A Very Good Chiefs Day

I have been itching to add more commentary to the yet-another Chiefs catastrophe from yesterday, one that has left every Chiefs fan shellshocked once more. But I'm not, I'm not even going close to that. No remarks about anyone or anything all of which is really just a repeat of all the other ones. Really, it is.

You could take any of my post-mortem posts from any of the years the Chiefs have inexplicably but very typically tanked in the playoffs, there've been so many, and just insert the names from yesterday and the events from yesterday and it'd be exactly the same. I do want to direct you to one link, in case you are new to my blog, about my overall perspective on God in relation to all of this since I did mention Him again in my last post. This post could've been written yesterday, really. If you read it or re-read it again, you'll see.

I've also seen nothing Chiefs or NFL since yesterday, and don't want to. And I won't any time soon. Why. As such after this post I don't intend to write anything until maybe after the draft, definitely during the preseason at some point. Most of what I'd write about yesterday is just pointless Chiefs navel-gazing and I'm kind of sick of it. I know you are.

What I do want to do is simply write about December 31st, and what that wonderful day it was. That's all. Just a bit of therapeutic transcription here to close out the season.

Just a few days before I'd found out the Chiefs were playing Pat Mahomes and I know every single soul in the Chiefs Kingdom was thrilled beyond belief. I knew, however, that I would not be able to see the game on television because we would be driving up to my mother-in-law's place in the mountains for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. So we headed out right after I made this post and made the best of seeing how we'd catch what was happening.

We had to make some stops along the way, and we noted that the score was 14-10 early. Woo-hoo! I wondered, wow, what is Pat Mahomes doing out there? This is terrific! My wife managed to get some highlights up on our mobile devices, so it was fun watching some of the early successful Chiefs action.

We headed up the hill keeping tabs on the score, until deep in the mountains it is difficult to keep a signal. We'd noticed at one point we'd stretched the lead to 24-10 as the game went into the 4th quarter. We then discovered that right after Andy Reid inserted Tyler Bray to finish things off he fumbled away the handoff to his fullback, one that a Denver defender returned for a touchdown.

It was now a scary 24-17, then after Bray did little more in his next set of downs, Denver roared back to tie it at 24-24.

Mahomes had to go back in.

While this was happening the drive up the mountain was just spectacular. It was cool and dry, no snow at all. On the azure-blue horizon in front of us through the trees a full moon was rising over a crystal white cloud bank just as the sun was about to set behind us, making for a brilliant picture of God's creation. It was truly glorious.

Meanwhile we weren't getting a signal on the game status. I'm texting my son to send me the results but because of lack of service he can't get a hold of me either. We were in the dark on this one.

We had to wait until we came down into the small valley where she lives at the top of our drive to get the mobile service to find out how this one ended. Sure enough, final score, Kansas  City 27, Denver 24. Butker won it with a last second field goal.

Mahomes did it. He engineered that last minute drive to get us into field goal range to win it. Looking at the highlights made it clear this was a highlight for the Chiefs history ages. His pass to Demarcus Robinson to get the 1st down while sprinting to his right to avoid a tackle was purely amazing. It was really a lot of fun just to review how well Mahomes played with all our second-stringers out there. It will be extraordinarily exciting when he's doing that with all our major playmakers next year.

The following evening we enjoyed that amazing Rose Bowl game between Georgia and Oklahoma, and while not directly related to the Chiefs it was fun because I had Georgia in our fantasy bowl playoff. Thing is I was deflated when Oklahoma went up 31-14, then elated when Georgia stormed back to go ahead 38-31, then deflated when they went back down 45-38, then elated again when they tied it then won it in overtime.

At the beginning of the season I'd drafted Georgia 16th among the six participants in our fantasy league, and here they are playing for the national championship against Alabama.

I mention this here because it can happen. It will happen for the Chiefs. They are good enough. It may seem hopeless right now but the Chiefs Kingdom is strong.

It'll be really really fun next year, just like football was this New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

I'll see you then.

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Titans at Chiefs - Playoff Game

How many times do we have to relive this nightmare. I really wonder.

I did tell you this was going to happen. And my attitude is no different now.

The regular season was fun.

Thuh end.

This playoff game was no different than any of the other ones. You can tell. It is so obvious. The exact same things that have always happened to the Chiefs in the playoffs happened to them yet again in this one, over and over and over and over and over again.

I will be perfectly frank with you. Again I'll mention it, something I've mentioned a number of times before. Because the insane things that happen to the Chiefs simply do not happen to other teams, ever, they just don't, you know it -- when I make a more comprehensive post later I may detail them -- there is a spell that is supernatural in nature afflicting the Chiefs and until God does something to remove it, we will continue to endure these kinds of games.

Yes this is spiritual in nature, yes we may never know what His purposes in all this are until heaven, this is true, and yes I may be guilty of trivializing God, forgive me, but please --

Look at that game.

Look at all the stuff that happened Chiefs fans know all too well.

It'd be one thing if they happened every once in a while, kind of the way nasty things certainly happen to any team at any given time, fair enough.

Not the Chiefs.

When I speak about the supernatural, I am speaking of no person or thing in particular -- it is just that thing hanging over us and through us and all over Arrowhead that yet again turns the Chiefs into jello and some other player or players into supermen. Today the Chiefs were actually super but only in the first half, then they melted. Marcus Mariota was contained until the second half when he became superhuman. He's a good player definitely, all the credit to him, but this. This...

One thing I do want to mention distinctly here is that there were indeed three different poor official calls that went against the Chiefs costing us 12 points. I wrote earlier that this was categorically something that is a disadvantage to the Chiefs. Indeed, we lost by one point.

1. The Mariota fumble that we recovered. Didn't count because he was ruled down. He did fumble. This was exactly the kind of thing I felt would hurt us detailed in this post. They get a field goal right after that.

2. The Mariota touchdown pass to himself when he threw the ball past the line of scrimmage. They of course get the seven points. This is not even to mention our defensive player made a great play batting the ball away -- just the unluck it goes right back to Mariota who runs it in for a touchdown. Only the Chiefs...

(Also, I found that apparently the rule says as long as the player has a part of his body on the line it's okay. Mariota had half of his foot at the scrimmage line. Yeah. Still, ding-dong NFL rule, phenomenally ding-dong play result that inevitably kills this team...)

3. The two-point conversion return we did not get because the official called forward progress. I agree that call could have been legitimately made, but it was still yet again a brutal judgment call that went against us.

Judgment call after judgment call after judgment call going against us.

I knew it I knew it I knew it.

Until that changes, until whatever crap thing is happening to make happen what we behold every time the Chiefs take the playoff field is taken out, we will not win a playoff game.

Thing is, maybe, just maybe, God will reverse that sucker by blessing us with Pat Mahomes. That's why there is hope, that's why you shouldn't be too discouraged, that's why we don't have to worry for the first time in eons about waiting and waiting for April to come around and slavering to draft a quarterback, and instead we can stock up on some defensive players.

That is the key difference from this year than any of the other horrifically horrible horror story playoff games.

It is that we actually have a next year to legitimately enthusiastically look forward to.

I'm actually feeling good right now believe it or not. The Chiefs will be very good and play very well in the postseason sometime, and when it happens it'll be especially fun.

For now, I'm going to consider that Denver game the final game of this season, and treasure that as we all look forward to a promising Chiefs future.
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Again, I may write some more about this one, add another post, just for the therapy. We'll see. I usually do, but we'll see. I may just dismiss the whole thing and merely think good thoughts about that Denver game, leave it at that, and resume this in August. Again, we'll see.

Whatever the case, I appreciate your faithful readership. Thanks for allowing me to be a part of Chiefs Kingdom, and in spite of all this, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Thanks.
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Chiefs Playoff Preview Post II

Alex Smith was the top rated passer in the NFL this year. Yep, his passer rating was 104.7. Next highest was Drew Brees with a 103.9.

Huh.

I would've believed it if this comprised all the games but his atrocious Pittsburgh, Dallas, New York, and Buffalo games. Hmm, I really wonder what his passer rating was excluding those ugly dogs? Must've been 285.9, I mean...

But really, on the season we've got 12 games that actually got Alex that rating, and we all know he was pretty dang good in those games -- again enough to win him the passing title.

Buuut then we also know what happened in those other games. The ones he simply couldn't pass against a "Cover 2." The ones where he danced and flinched and flailed and booped and bopped about just not doing a thing to win games there for the taking. The ones where all of us were convinced he'd completely blown his load right smack in the middle of the season.

Before I get to the key thing about Alex with regards to Saturday, I'm going to touch a bit on the things we do actually have going for us. This will be a fully, richly, totally positive post, and I will work very very very hard to avoid repeating anything about my attitude going into this one. If you want to know about that check out my post just before this, as well as this one.

Otherwise, here is why the Chiefs will dominate this Saturday.

- Our playmakers.

Remember, Alex Smith had 4,000+ yards passing. Kareem Hunt had 1,000+ yards rushing -- and was indeed the NFL rushing champion. Travis Kelce had 1,000 yards receiving. Tyreek Hill had 1,000 yards receiving. The last team to do this, the 1981 San Diego Chargers, won a playoff game. With this kind of firepower it should be a cakewalk.

- Our ability to keep from turning over the football.

Somewhere I saw that we had a chance to set a record with fewest turnovers in a season. I think they said the record was 10, and at the time we had fewer than that. I don't know if we got that record and I'm not going to check -- I am working hard to maintain my sports celibacy because looking at too much of it just drives me crazy. I do know we had a couple on Sunday -- a Mahomes pick and the Sherman fumble -- but I don't know about any more.

Point is, as you look at it, it is true -- we have done great not giving up the football. Except for those crappy Alex Smith games when he threw some very bad picks, we've done great with that. The big story was how Kareem Hunt fumbled on his very first carry, then held the ball from then on torching New England and pretty much the rest of the league.

This particular skill is more important than getting turnovers, because if you're relying on getting turnovers you aren't doing well enough with the fundamentals to control the game with your football playing abilities. But if you're avoiding turnovers, then you can do what the Chiefs do well. Get nice sustained drives to constantly put points on the board.

- Our pass rush.

This item is more of a question mark, but it can be a strength simply because of the recent play of Chris Jones and the presence of Justin Houston. While Frank Zombo is not a real sack artist, he does play smart football and seals the edge well. It'd be nice if we can get good pressure on Marcus Mariota, but much of this depends on how well their offensive line plays.

I can't neglect to mention another critical component of a successful pass rush, and that is how our coverage guys do, and we're led by one of the best in Marcus Peters. Let's also hope that on the other side one of the best in previous years, Darrelle Revis, continues to play as well as he has for us.

- Our offensive line playing much better.

The O-line is protecting Alex Smith and getting Kareem Hunt running lanes much better since the disaster against Buffalo. Apparently they simplified things and it has made a world of difference. Indeed, when you have players like we have you really don't need to get cute.

Andy Reid handing the playcalling duty to Matt Nagy is related to this. When he did this for the New York Jets game our offense started to get humming again. I'm looking forward to seeing the Chiefs matriculate the ball down the field often on Saturday, and if we can get our patented good field position and chew up clock throughout the game -- keep Mariota off the field -- we should do fine.

- Being relatively healthy.

We did lose De'Anthony Thomas on Sunday, which I think is more costly than some may think. But with the exception of the losses of Eric Berry, Dee Ford, Mitch Morse, and Chris Conley, we've been okay, and in some of these areas we've covered well enough. Looking at each unit without these four:

Defensive backfield. This is the area that I consider we've felt it the most, particularly against the run. Fortunately Derrick Johnson is doing okay enough even though we all know he's lost a step, and Reggie Ragland just seems to get better as the year's gone on.

Pass rush. We are missing Dee Ford in that very important quarterback pressure department. I'd like to think Tamba Hali has some left in the tank, but he's not been playing as much. Again, we still do have that potent duo of Chris Jones and Justin Houston.

Offensive line. Some feel that Zach Fulton at center is actually making the line stronger. He is bigger than Morse and since he's played the Chiefs have been getting good O-line play. Earlier in the year when he spelled Morse he was doing poorly at getting those critical shotgun snaps in, that has improved greatly over these final four regular season games.

Receiver core. I believe Albert Wilson and Demarcus Robinson are capable enough to work opposite Tyreek Hill. We'll have to get some production from Jehu Chesson who does show promise and Marcus Kemp who was just called up from the practice squad.

We also have the advantage of essentially getting a day of rest with most of our starters not playing on Sunday.

- Alex Smith.

It all comes down to this.

Will Alex be a playoff winning quarterback.

I have to say again that there is tremendous precedent for this: His phenomenal game for the 49ers against New Orleans in that 2011 NFC Divisional Game. Oh that he'd channel that Alex Smith and again just take care of business and win the game.

Thing is, he did play really well for the Chiefs in the playoffs against Indianapolis and Houston, so he can do it. There is no reason he shouldn't. The question is one from my previous blog post: Will he be courageous enough to take those chances to do things he definitely can do?

Here's what I think it is the X-factor in all of this. I'd alluded to it at the beginning that that same previous post. Do you know what it is?

Pat Mahomes.

I think Mahomes can be a major factor by not even stepping on the field -- or even saying a word except "Wow I sure am learning a lot from you Alex Smith."

See, with Mahomes being there and being the future of Chiefs quarterbacking and being the player we all saw against the Broncos on Sunday, every Chiefs fans is slavering over what will happen next year, and the year after that, and the dozen years after that. YESSS we all want the Chiefs to romp on Saturday then again the weekend after against the Steelers or Patriots then again the weekend after that then again on Super Bowl Sunday.

Every ------- Chiefs fan ------- wants that.

If we lose again on Saturday, because of the promise of Pat Mahomes, it's okay.

My point is, this cannot be lost on Alex Smith.

He has to know this.

And because of that, Alex Smith has absolutely nothing to lose.

Can you see where I'm going with this?

It seems to me that a lot of Alex Smith's failures come from a feeling that the entire Chiefs Kingdom rests on his shoulders. What a burden! I'd be nervous too if I felt that way.

Well guess what. Now it doesn't, big time.

Now Alex Smith can let fly and be really good, with nothing to lose and everything to gain. He knows what Chiefs fans are thinking, and he knows Chiefs fans do appreciate how hard he's worked and how good he's played for the Chiefs. He also knows he has everything to play for, not just a Super Bowl championship but for his own future, and whether it is still another year with the Chiefs or somewhere else he will be in great shape.

This Saturday look for Alex Smith to just play fun football.

The great thing is that all of us in the Chiefs Kingdom can just enjoy good Chiefs things no matter what happens. We're in the postseason for the fourth time in five years, with a team that has truly captured our hearts and drawn the attention of everyone watching pro football, deservedly so -- how great is that.

Next post, game day!
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Chiefs at Broncos - Week 17 - Record: 10-6 - Playoff Preview Post I

Pat Mahomes.

I really wanted to load up this post with a bunch of his plays in GIF but I don't want to mess with it. I just want to write. You can go here at Arrowhead Pride because they have the most comprehensive analysis of Chiefs stuff, and this link will get you right to a great piece about how Mahomes made Denver look silly. Too much fun.

Even though there is no way we'll see Mahomes again this year unless Alex Smith gets hurt, I do believe he will be a factor just being on the sidelines.

He is a factor right now for me looking forward to Chiefs greatness even if it doesn't come this Saturday.

Yep, I can't say there aren't a just a few Chiefs fans who feel the way I do. Do you?

Do you feel that seeing what we've got in Pat Mahomes and the years ahead with him at the helm will take a ton of the edge off a playoff loss should it happen this weekend? Sorry, I'm sorry Alex Smith and Andy Reid and my beloved present Chiefs, but no matter what happens in four days

I will be a happy Chiefs fan.

This supposedly meaningless game against Denver was truly one for the ages. In a very minor way I really wanted us to be heading into the postseason at 10-6 and not 9-7. That was cool.

The major thing was that Pat Mahomes became the first drafted and, we can say at least for the year under the tutelage of Andy Reid and Matt Nagy, developed quarterback to win a football game for the Chiefs in 30 years, 3 months, and 2 weeks -- 11,067 days.

Yes, this Chart Party does need an updating. Our latest win by a drafted quarterback can now be matched up with Madden 17-18! Finally!

The notable thing was the way he did it. You need look no further than the difference between our No. 2 guy, Mahomes, and our No. 3 guy, Tyler Bray. We had a comfortable 24-10 lead late when Mahomes went to the bench for his rest, and Bray promptly came in and mishandled the hand-off upon which Anthony Sherman fumbled for a stunning Broncos quick score.

After Denver tied it Mahomes had to come back in to lead the game-winning field goal drive, and it was a thing of beauty. That pass he threw to Demarcus Robinson -- damn. Here's what's so goofy. I'd seen some Chiefs pundit mention we all know Mahomes can do things other good quarterbacks couldn't do, but he wasn't sure if he could do the things those quarterbacks can do.

Excuse me. Excuse me. That he can do those phenomenal things is already in him. and that's what we've been desperate for. It's there. We've got it. Done deal. Doing the basic things any decent quarterback can do? Please, that simply comes with being in there, and he'll get that. Okay Chiefs fans, who's worried about basic QB technique coming around for Mahomes? Anybody? Anybody?

Here's the even more amazing thing. The circumstances. Sunday he was playing in the mile-high atmosphere of Denver. He was facing one of the best defenses in the league -- the reason the Broncos were 5-11 was their offense stank up the place. He was also mostly playing with the Chiefs second-stringers -- for cryin'-out-loud his running back for taking the load off was Anthony Sherman. He was running for his life half the time because B-team linemen were playing huge minutes. Sheez, Mahomes made guys like Demarcus Robinson and Albert Wilson look like All-Pros! Wilson had 174 receiving yards. Are you paying attention?

Anybody? Anybody?

Now there's more on the Mahomes effect when it comes to Alex Smith, about whom I will close this post and feature prominently in my next one because really, it is about him for the rest of this season however long it goes. Before we get to that, on to the preview stuff. I'm going to start with the aggravating things, yes -- I want to be bravely authentic in this, I never pull punches in this endeavor. And because this post will go long, I'm just going to bullet items, as I usually do.

- How good Tennessee is and how well they match-up.

I'm just going to start with this one but I'm not going to say much about it except to send you here. This is a link to my post about last year's game against them, quite aggravating because we lost by letting them back into the game in a number of stupid ways. Yeah, sounds like a typical Chiefs playoff game.

The point is I really don't know anything about the Titans this year and won't be looking at any of it before Saturday. Could they be really well matched up against the Chiefs? Sure. I do know they have a fantastic quarterback in Marcus Mariota, and yes I imagine they still have Ryan Succop as their kicker. How we play them depends a lot on the last item I address here in this post, that's later.

- Our red zone failures. 

This seems to be a very not-so-good thing about the Chiefs, and sure enough every time we get into the red zone the television bleats some stat about us being 47th in the league in red zone TD proficiency, and then I shake my head yet again when we have to settle for a field goal.

But I got to thinking, are we that much worse than any other team? I don't look at any stats or rankings, but I think they said in a broadcast sometime back that the Chiefs are a pretty high-scoring team. And when I peek at other scores, just looking at the scores, a lot of them are 17-16 type deals.

How many times do other teams get into the red zone and settle for field goals? I'd say there are quite a few. And here's another thing -- we've got Harrison Butker, who's probably been the most spectacular mid-season addition of any in the NFL this year. Did you see that Butker's game-winning field goal gave him 38 on the year, the 38 being the fifth most in NFL history?

That we are a high-scoring team even with all the field goals means we're getting into the red zone quite a bit, which is actually a very good thing.

- The disrespect of the NFL.

Sure enough, I knew it. I knew it long before the Chiefs would know who their opponent was. Before Sunday we had a chance to play either the Ravens, Bills, or Titans.

Look at those possible matchups. Not a media darling major market team among them. And you know what that means.

We get the first game at 1:30 on Saturday.

Sure enough -- yep.

We had that game against the Texans two years ago. We had that game against the Colts four years ago. Seems to me we've been given that game often. It is simple.

The NFL will only give the primetime game to the teams with the most fans, notoriety, media market, etc. Sure enough the primetime game Saturday features a Los Angeles team (the Rams playing the Falcons).

Now this is actually a little thing, the scheduling, but it reveals a bigger thing, and that is how the Chiefs are respected on the field, or not-so respected as the case may be. I simply have to make another note about how the officiating has such a detrimental impact on the Chiefs and in some ways it is the most baneful aspect of being a Chiefs fan. Having not-playoff-winning undrafted quarterbacks for eons is nirvana in comparison to how the Chiefs are shafted in the playoffs because of the officiating. Don't think there is scientific evidence for this phenomena? Again, as I've suggested in this blog before, check out the book Scorecasting. You'll see it there very plainly.

While all the video reviewing stuff is fine -- going a long way in simply getting the play right -- officials can still get in the way of Chiefs success. The ways this happens are with the interpretive things they can do -- particularly with regards to holding calls and pass interference calls -- as well as the ridiculous rules the NFL has in place regarding two key things: how video reviews are processed and whether or not a player has made a catch.

How I'd love to go into instance after instance after instance in great detail, and if you've been watching NFL football for some time you already know exactly what I'm talking about. But here's one of note related to the Chiefs.

The left foot had already been clearly
put down in-bounds in the end zone

In the Dolphins game recently Tyreek Hill went up for a catch at the front corner of the end zone near the pylon, snatched the ball, held it, and as he fell snapped both his feet down in-bounds one after the other. Chiefs fans, I know you remember it.

Two officials along the sideline both ruled it incomplete. Apparently in their interpretation Hill did not get both feet in bounds, or perhaps they felt he didn't have firm possession of the ball. Now, during this particular review process the video footage was not the best there has been, I don't know why but the angles and clarity were simply not as good as you usually get for these reviews.

Truth is, it was still good enough. As the footage on the big screen was shown at Arrowhead, the crowd there was roaring their approval of a legitimate catch -- should be touchdown Chiefs. The announcers were claiming that it should be a touchdown, it seemed clear to them -- touchdown Chiefs, right?

Nope. The officials ruled that because the footage was juuust a little too fuzzy, they could not award the touchdown. The officials' call could not be reversed. We ended up kicking a field goal.

Now, this is all pretty well understood as exasperating as it is. Thems thuh rules, oh well. But here's what I'm thinking, here's the key: Why did the officials initially rule it incomplete to begin with? Why didn't they initially rule it a touchdown, and then when the video evidence proves inconclusive then they can justifiably let the play stand?

My point is this. Yes it is controversial, but hey, I just want to write as I see it: The officials can always make the call against the Chiefs first, and let video evidence reverse them if it undoubtedly does. But if it doesn't, then the weight of the officiating will be against the Chiefs much more often than not.

And please, I know it is painful, but how many times have you seen the officiating turn against the Chiefs in the playoffs? You know about all those times, you do. I know it is good to let these things go, move on, I got that -- I'll be fine thank you. But you can't deny it happens. If you read Scorecasting, you'll discover that the officials don't even have to know they're doing it -- it may be very subconscious, even though there are influences that do have an impact on the decisions they will make.

I don't know about you, but every time I'm in the middle of watching a live game, and play is stopped for some really close controversial officiating decision that needs to be made, I not only always expect it to go against the Chiefs, but most times it does. Do you experience that as a Chiefs fan? I can't believe I'm the only one. I'm actually waiting for the time when the referee is at least honest with us and announces, "The ruling does indeed favor the Chiefs, but because this is the Chiefs, we must rule against them. FOURTH DOWN!"

Once again I must make this important clarification. I never want a call to favor the Chiefs that doesn't. I JUST WANT THE RIGHT CALL TO BE MADE NO MATTER WHAT -- especially the ones that even in the barest of bare ways do favor the Chiefs and do so objectively transcendently teleologically in spite of poor eyesight or biased officiating or ding-dong NFL replay rules.

Ultimately this is what makes it really hard for me to get up for this game this Saturday. YET AGAIN I do so want the Chiefs to win, and I'm going to elucidate all the reasons they should win on Saturday -- I am thrilled beyond anything that they're in the postseason and we can all jump for joy all week long. I'm so with you!

But let's face it -- the Chiefs are up against it because the NFL and the media-powers-that-be are against them. Sure the Chiefs can overcome it, yes, and I'll be watching and cheering and reveling in the good things that happen. Really, if they do win it'll be an even greater achievement because of these idiotic things that add to our challenge.

- The 0-6 record and the luck of plays just working.

That 0-6 record thing is the Chiefs recent streak of losses in playoff games decided by a touchdown or less. I'm sure I've shared it before but I'll do it again. Here are the last six games the Chiefs have played in the postseason in which the final score had a margin of 7 points or fewer:

'16 Pit: 2 points
'15 NE: 7
'13 Ind: 1
'03 Ind: 7
'97 Den: 4
'95 Ind: 3

Not a single close playoff win in the bunch, not one. Last close playoff Chiefs win was 24 years ago.

The excruciating disappointment us Chiefs fans feel in the last minute or two of a playoff game when the other team scores to go ahead or we simply can't get it up to get one freekin' score (which has happened most times) is crushing -- over and over and over. We all know it. It is very discouraging. (Yes, I know, I'm supposed to put it behind me, yes, I know...)

Ultimately in all of these games you can see much of it is merely about just not having the luck of good plays working in our favor.

The Chiefs go out and run plays, plays they've always run before, plays that have worked wonderfully before, and for some reason in the playoffs they just don't go. Go, go play, work, go, get yardage, off with you then, run run catch catch, get points, go, go, and...

Pthfxxthxthx.

I've used the reference of some kind of time-space portal that the Chief go through once they get into the playoffs where their strengths dissipate and their weaknesses expand.

Is it really the case that the opponent has always been that much more prepared for the Chiefs than we have for them? Really? That many times? Are we just that unprepared that many times?

Well, preparation has a lot to do with working to see that the unlucky doesn't happen too often, and that relates to this final aspect.

- Will Andy Reid be organic and will Alex Smith be courageous?

These are really the keys to get our good plays to work for us and score us points and get us playoff wins. Both items refer simply to what each of these individuals will do when they've already got their game planning and game managing down, it's humming along fine, we're a well-oiled machine, and

Tennessee adjusts.

And then adjusts again. And then adjusts and adjusts and adjusts.

It seems as though most times we get beaten in a playoff game when we could've done something about it was when Andy Reid did not adjust for how the opponent prepared and played us, or Alex Smith did not improvise effectively enough to make up for how they were playing us.

We are so due for a good, hard-fought, closely-contested, well-played

PLAYOFF WIN.

We have had one in 48 years of NFL play. One. That was the game we won against the Steelers on Keith Cash' clutch blocked punt and Fred Jones' return, followed by Joe Montana's strike to Tim Barnett way back in the 1993 season.

Maybe we'll get one this year.

But if we don't.

Yeah. Still.

The Chiefs have a future for once.

Now, there is so much more to write about in a playoff preview. I have not touched on all the more enticing aspects that portend a Chiefs win on Saturday -- and yes, as despondency-laden as this post has been, there are some very good things about our team that I do want to get into, but I've been sitting here in this chair for a long time. I'm going to publish this, let you go over it, think about it, and then together we'll look at the fun Chiefs stuff.

That's the next post, coming soon!
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