This isn't about Clark Hunt, though he is quite prominent. This isn't about Lamar Hunt, though he is even more a part of it. It isn't about the family or their holdings or the community or their resolute commitment to Chiefs success and any other wholesome Hunt thing then and now.
This series will also not be for the squeamish, those who really just want yet another Chiefs playoff catastrophe to be sloughed off down the oblivion drain of history. No, this series will get in deep with some ideas about what happens to this team every January. It will draw no eye-opening conclusions, but it will lay on the table the reality of Chiefs everything for us to plainly see, to courageously confront.
Again, there will be hard truths shared, most of them very brutal, some of them, quite graciously, very heartening. So if you don't have a stainless steel constitution, then read another much more cheery blog. Most likely I'll be covering things I've already lamented countless times through the years in this blog effort, but someone must do the dirty work around here.
But hey, why the tone of sour desolation? I mean, let's look at the Chiefs history. Let's enjoy it together, shall we?
1970. After winning the Super Bowl on that mild Sunday afternoon in New Orleans on the 11th of January 1970, how splendid it was to repeat when we won the very first AFC West divisional crown after that one game in the middle of the season when the Raiders Ben Davidson was summarily ejected for his completely unsportsmanlike spearing of Len Dawson. Dawson, if you remember, had just run for the 1st down that sealed the victory. Later we defeated the Colts in the AFC Championship game -- after all we'd throttled them in the second ever Monday Night Football game earlier in the season. How fitting the first Super Bowl of the merger era would be the Dallas Cowboys hosting the team that so hospitably left in 1963 so the Cowboys could enjoy everything Dallas could give them.
1971. What a fantastic trick play! The one where Bobby Bell snaps the ball to Jan Stenarud pretending to kick a field goal then running for a 1st down thoroughly faking out the Miami defense and setting up the Chiefs big win. Eventually they met Dallas again in a rematch of the previous year's Super Bowl! Delightful!
1990. In the Wild Card Game Albert Lewis intercepted Dan Marino and ran the ball back for a touchdown to seal the 23-10 win and help send the Chiefs to the Super Bowl led by Steve DeBerg, who statistically had one of the best years a quarterback could have: 23 touchdown passes to only 4 interceptions that year! Impressive!
1994. Joe Montana's last year and he amazed everyone with a nifty win over Miami. His efforts were aided by the strong sure-handed running of future Hall-of-Famer Marcus Allen and impeccable defensive play by future Hall-of-Famer Derrick Thomas. The Chiefs go on to play in the Super Bowl, of all teams, the San Francisco 49ers! What a show -- the Joe Montana-Steve Young showdown!
1995. The Chiefs dominate the regular season going 13-3, and start the playoffs beating the Colts 16-10 with the help of three Lin Elliot field goals. They'd go on for yet another Super Bowl meeting with the Dallas Cowboys, how about that!
1997. Another 13-3 Chiefs team starts the playoffs with Rich Gannon leading the charge, helped by a weakened Broncos offensive line after four players were duly ejected for having illegal substances on their jerseys. The Chiefs would go on for a Super Bowl I rematch with the Green Bay Packers! How special was that!
2003. Yet again the 13-3 Chiefs stormed through the playoffs on the backs of their spectacular offense -- a slinging Trent Green and a marauding Priest Holmes and a bulldozing offensive line made up of future Hall-of-Famers, most notably Will Shields and Willie Roaf. Add to the mix the best tight end ever Tony Gonzalez and no one could stop the juggernaut.
2013. The Chiefs were led by new-but-very-experienced head coach Andy Reid and new-but-very-seasoned quarterback Alex Smith, and they start the these playoffs by blistering the Colts to later move on into the Super Bowl against the Seattle Seahawks!
2015. After blowing out Houston, the Chiefs go to Foxboro where they take down the mighty Patriots -- after all, they did wallop them just the year before, 41-14. They go on to meet the Carolina Panthers in the Super Bowl! Yet another fine appearance in the big game for the Chiefs!
2016. A strong 12-4 season propels the Chiefs into the playoffs beginning with the Steelers, who they easily defeat when Pittsburgh doesn't score a single touchdown. They go on to face the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl!
2017. Yet another Super Bowl appearance for the Chiefs after they take care of Tennessee, then defeat New England, then put away Pittsburgh yet again! How about that! Andy Reid gets to meet his former team the Philadelphia Eagles and match wits with his former offensive coordinator Doug Pederson! Is that wonderful or what?!
A total of eleven Super Bowl victories for the vaunted Kansas City Chiefs! Including that last three in a row! Anybody ready for a FOUR-PEAT! Yowza!
Okay okay, enough of the pathetic comedian stuff. I know.
None of this happened, of course. Thing is, none of it came close to happening, in spite of the fact that there were some extraordinarily damn good Chiefs teams in there, playing in some extraordinarily close hard-fought games. Yes, teams lose playoff games all the time, I got that.
Just not like the way the Chiefs have. No team has come anywhere close to the misery the Chiefs have had in the playoffs. Yes I could myself name a few who've had really tough breaks -- recently New Orleans got stunned by the Vikings Stefon Diggs on a last-second miracle catch and TD run. Minnesota has its own history of misery, just a few years ago they had Seattle easily beat if their kicker hits a gimme field goal -- he bricked it. Very very very bad things happen to playoff teams.
It's just, the Chiefs. Please.
Let's go back, shall we, and you'll note that for some reason the 4th quarter always seems to kill us. No, the 4th quarter rarely kills the teams the Chiefs play the way it murders the Chiefs. (I say "rarely" instead of "never" because there was one time the 4th quarter was kind to us, just one time in our playoff history, and that was against Pittsburgh after the 1993 season).
So here it is again, in all its gruesome and -- ee-yeeg, truthful glory.
1970 vs Oakland (regular season 7th game), 4th quarter score 17-14 Chiefs. Len Dawson does indeed run for the clutch 1st down against the Raiders in that regular season game, allowing the Chiefs to then run out the clock to get the win. Ben Davidson does indeed spear him after he was down. Because a Chiefs guy defended their quarterback and shoved Davidson, the officials called offsetting penalties. The play was nullified, had to be replayed, and the Chiefs then failed to get the 1st down, allowing the Raiders to come back, kick a game-tying field goal, essentially keeping the Chiefs out of the playoffs.
1971 vs Miami, 4th quarter score 24-17 Chiefs. The Dolphins do tie it to send the game into overtime and everyone knows what then happened. I don't know when the Stenarud failed-fake-field-goal-attempted-run happened, but the botch was one of his three missed FG's on the day. Miami would go on to face the Cowboys in the Super Bowl. 3-point loss.
1990 vs Miami, 4th quarter score 16-3 Chiefs. Yes, you read that right, the Chiefs were dominating Dan Marino and led 16-3. The pass that Albert Lewis juuust missed intercepting, seriously by an inch, was caught and run in for a TD by Mark Clayton. The Chiefs just needed a field goal late in the game and looked to get a chance when Christian Okoye ran deep into Dolphins territory until, yep sure enough, Dave Szott was called for holding. It was brought back and Nick Lowery came up short on a 50+ yard field goal attempt. 1-point loss.
1994 vs Miami (again errgh), 4th quarter score 27-17 Dolphins. Yes this was the final score, but the Chiefs were actually ahead in the 2nd quarter 17-10. Thing is in the second half Joe Montana threw a stupid pick when the Chiefs were at the Dolphins goal line, Marcus Allen had the ball yanked from his arms as he got wrapped up after a run, and Derrick Thomas committed a costly defensive holding call when I can't imagine what he was doing dropping in pass defense to begin with. 10-point loss.
1995 vs Indianapolis, 4th quarter score 10-7 Colts. Still, only 10-7! The Chiefs had a point differential on the season of +117, while the Colts were at +15. Oh my. But then of course the dead buried American Indians underneath Arrowhead somehow conjured up one of the worst weather days in NFL history, plenty bad to turn Lin Elliot's kicking foot into a rock. He missed three field goals earning the nickname "The Player Never To Be Mentioned Again," except, hmm, I wonder what other kicker, a Hall-of-Famer, missed three field goal attempts in a playoff game once? 3-point loss.
1997 vs Denver, 4th quarter score 10-7 Chiefs. Yeah, you simply can't make this stuff up. Same score of the 1995 playoff game only we're ahead this time, except we can't keep Denver from scoring a touchdown in the 4th quarter to win it. I believe the Chiefs did not allow a second-half touchdown all year, it was something like that. Of course the Broncos linemen who cheated were allowed to correct their waywardness without being ejected or even having a timeout charged to the team. Annnd there were a dozen other ding-dong things that happened, one of which was Rich Gannon did not start even though many thought he should have. Gannon went on to win the NFL MVP just five years later leading the Raiders to the Super Bowl. Neat. 4-point loss.
2003 vs Indianapolis, 4th quarter score 31-24 Colts. Still very much within striking distance for one of the best offenses ever. It's just our not-so-great defense decided to have its most typical bad day --this day, the "No-Punt" game. That's nice because we couldn't stop the Colts on 3rd down for the life of us. 7-point loss.
2013 vs Indianapolis (again errrrrrgcgh), 4th quarter score 41-31 Chiefs. Yeah, uh-huh, we lost this one too. In fact earlier in the 3rd quarter we were up 38-10. Then a million things happened that represented essentially a perfect storm of rotten things that left us with a one-point loss. Unconscionable. 1-point loss.
2015 vs New England, 4th quarter score 21-13 Patriots. Still a close enough game for the Chiefs to make a run, even if it was a miraculous run for the Chiefs to get a miraculous playoff win for once, for once. Even so the Chiefs should have done much better barely lifting a finger because the Patriots had virtually no running game at all. But throw in all the ridiculous things that mess us up and, well, what's new. We can spank New England the year before like we did, but when it comes to the playoffs? Ugh. 7-point loss.
2016 vs Pittsburgh, 4th quarter score 15-10 Steelers. Still within striking distance! And yes, Pittsburgh did not score a touchdown the entire game. They just got six field goals. Really, how many teams, and not just in the playoffs but ever in NFL history, have lost a game in which they scored two touchdowns and the other team scored none. Don't tell me I don't want to know. 2-point loss.
2017 vs Tennessee, 4th quarter score 21-10 Chiefs. Uh-huh, it is comical if it weren't too damned depressing. In fact, I'm not even going to say a thing about this one because it was just too recent. Why. 1-point loss.
The Chiefs have now lost 11 of their last 12 playoff games. They now have seven straight playoff losses in games decided by a touchdown or less. During the regular season Mitch and Kendall regularly say right there smack in the middle of the 4th quarter, "It's time to PUT THE HAMMER DOWN," and most times the Chiefs actually do.
In the playoffs? Heh. Now we certainly wouldn't have ten Super Bowl wins after that 1970 actual real one, we may not even have any, I understand that. But out of all the above we couldn't have at least a few more playoff wins? Just a few fewer one-and-outs? With these teams?
What is the point to all this loathsome anti-reverie?
Throughout all the heartbreak, throughout all the head-scratching and despondency and gut-wrenchingly knot-twistingly mind-numbingly wretched bewilderment -- throughout it all one thing has been a common thread. One thing.
It's a four-letter word that starts with "H" and ends with "T."
Hmm, I wonder what it is?
Again, I can't emphasize this enough. This isn't about Clark. This isn't about Lamar. This isn't about anyone in particular unless that someone in particular is an instrumental focal point in all of this. Yes I do not know who that might be. Might not be anybody, not trying to call out anybody or say anything against anyone in particular.
But there is Hunt. And there are Chiefs horror-movie playoff appearances. Countless ones. Over and over and over ad infinitum. Hunt -- horror-movie playoff game. Horror-movie playoff game -- Hunt.
Doesn't matter what exceptionally fine coaches are leading the team (Stram Levy Schottenheimer Vermeil Reid), doesn't matter what exceptionally fine quarterbacks are on the field (Dawson Krieg Montana Green Smith), doesn't matter what Hall-of-Famers are playing for us (they'll show up in a subsequent post), doesn't matter that we're at home (where a number of times the Chiefs had gone undefeated during the regular season...)
Doesn't matter...
There is Hunt.
These Chiefs teams have lots of talent and smarts and drive and desire and leadership and togetherness and "fam" and passion and skill -- there is no way anyone can't see that plainly -- and yet
There is simply no got-it winningness.
That's just the Hunt thing whatever that thing might be -- I have some ideas but I'm just riffing here on all this with you in my blog here.
It is interesting though, that the latest actual horror movie in the Hollywood pipeline is getting a lot of attention right now. It definitely drew my attention.
Apparently it is about the horror happenings in the home of a family whose dead matriarch did some mysterious things that are now revealing themselves in extraordinarily frightening ways.
Yeah, it drew my attention, and I will be perfectly candid with you. I do firmly believe there are such things as intergenerational issues. This means that, yes, the sins of one's ancestors may indeed be carried through into later generations. Yes it is a profoundly spiritual dynamic and yes, it may be addressed by those who see it and acknowledge it.
I have shared this before, and I will share it again. I share it just for contemplation -- I don't presume to know or have all the answers or assume anyone should do anything one way or the other. But please, I still just wonder how much the crazy things H.L. Hunt did when he was a gazillionaire are affecting things now? How much were the questionable financial involvements Lamar Hunt got mixed up in have weaved their way to contributing to the abject catatonia of Chiefs postseason play?
And Clark? Again I can't emphasize this enough -- Clark seems to be a truly upstanding individual in every respect, it just isn't about him per se. It is about Hunt. I even noticed that among all the posts I'd written referencing Clark's ability or inability, this one stood out. I posted it at the end of the 2008 season, just asking, wow, is Clark doing a good job or not? We could ask that question nine years later -- and it is a fair question to ask of any prominent leader anywhere anytime. I honestly don't think he hasn't done a good job, I really don't!
There's - just - that - postseason thing.
Yes I do get that football is just a dumb game with super muscular overgrown kids tossing a goofy looking ball around -- there are hundreds of other life things a million times more important, you don't need to tell me that. But I also think many who say that are doing so merely to shove their heads in the sand to avoid confronting that particular thing I'm talking about right now, the thing I'm going to explore a bit more about throughout this series.
If the Chiefs weren't important would so many people put an ounce of energy into it whether front office personnel working to get a decent team on the field or players laboring for hours each day getting prepared or fans for showing up or anybody for seeing the game as a valuable social and emotional construct for the purpose of providing several beneficial items to community cohesion.
At its worst we go into each season with all kinds of slathered window dressing and Chiefs Kingdom wonderfulness, and quite often we do fantastic during the regular season! Yay! But the crushing postseason horror story that inevitably happens is simply never addressed. If this is indeed a Hunt issue, let's confront it. Will people see it? Will people call it out? Will there be a reckoning?
At its best a number of phenomenally positive things can come from it, and I will close all of this with those things. Yes, I have been doing some thinking about the benefits of interminable playoff failures -- "the benefits"? Are you kidding? -- well, there are some! But again, with the premise established, let's look at all things Chiefs as far as where we've been and where we are and where we hope to go.
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(Episode II)
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