too much, but maybe Reid will be a good fit for now. The key is that Clark is proactive in the best way he can be, and that's so critically important if we mean business.
So before I give my last assessment of things, I must not forget to slot in here the number one top most awful season in Chiefs history. It is none other than
TA-DAAAH!
1. 2012
I really don't think anyone would disagree with this pick. There was just so much atrociousness about this season that it is simply unparalleled. Not even close. The not leading a game until mid-season stuff. The having such terrible quarterback performances stuff. The Keystone Kops play of our offense and sometimes our defense stuff. That we have five pro-bowlers from this team and not a coach to get the best from them stuff. The "We're so bad we can't even be bad in the right year" stuff regarding not having that future Hall-of-Fame quarterback there for us to get with our No. 1 overall draft pick.
I could go on and on. I'm sure I'm missing a ton of the splendidly best of the ferociously worst that this season was.
As for now, we have that pick.
Again, I don't know who's in the draft or what. As I told you, I go way out of my way to avoid looking at any of that stuff -- yeah, it does, it really does... It drives me crazy.
I already know the marquee signal-caller is just not there. Is there some guy who is such a stud at whatever position he is at that he'd really single-handedly make this team a serious contender? If we do have enough good players like those pro-bowlers with whom to put this guy into the mix, then yeah, maybe we should keep the pick and get that studliest guy on the board. The problem is that no player at any position other than quarterback can ever really turn a team around that dramatically.
This is why I think we should find some team that is salivating for that guy at No. 1, trade down for five or six draft picks (at least), and really stock up on some solid players over the next two or three years. We'll have to use two of those picks to go get Alex Smith -- erghck, another retread QB and another former 49er one at that, but hey, it's what we got -- then use another to snatch up a Matt Barkley or Geno Smith who as far as I know should be available lower in the draft.
I dunno. Just my idea.
I had to say this about Scott Pioli, and it didn't work out real well. Now I have to say it again, this time about our new general manager John Dorsey. It's gotta be better this time, it just has to be. Here goes:
Pleeeeeease make good personnel decisions.
You know, John, we have to be the next dominant team from the old-AFL, you do know that don't you John? You do know that some AFL'er is soooo due for this, and that team has to be the Chiefs, you do know that John, don't you?
Okay, good thing we got that cleared up.
Because John, let's face it, I have got to have a lot more good seasons to choose from to put in the next "Best Chiefs Seasons Ever" post and there just can't be any more to add to the "Most Rotten Seasons" list. I am perfectly happy with the next "Top Five Best" list -- wait, how about a "Top Ten Best" list, there will be so many to choose from -- a list that'll include lots of years beginning with "one"s and "two"s, you know 16, 17, 23, 25, hey, I'm great with one to add that is 13.
Did you get that John?
On to 2013, the next NEW beginning of THE truly great era of Chiefs football!
_
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
No Chiefs Playoff Game Again - But Great Reminiscing About Our Best Seasons!
I'm chomping at the bit to get into so many things regarding pro football and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Again I want to get into what the deal is with the AFL, sometime. Again the old-AFL teams are sucking, today it was the Broncos collapsing. I didn't see any of it except for the very end of regulation when with a half-minute left the Broncos safety completely blew the coverage allowing a Ravens receiver to catch a 70-yard game-tying touchdown pass. I know the Ravens went on to win it. I could go into all of it much more, as I have, but the curse against the entire AFL is still raging big-time.
And the thing about all this is I am about halfway through Michael MacCambridge's book on Lamar Hunt. I can't deny that I am eagerly looking for anything, anything that would portend why his prized possession, the Kansas City Chiefs professional football outfit, has just been so abysmal through the years particularly in light of the fact that for some of those years we've had pretty dang great teams.
I'm just not finding anything conclusive. Are we just that unlucky? Are we just that inept in putting together a team that actually gels together on the field? Is it as simple as we just haven't drafted and developed a studly quarterback ever?
Well, there is a lot to write about, and I will at some point, but today is just a day to share with you my considerations for the five very best Chiefs seasons ever, ranked from five all the way up to No. 1 (Bet you can't guess what that season was!...)
So without further adieu, here is
The Best Kansas City Chiefs Seasons Ever
5. 1966
As poor as the Chiefs have been through their fifty years with really making anything happen playoffs-wise, it was a bit of a challenge to come up with just five to call the best. You'll note that not on the list are fine years like 1986 (a final-regular-season win getting us a splendidly surprising playoff spot), 1991 (beating the Raiders at the end of the regular season then again the very next week in the playoffs), 2003 (a sizzling 9-0 start), or 2006 (just for what happened on that one single day: New Year's Eve of that year).
I could not refuse, however, to put the 1966 season on the list even though I personally knew nothing about it. I was five years old then and just paid no attention at all to any of this. I do know that we hammered the defending AFL champion Bills in the playoff game for the AFL title, and I do know that the win catapulted us into the very first Super Bowl of them all. Only thing is we got hammered ourselves by the Packers.
4. 1990
Yes, this was a year when the Chiefs suffered not one but two of the team's most devastating losses of all-time. Yes, two in one year. How did it make the list?
Well, it was because outside of those two losses, really, everything about this year was ethereal. We'd just come out of the first full year of the Carl Peterson-Marty Schottenheimer era, 1989, when we played well and actually finished with a winning record. What a refreshing thing to have happen after the thoroughly atrocious 70's and 80's.
We watched Derrick Thomas explode on everyone. We watched Christian Okoye rumble over everyone. And we watched Steve DeBerg have the season of his life, throwing for I think was 23 touchdowns to only 4 interceptions. What? Steve DeBerg?
The clincher about DeBerg was how he played down the stretch, with that broken finger. Do you remember how he played like crazy to win the final regular season game at Chicago, with the cast on that finger waggling around? He played like it didn't even bother him. His sublimely gutsy play for our Chiefs is one of the prime reasons this season is on the list.
Sadly, it isn't higher because of those two awful games. One was at home against Seattle when Derrick Thomas was busy setting the single game record for sacks with seven, only to have Dave Kreig elude the eighth and throw a game-winning TD pass with no time left to win it for the Seahawks. I don't think I'd ever been as shellshocked as I was immediately after any regular season Chiefs game as I was after that one.
If we'd have closed this game out like we should have, we'd have had a 12-4 record instead of 11-5, would've won the division and avoided having to play Miami on the road in the first game of the playoffs. That by the way was the second game, one in which we were ahead 16-3 as the fourth quarter began, and, well... Ahem, we're only talking about the good things about this season, aren't we.
I have to add one of those good things that makes '90 so special is that it started an unprecedented string of six straight playoff appearances for the Chiefs. It would've been eight if not for one missed chip-shot field goal that would've allowed the Chiefs to back into a playoff spot they themselves blew a chance to get in 1996, but still.
3. 1993
This was Joe Montana's first year of two with the Chiefs, and what a phenomenally enjoyable year it was for Chiefs fans. Right away the team did exceptionally well, going a long way to show that Joe still had it. The team never lost two games in a row and won the division. Joe got help through the year from also-very-fine quarterback Dave Kreig, but overall he really did a lot to reinvigorate Chiefs football, not just for Kansas City and Chiefs fans, but for all of the NFL and professional sports.
He certainly showed his skills where he made the biggest name for himself, in the postseason. First he took care of Pittsburgh, throwing a strike to Tim Barnett in the back of the endzone on the last play of regulation to lead to the overtime win. Then he carved up Houston when their defense was all we heard about the entire week.
There have been only two seasons in Chiefs history -- yes, alas, it is true, only two -- that have seen at least two playoff wins by the Chiefs, and this was one of them.
2. 1981
What a magical, magical season this was. We didn't make the playoffs because we just weren't good enough, but even so, the thrill of seeing our Chiefs blast out to an 8-4 record was unparalleled. Just because we'd been so pathetically mediocre for so long. Just because we'd utterly pasted the Raiders twice. Just because we were playing with such heart and soul.
And just because we got to marvel at Joe Delaney.
One of the things I've discovered in Lamar Hunt's biography is just how tragic our Chiefs history is. I'd known about what happened to Mack Lee Hill, and there was the stunning Derrick Thomas accident, and of course this year there was the Jovan Belcher horrificness, but I hadn't any idea about this young player Stone Johnson during the earliest Chiefs years, a player who broke his neck in a game and later died.
Of course there was Joe Delaney. The heroically tragic nature of what happened to him makes this season easily one of the most bittersweet, and every one of even the most nominal Chiefs fans knows it.
1. 1969
To no surprise to anyone, the one year we won the Super Bowl is tops, by far.
Yes, I could say a bazillion things everyone already knows about it. I'm not, just because the placement here is exactly as it should be -- nothing could keep it from being most justifiably right here. I just don't have to try to argue for it. Much of why is just for you to see all the other picks of mine for No.s 2 to 5 for you to enjoy revving up your thinking about whether you agree or disagree.
I have to say it is hard not to regale the masses with the splendor that is Super Bowl IV: Jan's long field goals crushing the Vikings' spirit early, Hank's ingenious game plan famously highlighted by his delightful sideline loquacity ("65 toss power trap"!), that Dawson-to-Taylor quick-out touchdown pass to clinch it - a play indelibably planted in our minds as the hallmark of Chiefs greatness.
Well, I guess I did right there end up saying some things about this, but there is so much more.
I'll just finally add this.
I whine and moan and complain about the terrible stuff that has happened to the Chiefs through the years. But hey, we're entitled to do that. I go crazy with my obsessively querulous inquiries into what exactly is going on over there at Arrowhead. But hey, it's a hobby of mine. I'm convinced it is something, something: the most rotten luck or the dullest thickheadedness about drafting a quarterback or some curse or some conspiracy or the due punishment for H.L's bigamy coming back to kill us year after year after year.
But there is still 1969.
We had everything going for us, everything came together as it should, and we turned the football world upside down.
No matter what, that year vindicated Lamar Hunt and all his hard work to bring a fine thing to the people of Kansas City, as well as -- even more significantly for that matter -- to all who work for or just plain enjoy professional sports.
And I'd say that is a lot more people than even that. So far the book makes it clear, but, hey, I'm still reading...
_
(For the record: As you know I am reading Michael MacCambridge's biography of Lamar Hunt, and in his narrative about the 1990's he pointed out that the Montana-Young "revenge" game happened in 1994. I had originally put that it had happened in 1993. I've since excised that reference from the 1993 portion of this blog post. My apologies.)
Again I want to get into what the deal is with the AFL, sometime. Again the old-AFL teams are sucking, today it was the Broncos collapsing. I didn't see any of it except for the very end of regulation when with a half-minute left the Broncos safety completely blew the coverage allowing a Ravens receiver to catch a 70-yard game-tying touchdown pass. I know the Ravens went on to win it. I could go into all of it much more, as I have, but the curse against the entire AFL is still raging big-time.
And the thing about all this is I am about halfway through Michael MacCambridge's book on Lamar Hunt. I can't deny that I am eagerly looking for anything, anything that would portend why his prized possession, the Kansas City Chiefs professional football outfit, has just been so abysmal through the years particularly in light of the fact that for some of those years we've had pretty dang great teams.
I'm just not finding anything conclusive. Are we just that unlucky? Are we just that inept in putting together a team that actually gels together on the field? Is it as simple as we just haven't drafted and developed a studly quarterback ever?
Well, there is a lot to write about, and I will at some point, but today is just a day to share with you my considerations for the five very best Chiefs seasons ever, ranked from five all the way up to No. 1 (Bet you can't guess what that season was!...)
So without further adieu, here is
The Best Kansas City Chiefs Seasons Ever
5. 1966
As poor as the Chiefs have been through their fifty years with really making anything happen playoffs-wise, it was a bit of a challenge to come up with just five to call the best. You'll note that not on the list are fine years like 1986 (a final-regular-season win getting us a splendidly surprising playoff spot), 1991 (beating the Raiders at the end of the regular season then again the very next week in the playoffs), 2003 (a sizzling 9-0 start), or 2006 (just for what happened on that one single day: New Year's Eve of that year).
I could not refuse, however, to put the 1966 season on the list even though I personally knew nothing about it. I was five years old then and just paid no attention at all to any of this. I do know that we hammered the defending AFL champion Bills in the playoff game for the AFL title, and I do know that the win catapulted us into the very first Super Bowl of them all. Only thing is we got hammered ourselves by the Packers.
4. 1990
Yes, this was a year when the Chiefs suffered not one but two of the team's most devastating losses of all-time. Yes, two in one year. How did it make the list?
Well, it was because outside of those two losses, really, everything about this year was ethereal. We'd just come out of the first full year of the Carl Peterson-Marty Schottenheimer era, 1989, when we played well and actually finished with a winning record. What a refreshing thing to have happen after the thoroughly atrocious 70's and 80's.
We watched Derrick Thomas explode on everyone. We watched Christian Okoye rumble over everyone. And we watched Steve DeBerg have the season of his life, throwing for I think was 23 touchdowns to only 4 interceptions. What? Steve DeBerg?
The clincher about DeBerg was how he played down the stretch, with that broken finger. Do you remember how he played like crazy to win the final regular season game at Chicago, with the cast on that finger waggling around? He played like it didn't even bother him. His sublimely gutsy play for our Chiefs is one of the prime reasons this season is on the list.
Sadly, it isn't higher because of those two awful games. One was at home against Seattle when Derrick Thomas was busy setting the single game record for sacks with seven, only to have Dave Kreig elude the eighth and throw a game-winning TD pass with no time left to win it for the Seahawks. I don't think I'd ever been as shellshocked as I was immediately after any regular season Chiefs game as I was after that one.
If we'd have closed this game out like we should have, we'd have had a 12-4 record instead of 11-5, would've won the division and avoided having to play Miami on the road in the first game of the playoffs. That by the way was the second game, one in which we were ahead 16-3 as the fourth quarter began, and, well... Ahem, we're only talking about the good things about this season, aren't we.
I have to add one of those good things that makes '90 so special is that it started an unprecedented string of six straight playoff appearances for the Chiefs. It would've been eight if not for one missed chip-shot field goal that would've allowed the Chiefs to back into a playoff spot they themselves blew a chance to get in 1996, but still.
3. 1993
This was Joe Montana's first year of two with the Chiefs, and what a phenomenally enjoyable year it was for Chiefs fans. Right away the team did exceptionally well, going a long way to show that Joe still had it. The team never lost two games in a row and won the division. Joe got help through the year from also-very-fine quarterback Dave Kreig, but overall he really did a lot to reinvigorate Chiefs football, not just for Kansas City and Chiefs fans, but for all of the NFL and professional sports.
He certainly showed his skills where he made the biggest name for himself, in the postseason. First he took care of Pittsburgh, throwing a strike to Tim Barnett in the back of the endzone on the last play of regulation to lead to the overtime win. Then he carved up Houston when their defense was all we heard about the entire week.
There have been only two seasons in Chiefs history -- yes, alas, it is true, only two -- that have seen at least two playoff wins by the Chiefs, and this was one of them.
2. 1981
What a magical, magical season this was. We didn't make the playoffs because we just weren't good enough, but even so, the thrill of seeing our Chiefs blast out to an 8-4 record was unparalleled. Just because we'd been so pathetically mediocre for so long. Just because we'd utterly pasted the Raiders twice. Just because we were playing with such heart and soul.
And just because we got to marvel at Joe Delaney.
One of the things I've discovered in Lamar Hunt's biography is just how tragic our Chiefs history is. I'd known about what happened to Mack Lee Hill, and there was the stunning Derrick Thomas accident, and of course this year there was the Jovan Belcher horrificness, but I hadn't any idea about this young player Stone Johnson during the earliest Chiefs years, a player who broke his neck in a game and later died.
Of course there was Joe Delaney. The heroically tragic nature of what happened to him makes this season easily one of the most bittersweet, and every one of even the most nominal Chiefs fans knows it.
1. 1969
To no surprise to anyone, the one year we won the Super Bowl is tops, by far.
Yes, I could say a bazillion things everyone already knows about it. I'm not, just because the placement here is exactly as it should be -- nothing could keep it from being most justifiably right here. I just don't have to try to argue for it. Much of why is just for you to see all the other picks of mine for No.s 2 to 5 for you to enjoy revving up your thinking about whether you agree or disagree.
I have to say it is hard not to regale the masses with the splendor that is Super Bowl IV: Jan's long field goals crushing the Vikings' spirit early, Hank's ingenious game plan famously highlighted by his delightful sideline loquacity ("65 toss power trap"!), that Dawson-to-Taylor quick-out touchdown pass to clinch it - a play indelibably planted in our minds as the hallmark of Chiefs greatness.
Well, I guess I did right there end up saying some things about this, but there is so much more.
I'll just finally add this.
I whine and moan and complain about the terrible stuff that has happened to the Chiefs through the years. But hey, we're entitled to do that. I go crazy with my obsessively querulous inquiries into what exactly is going on over there at Arrowhead. But hey, it's a hobby of mine. I'm convinced it is something, something: the most rotten luck or the dullest thickheadedness about drafting a quarterback or some curse or some conspiracy or the due punishment for H.L's bigamy coming back to kill us year after year after year.
But there is still 1969.
We had everything going for us, everything came together as it should, and we turned the football world upside down.
No matter what, that year vindicated Lamar Hunt and all his hard work to bring a fine thing to the people of Kansas City, as well as -- even more significantly for that matter -- to all who work for or just plain enjoy professional sports.
And I'd say that is a lot more people than even that. So far the book makes it clear, but, hey, I'm still reading...
_
(For the record: As you know I am reading Michael MacCambridge's biography of Lamar Hunt, and in his narrative about the 1990's he pointed out that the Montana-Young "revenge" game happened in 1994. I had originally put that it had happened in 1993. I've since excised that reference from the 1993 portion of this blog post. My apologies.)
Saturday, January 05, 2013
No Chiefs Game Today During the Playoffs - As Usual
There is not only no Chiefs playoff game today, but there are two other things the Chiefs do not have today, a scant one week after the end of the 2012 regular season.
Romeo Crennel and Scott Pioli.
Crennel was fired straight away on Monday, and as such became this year's fired Chiefs coach. You might recall Todd Haley had that honor last year. The Chiefs went out and snapped up Andy Reid who'd been fired by the Eagles, and as usual I just don't know what to think about this. I pay the littlest attention to any of it, but what I know is this.
Positive: He led the Eagles through one of its greatest periods of success, the early 2000's, even reaching the Super Bowl one of those years. Negative: He was just fired from a team I'd been hearing was abysmal this year -- how much of that was Reid? Again, I really work hard not to know stuff that'll get me to think this guy is just a hopeless retread, because there is still that part of me deep inside that reeeally wants Clark to go down deep somewhere and get the guy he knows is the next Bill Walsh. Except that would require him to know football.
Again, I only say this not to disrespect Clark at all -- I mean, hey, maybe Clark is taking care of the business he needs to, maybe because of his record of success with the Eagles Reid can be the leader we so desperately need and get the coaching job done that so needs to be done here. So as it is we just need to wait and see.
The Chiefs took a bit longer to let Pioli go, this inevitability being finalized Friday. All I can think about regarding Scott was two things: 2009 draft, and the most tepid front office leadership. When he came in everyone was high on him remaking the Chiefs in the champion calibur Patriots mold. Except that Pioli was just really bad at it. It is sad because as it looks, for now, his 2010, 2011, and 2012 drafts actually look pretty decent.
But oh that 2009 draft. Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch. It seemed he thought he'd oh-so-cleverly turn the tables on everyone and get whoever he thought would just be Chiefs studs, and it was an unmitigated catastrophe.
1st round: Tyson Jackson -- What are you doing? Everyone knew he shouldn't have been picked that high, and Jackson has been predictably mediocre at best, far from what a No. 3 pick overall has got to give a franchise. We simply didn't get the guy who could've really been beast for us and instead have a guy who's done work any decent free agent could've been doing.
2nd round: pick traded for Matt Cassel -- My brother back east, a New England follower, was the first to tell me -- above the hopeful din of all Chiefs fans -- that this guy was just not that good. I was really really really hoping he was wrong. We all thought he was during the 2010 season when he played way over his head with a healthy team going against a weak schedule. Then came the final game that year against the Raiders and the playoff game against the Ravens and the emperor was seen with absolutely no clothes on. Too bad Pioli didn't notice because the last two years have been quarterback hell for the Chiefs.
3rd to 6th round: a bunch of nobodies. I really don't think any of those guys played a single down for the Chiefs. (I'm sure they did but I don't remember.) I don't even know any of their names right now.
7th round: last pick of them all Ryan Succop -- This guy sometimes makes amazing field goals, but other times -- like way too many times this year -- he completely doinks easy ones. "What a great player this Mr. Irrelevant is!" is what I've always heard, but after this year, he's scaring me.
One rotten draft, especially one as utterly disasterous as this one was, can kill a general manager.
At this point I don't know what the Chiefs are doing with their personnel manager. Are they bringing in some seasoned guy? I think I'd heard somewhere Bill Polian was going to help out. Is Andy Reid doing it? I try not to pay any attention because unless they bring on a resurrected Bill Walsh, something about it will just make me mad.
As it is, I want to commence my year-end feature, the best and the worst of past Chiefs seasons. I will tell you that I've finally started reading Michael MacCambridge's biography of Lamar Hunt. It is thoroughly engaging and I've discovered some interested things, but not really substantive enough to see what's what with the history of the Chiefs. I've got lots of reading to do yet.
It is that history -- 50 years worth this year -- that is the occasion for the first episode, this one "Top Five Worst Seasons - Playoff Runs (Or Lack Thereof)" I had thought, what were the absolute worst seasons in Chiefs history, but I realized a few of them were how shocked we were by playoff losses. The regular season itself may have been splendid -- but then we went into the playoffs. As you can easily see, all of the following are pukifying one-and-out affairs after their prospects were the most promising.
So without further ado, here are Dave Beck's
Top Five Worst Kansas City Chiefs Seasons - Playoff Run (Or Lack Thereof) Edition
(And please, feel free to vehemently disagree. But I do think your own assessment will be pretty close.)
5. 1968
The Chiefs had roared to a 12-2 record, yet their arch rival Raiders did exactly the same leading to a playoff game that had the Raiders shredding the Chiefs 41-6. Because I was too young to know anything about this game first-hand I can't offer any emotional connection to the loss, but that it was to the Raiders and we'd been beaten so badly I can't imagine how this couldn't make the top five list.
4. 1994
We'd started off wonderfully, keeping up our fine play heading to another playoff appearance. I remember beating Bill Belichick's Browns and feeling good about our chances when we suffered two stunningly crushing, very close losses to the Seahawks and Broncos. We barely got into the playoffs after a nifty final regular season victory over the Raiders in Los Angeles, which was Joe Montana's last win of his career.
But in Miami our three best players made critical errors to keep us from having a solid chance to win. Montana himself threw a terrible interception when we were at the Miami two-yard line. Marcus Allen allowed a Miami defender to just take the ball right out of his arms after a good catch for good yardage. And Derrick Thomas committed an awful defensive holding call on a Miami 3rd-and-long when we really needed the ball back. The final score: 27-17, and it was actually much closer than that.
3. 1995
We'd rocketed to a 13-3 regular season record and faced a very mediocre Colts team at home when Marty Schottenheimer had one of his worst postseason coaching meltdowns (and that's saying something). All the bogging down our offense did was inexplicable except that he just never had it in him to win playoff games.
There was no reason Lin Elliot should have had to have the opportunity to miss those three field goals, but then I wasn't surprised thinking back to the time when I thought, "Hmm, we're picking up Lin Elliot who Jimmie Johnson of the Cowboys summarily fired after he messed up too many times -- nah, there's just no way Elliot's going to cost us any major game." Well, Lin, the third worst Chiefs playoff loss, here's to you. Final score: 10-7, and I still ::whimper:: every time I see that number combination.
2. 1997
This playoff game was so ugly and so wrenching that it could've easily been No. 1 on the list. The only reason it isn't is because we all know what No. 1 is.
How many awful awful awfully awful things were there about this game. From the minute referee Jerry Markbreit took the field I just knew. In fact, I did what I did with Lin Elliot: "Jerry Markbreit has been such a killer ref to us, there's just no way he could be that to us today. It just ain't happenin'." It happened.
The Broncos put illegal substances on their jerseys to gain a clear advantage at the line of scrimmage, and were allowed to totally get away with it. There was the thoroughly cheap holding penalty on a made Pete Stoyanovich field goal (think about it, how many times is anyone called for holding on a field goal attempt) that required him to kick it again only to have it bonk off the upright. That was so critical because we ended up losing 14-10.
We could have even won the thing in the last seconds when we were close to the Broncos goal line, if only Elvis had hit Kimble Anders in the flat instead of throwing that easily swatted-away duck. That was about as painful as it can get, except for...
1. 1971
One of the worst playoff losses any team could ever have to endure, that record long overtime affair that forever jabs at the hearts of anyone affectionately connected to the Chiefs. This was probably, man-for-man, an even better Chiefs team than the '69 team that won it all. We were not only better than the Dolphins, but we played better than the Dolphins and had chance after chance after chance to win the thing.
In fact, we were too good. The reason is because one of the key plays that killed us was a wonderfully designed fake field goal run that went awry because snapper Bobby Bell thought kicker Jan Stenarud didn't get the call because he looked so good at pretending like he was really going to try to kick the field goal instead. So Bell snaps it for the field goal when everyone else is preparing for the fake-out play, and of course everything gets messed up, Jan misses the field he wasn't supposed to be kicking, and, well...
I didn't see every single thing in the game that day because it was Christmas day and as a ten year-old boy I was playing with all my cousins at my uncle's house. But I do remember one haunting image, I'll never forget it. After Ed Podolak had already had one of the greatest single-game performances in NFL history, he still went crazy on Miami running that punt back in overtime, all the way down the sideline deeeep into Miami territory. Of course again the impossible followed, Stenarud missing another field goal that would have won the game.
Instead the Dolphins took it 27-24, another of those number combinations when put together just make any inveterate Chiefs fan grimace. The greatest irony is that if we'd won, and gone on to beat Baltimore the next week, we'd have faced Dallas in the Super Bowl.
I could think of a dozen other things to say about each one. If I had some time I may do some more research and flesh these out sharing other items of note. Yeah, I know, why -- they're all so depressing. But hey, we've got to commiserate. Us Chiefs fans are so used to it. To a large extent it's all we got.
But because it is so tough to take I'm going to avoid doing any honorable mentions with this piece. Some may bring up 1992's ridiculous shutout loss to the Chargers, or 2003's shocking loss to the Colts when we just barely could not keep up with Peyton Manning, or any of a few others. See, that's one of those things that is just as depressing, how few playoff appearances we even have to choose from. We'll be getting to the worst Chiefs seasons overall in two weeks, but next week it'll be fun.
Next week since we'll still not be in the playoffs, I plan to put down what I think are the five best Chiefs seasons in their 50 year history. It hasn't been all awful through the years. So until then...
Yay Clark for getting Andy Reid who'll find a way to get us a good quarterback so we'll win for once...!
Yay!
_
Romeo Crennel and Scott Pioli.
Crennel was fired straight away on Monday, and as such became this year's fired Chiefs coach. You might recall Todd Haley had that honor last year. The Chiefs went out and snapped up Andy Reid who'd been fired by the Eagles, and as usual I just don't know what to think about this. I pay the littlest attention to any of it, but what I know is this.
Positive: He led the Eagles through one of its greatest periods of success, the early 2000's, even reaching the Super Bowl one of those years. Negative: He was just fired from a team I'd been hearing was abysmal this year -- how much of that was Reid? Again, I really work hard not to know stuff that'll get me to think this guy is just a hopeless retread, because there is still that part of me deep inside that reeeally wants Clark to go down deep somewhere and get the guy he knows is the next Bill Walsh. Except that would require him to know football.
Again, I only say this not to disrespect Clark at all -- I mean, hey, maybe Clark is taking care of the business he needs to, maybe because of his record of success with the Eagles Reid can be the leader we so desperately need and get the coaching job done that so needs to be done here. So as it is we just need to wait and see.
The Chiefs took a bit longer to let Pioli go, this inevitability being finalized Friday. All I can think about regarding Scott was two things: 2009 draft, and the most tepid front office leadership. When he came in everyone was high on him remaking the Chiefs in the champion calibur Patriots mold. Except that Pioli was just really bad at it. It is sad because as it looks, for now, his 2010, 2011, and 2012 drafts actually look pretty decent.
But oh that 2009 draft. Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch. It seemed he thought he'd oh-so-cleverly turn the tables on everyone and get whoever he thought would just be Chiefs studs, and it was an unmitigated catastrophe.
1st round: Tyson Jackson -- What are you doing? Everyone knew he shouldn't have been picked that high, and Jackson has been predictably mediocre at best, far from what a No. 3 pick overall has got to give a franchise. We simply didn't get the guy who could've really been beast for us and instead have a guy who's done work any decent free agent could've been doing.
2nd round: pick traded for Matt Cassel -- My brother back east, a New England follower, was the first to tell me -- above the hopeful din of all Chiefs fans -- that this guy was just not that good. I was really really really hoping he was wrong. We all thought he was during the 2010 season when he played way over his head with a healthy team going against a weak schedule. Then came the final game that year against the Raiders and the playoff game against the Ravens and the emperor was seen with absolutely no clothes on. Too bad Pioli didn't notice because the last two years have been quarterback hell for the Chiefs.
3rd to 6th round: a bunch of nobodies. I really don't think any of those guys played a single down for the Chiefs. (I'm sure they did but I don't remember.) I don't even know any of their names right now.
7th round: last pick of them all Ryan Succop -- This guy sometimes makes amazing field goals, but other times -- like way too many times this year -- he completely doinks easy ones. "What a great player this Mr. Irrelevant is!" is what I've always heard, but after this year, he's scaring me.
One rotten draft, especially one as utterly disasterous as this one was, can kill a general manager.
At this point I don't know what the Chiefs are doing with their personnel manager. Are they bringing in some seasoned guy? I think I'd heard somewhere Bill Polian was going to help out. Is Andy Reid doing it? I try not to pay any attention because unless they bring on a resurrected Bill Walsh, something about it will just make me mad.
As it is, I want to commence my year-end feature, the best and the worst of past Chiefs seasons. I will tell you that I've finally started reading Michael MacCambridge's biography of Lamar Hunt. It is thoroughly engaging and I've discovered some interested things, but not really substantive enough to see what's what with the history of the Chiefs. I've got lots of reading to do yet.
It is that history -- 50 years worth this year -- that is the occasion for the first episode, this one "Top Five Worst Seasons - Playoff Runs (Or Lack Thereof)" I had thought, what were the absolute worst seasons in Chiefs history, but I realized a few of them were how shocked we were by playoff losses. The regular season itself may have been splendid -- but then we went into the playoffs. As you can easily see, all of the following are pukifying one-and-out affairs after their prospects were the most promising.
So without further ado, here are Dave Beck's
Top Five Worst Kansas City Chiefs Seasons - Playoff Run (Or Lack Thereof) Edition
(And please, feel free to vehemently disagree. But I do think your own assessment will be pretty close.)
5. 1968
The Chiefs had roared to a 12-2 record, yet their arch rival Raiders did exactly the same leading to a playoff game that had the Raiders shredding the Chiefs 41-6. Because I was too young to know anything about this game first-hand I can't offer any emotional connection to the loss, but that it was to the Raiders and we'd been beaten so badly I can't imagine how this couldn't make the top five list.
4. 1994
We'd started off wonderfully, keeping up our fine play heading to another playoff appearance. I remember beating Bill Belichick's Browns and feeling good about our chances when we suffered two stunningly crushing, very close losses to the Seahawks and Broncos. We barely got into the playoffs after a nifty final regular season victory over the Raiders in Los Angeles, which was Joe Montana's last win of his career.
But in Miami our three best players made critical errors to keep us from having a solid chance to win. Montana himself threw a terrible interception when we were at the Miami two-yard line. Marcus Allen allowed a Miami defender to just take the ball right out of his arms after a good catch for good yardage. And Derrick Thomas committed an awful defensive holding call on a Miami 3rd-and-long when we really needed the ball back. The final score: 27-17, and it was actually much closer than that.
3. 1995
We'd rocketed to a 13-3 regular season record and faced a very mediocre Colts team at home when Marty Schottenheimer had one of his worst postseason coaching meltdowns (and that's saying something). All the bogging down our offense did was inexplicable except that he just never had it in him to win playoff games.
There was no reason Lin Elliot should have had to have the opportunity to miss those three field goals, but then I wasn't surprised thinking back to the time when I thought, "Hmm, we're picking up Lin Elliot who Jimmie Johnson of the Cowboys summarily fired after he messed up too many times -- nah, there's just no way Elliot's going to cost us any major game." Well, Lin, the third worst Chiefs playoff loss, here's to you. Final score: 10-7, and I still ::whimper:: every time I see that number combination.
2. 1997
This playoff game was so ugly and so wrenching that it could've easily been No. 1 on the list. The only reason it isn't is because we all know what No. 1 is.
How many awful awful awfully awful things were there about this game. From the minute referee Jerry Markbreit took the field I just knew. In fact, I did what I did with Lin Elliot: "Jerry Markbreit has been such a killer ref to us, there's just no way he could be that to us today. It just ain't happenin'." It happened.
The Broncos put illegal substances on their jerseys to gain a clear advantage at the line of scrimmage, and were allowed to totally get away with it. There was the thoroughly cheap holding penalty on a made Pete Stoyanovich field goal (think about it, how many times is anyone called for holding on a field goal attempt) that required him to kick it again only to have it bonk off the upright. That was so critical because we ended up losing 14-10.
We could have even won the thing in the last seconds when we were close to the Broncos goal line, if only Elvis had hit Kimble Anders in the flat instead of throwing that easily swatted-away duck. That was about as painful as it can get, except for...
1. 1971
One of the worst playoff losses any team could ever have to endure, that record long overtime affair that forever jabs at the hearts of anyone affectionately connected to the Chiefs. This was probably, man-for-man, an even better Chiefs team than the '69 team that won it all. We were not only better than the Dolphins, but we played better than the Dolphins and had chance after chance after chance to win the thing.
In fact, we were too good. The reason is because one of the key plays that killed us was a wonderfully designed fake field goal run that went awry because snapper Bobby Bell thought kicker Jan Stenarud didn't get the call because he looked so good at pretending like he was really going to try to kick the field goal instead. So Bell snaps it for the field goal when everyone else is preparing for the fake-out play, and of course everything gets messed up, Jan misses the field he wasn't supposed to be kicking, and, well...
I didn't see every single thing in the game that day because it was Christmas day and as a ten year-old boy I was playing with all my cousins at my uncle's house. But I do remember one haunting image, I'll never forget it. After Ed Podolak had already had one of the greatest single-game performances in NFL history, he still went crazy on Miami running that punt back in overtime, all the way down the sideline deeeep into Miami territory. Of course again the impossible followed, Stenarud missing another field goal that would have won the game.
Instead the Dolphins took it 27-24, another of those number combinations when put together just make any inveterate Chiefs fan grimace. The greatest irony is that if we'd won, and gone on to beat Baltimore the next week, we'd have faced Dallas in the Super Bowl.
I could think of a dozen other things to say about each one. If I had some time I may do some more research and flesh these out sharing other items of note. Yeah, I know, why -- they're all so depressing. But hey, we've got to commiserate. Us Chiefs fans are so used to it. To a large extent it's all we got.
But because it is so tough to take I'm going to avoid doing any honorable mentions with this piece. Some may bring up 1992's ridiculous shutout loss to the Chargers, or 2003's shocking loss to the Colts when we just barely could not keep up with Peyton Manning, or any of a few others. See, that's one of those things that is just as depressing, how few playoff appearances we even have to choose from. We'll be getting to the worst Chiefs seasons overall in two weeks, but next week it'll be fun.
Next week since we'll still not be in the playoffs, I plan to put down what I think are the five best Chiefs seasons in their 50 year history. It hasn't been all awful through the years. So until then...
Yay Clark for getting Andy Reid who'll find a way to get us a good quarterback so we'll win for once...!
Yay!
_
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