Broncos at Chiefs - Week 2 - Record: 1-1 - The Take

It's already started. And it's only going to get worse.

Oh, no, I'm not talking about the Chiefs by any means. I'm great with the Chiefs, they're just fine, don't worry.

What's nasty and bound to get more wretched is what the media and their toadies want us to think about the Chiefs. That is actually the only real concern I have about anything Chiefs right now. Oh yes we'll talk all about the things the Chiefs need to improve, that's all standard practice.

But the way the media and the powers-that-be who incestuously drive how the game is perceived and arranged are the most critical concern.

Let's just begin with what happened Thursday night. The first most important thing to know is that the Chiefs dominated that game. Make no mistake, the final score should've been 45-10 and everyone who knows pro football and is honest with themselves know it. And please remember, I'm not a whistle-in-the-dark guy, there have been countless times when the Chiefs have won a game they had no business winning and I know it and I say it, no matter how joyful I feel. Broncos fans have got to be thrilled right now, but the honest ones know the truth.

The detractor vultures, however, are going to swoop down around the dead carcass they're calling the Chiefs. Just watch, this week the Chiefs will be relegated to No. 16, 17 on everyone's power rankings, while the Broncos will be at No. 2, 3, something like that. The Chiefs will be dismissed as classic chokers -- a mistake prone team no longer worthy of any meaningful consideration.

So yeah, the Chiefs season is over.

Really?

When every team has those heartbreaking games committing a slew of turnovers they simply cannot overcome -- no team can win these kinds of games, even the very best ones. The Chiefs had four of their five turnovers in the absolute worst possible places and times. And yet they were still ahead 24-17 with under a minute left.

But these Broncos, wow they're great!

Really?

When the Broncos felt they had to intimidate the Chiefs to win. The Chiefs were ambushed by a Denver team that had, what, at least four or five unnecessary roughness calls -- Denver is really that much better when they had to rely on a headhunting style of play to win this game?

Oh but it worked and the Chiefs caved and they're now out of it.

Really?

When you had a Chiefs run defense that finally solved Denver's offensive line and thoroughly snuffed out their running game? Who's Dontari Poe? Jaye Howard was a monster in there shoving people back and blowing up plays. Our linebackers and strong safeties were phenomenal.

Oh but the Chiefs are losers.

Really?

When you had a pass defense that did a fine job of containing Denver's passing game except for the standard laser accurate Peyton Manning throws he will have no matter what. Marcus Peters, the greenest rookie you can ever see, is showing he's already big-league. The other D-backs were smothering Denver's fantastic receivers and it required the few times Manning was on target to beat us.

But that means the Broncos are the team everyone should love!

Really?

When the Broncos defense could not stop Jamaal Charles or Knile Davis, when their aggressiveness cost them big-time and we completed short passes to our tight ends and backs for big gains, when Alex Smith's athleticism got plays off quickly and efficiently.

But the Broncos still played defense well enough to force those turnovers!

Really?

When Andy Reid admitted he made bad calls at the end of the first half, essentially handing the Broncos a short field at a terribly inopportune time any decent team can take advantage of, when Jamaal Charles has two of the worst fumbles anyone can have when he regularly never fumbles, when the Broncos only scored 28 of their 31 points with two minutes left in each half, half of those points coming on gifts from the Chiefs and, of course, the horse curse gods.

That horse curse, yeah, still there.

But its days are numbered.

That is simply because this Chiefs team is for real, and you saw it plainly on the field there at Arrowhead Thursday night.

What are the genuine things of concern for the Chiefs, however? What things are the things the team needs to work on?

Andy Reid's notorious two-minute drill failures were indeed ablaze, we have to admit that. At the end of the first half, as just noted, Reid confessed that his play-calling was abysmal. I'd like to think that he's learning and that'll be taken care of. At the end of the second half he just looked like Marty Schottenheimer, that's all. Of course, that's a harrowing thought, but hey, us Chiefs fans, we can take it. We all felt the agonizing pain of this loss, but hey, we know Marty in a perversely endearing kind of way, so we understand.

Andy's 3rd-down conversion percentage has got to get better. we're something like 3-for-20 on 3rd down this year. But this is a two-game sample, the teams we've played in those two games have fine defenses, and we do have the offensive weapons to make this better.

Where are the other receivers besides Jeremy Maclin? I don't think any other receiver caught a pass, I'm sure of it. Maybe I missed one. But where was Albert Wilson? Jason Avant? Chris Conley? Don't get me wrong, I think our long drought without a receiver touchdown pass is way overblown. Who cares if we win games with TD passes to tight ends and backs? I don't care if we never throw another TD pass to a receiver. But I do think for us to be successful more passes need to get to other receivers than Maclin. Again, too early to tell.

Our offensive line still needs to gel. It did hold its own against a ferocious Denver pass rush, but we still gave up a few sacks, allowed too much pressure on Smith, and the team as a whole compiled far too many penalties. Remember in the Houston game, when we had only two penalties total? We got two called against us in the first few minutes of the game.

Here's the bottom line with all this.

This was a terrific game for the Chiefs. Yes, it was an abominable loss, but honestly,

This was the best thing that could happen to the Chiefs.

The only thing that is distressing is the way the media and the powers that join with them work through intimations and the officials on the field to arrange outcomes that benefit the investors -- anyone with a financial stake in the NFL. There are just so many instances when things have happened that compromise the integrity of the game simply so the NFL can make sure people like the advertisers are happy.

I recently saw a video about the 2013 NFC championship game between San Francisco and Seattle, and it showcased even more of the horrific things that happened to the 49ers to work the game in favor of an eventual Seattle-Denver Super Bowl matchup. I do remember how robbed the 49ers were in so many instances, but this just showed how expansive it was. Of course, every Chiefs fan knows what happened in that Kansas City-Denver playoff game from the 1997 season when it was clear the powers desperately wanted a John Elway featured playoff run. The Broncos put petroleum jelly all over themselves? Ha! -- We're all supposed to chuckle and slough it off, yuckitty yuckitty let's just move on alright?

Sure you can dismiss me as a conspiracy theory kook, go ahead and stop reading here. Go ahead and say "You're just a tin-foil hat wearing whiner." That's fine, I can take it. But the NFL is officially characterized as "entertainment" as opposed to sport, which gives it the authority to arrange it anyway they want with perfectly legal impunity. Of course they can't make it too much like WWF wrestling because that pushes away all the people who do watch it for the authentically competitive endeavor that it is mostly, granted.

I agree the players and coaches and most of those with their hands in the on-field activity are not involved, and any team that can evoke the lion's share of interest will be adopted for certain, um, arrangements to be showcased in more, shall we say, creative ways. Often those ways are so obvious that they can't be missed, as they were in those two games mentioned above. I'm sure many others can cite their own, like the Lions fans who still smart from what was going on with their playoff game against Dallas last year.

Thing is, if Kansas City were one of those teams, then the powers will work things for them, but let's be honest, who wants that? We want to win on the merits.

You may wonder then, quite reasonably, why do I still pay attention to all this, to the Chiefs and to the NFL?

Here's how I feel, like it or not. In spite of this, there is still the thrill of the game, and I confess, the mere entertainment value -- all the pageantry and competitive rigor related to just being a Chiefs fan among all other Chiefs fans. Is it rigged? Yeah, some.

But the best part is this, and it is the part that I've already written earlier in this blog effort, is what is required to overcome the horse curse, and the pride of watching our boys valiantly take it on with the combination of plain talent they put on the field and the team leadership and camaraderie that makes it all go.

Again, this Chiefs team has it.

This is why it is preposterous for people to say this loss will be so crushing the Chiefs will not overcome it, and why I bring up the concern about the media narrative driving the perception that may cost the Chiefs as the season progresses. I should briefly add that I do not believe there was anything in this game that the league officials did to alter the outcome. Nothing was obvious at all and it did seem the officiating was thoroughly on the level. My only point here is that the media remarks are heavily weighted in favor of a set-up for more widespread acceptance of what may happen.

After the game CBS announcer Jim Nantz called the Chiefs, his exact words, a "train wreck." The color man, Phil Simms, droned on about how the Chiefs will never recover from a loss like this -- not a single word about how well they played otherwise. The next day a tease for the story from NBC Sports' website was something like, "When does a tough loss become legendary?" All of this designed to convey the idea that the Chiefs are terminal chokers and not worth the attention, and it is great for the powers because Kansas City is never favored in any search for a team to showcase.

Here's the key thing about all of that.

Do you really think that the Chiefs players and coaches went back to the clubhouse and sat around moping, "Yep, we're just a bunch of losers. Yep, we don't amount to anything. Yep, we can't do anything right. Yep, we might as well pack it in right now."

Do you really think the Chiefs for even a second have assumed all this shit upon themselves?

It is comical.

And yet this is the narrative that is being driven by the people who may just not want to see the Chiefs succeed.

What do I think?

Again, I think this loss was the best thing for the Chiefs.

They can now come together more deeply as a team, see the adversity for the opportunity that it presents for them, envision more clearly what it takes to be successful and that it is within their reach because they do have the tools. Sure, a lesser team may indeed look at themselves and honestly see despair.

But I can't believe this team can't see that they are as good as they truly are. I actually believe the Chiefs are quietly taking stock in how dominant they can be and that they must now step it up just that much more to ensure that the horse curse will end and the media powers don't get away with distorting the truth. They now not only have the physical talent, but because of this game they have that much more mental toughness and emotional fortitude to do what it take to overcome those exploitative machinations.

Watching them grow and move on with all this, this is what makes it all worthwhile.

I honestly don't think it will take much.

In fact, don't take it from me, and especially don't take it from those media cranks.

Take it from Peyton Manning.

I never look much at the after-game stuff following a loss like this, too depressing. But after this one I actually did hang around a bit with the telecast, and I did watch Peyton Manning.

First, Manning said in an interview on the field right after the game that this Chiefs defense was the best they ever had. He knew what it took to beat this team. This is not something you say about a team that is dead already with 14 games left in a season.

Second, he was more ebullient than he ever was after a game, that's one thing the commentators went out of their way to mention. This tells me Peyton Manning knew it was miracle win like no other. This was a game they pulled out of the fire with the help of the rare generous gifts the Chiefs gave them.

So yeah, this must mean the Chiefs will collapse exactly like this every game this season. This must mean they'll have the most insane turnovers they've never had before, all the time. This must mean the Chiefs are not professionals who are where they are for a pretty good reason and are themselves smart enough to know that. This must mean John Dorsey hasn't constructed a damn good team that we all saw in brilliant colors Thursday night.

Really?
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