Chiefs Playoff Preview, Part IV

Did you happen to see that the Chiefs 565 total points scored this season was the third best in NFL history? Only the '07 Patriots and '13 Broncos had more. The '07 Patriots only went 16-0 in the regular season and did get all the way to the Super Bowl. The '13 Broncos were led by Peyton Manning whose 55 TD passes is the only mark higher than this year's Patrick Mahomes, who had 50. Annnd... they also went to the Super Bowl that year.

So, um, yeah.

Will this Chiefs team at least make it to the Super Bowl?

For you see, the Chiefs Kingdom is starving for at least that two week period when we're one of the two most celebrated teams in the pro football world. Sure I'd like to win the thing, but hey, for two weeks, at least our team gets its share of the fame and glory in the pro football world.

The Chiefs have never had that.

Oh sure they were in two of the first four Super Bowls. But back then it wasn't the extravaganza it is now. And for that 4th Super Bowl, all everyone talked about was how much the Vikings were going to roll over us and how much of a slimeball that gambling rogue Len Dawson must be. Errgh.

Otherwise, since that January day in 1970, the Chiefs have never been one of those showcased teams, even though -- as we noted last Friday they now have more overall regular season wins than the Raiders do -- the Chiefs have been a pretty good team... some years they have been extraordinarily good...

And then there was that first playoff game.

Yes I sooo much want to revel in Super Bowl title glory, don't get me wrong, but really, with what we've been through, wouldn't you just be happy with at least one solid hard-fought exciting thrilling playoff win? At least one? You know the kind, the kind where it is close and tough but where our fine Chiefs team shows the full amount of got-it to richly earn that dubya. The last time we had a playoff win by a final margin of seven points or fewer was that Joe Montana-to-Tim Barnett TD pass in-the-back-of-the-end-zone game against Pittsburgh in January of 1994 -- Patrick Mahomes was over a year away from being born.

There's also this. The Chiefs have the No. 1 seed which means all we have to do is win one single playoff game to get to the conference championship game in Kansas City. Do you know that the Chiefs have never hosted a conference championship game? Yeah, huh -- never. Yes you read that right, never ever has there been an AFL or AFC conference championship game in Kansas City, not just at Arrowhead, but at Metropolitan Stadium or anywhere in Kansas City at all. Back on January 1st of 1967 we played at Buffalo, winning there to go on to Super Bowl I. To get to Super Bowl IV we played in Oakland. We played the Bills in Buffalo after beating Pittsburgh then Houston in January 1994.

We certainly had good enough teams in '71, '90, '94, '95, '97, '03, '13, '15, '16, and '17 to make it at least to the conference championship game but... you know.

Here's the other thing -- I went ahead and checked as I tend to do, just to see: there are only three other teams in the NFL right now who have never hosted a conference championship game. Tennessee-once-Houston never has, though they've played in a few on the road. The current Houston team, the Texans, has not hosted a conference championship game, but they've only been around since 2002. Baltimore has also played in a few but they've all been on the road, and they've only been around since 1996 (considering they gave up their Browns history to the current Browns). I should add that Detroit hosted three NFL championship games but none since 1957.

This means that while Kansas City has never ever, never ever hosted a conference championship game, believe it or not, notoriously unsuccessful teams like Arizona, Carolina, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Jacksonville, New Orleans, and Tampa Bay have all hosted at least one conference championship game in their histories. Several of them quite recently even!

Just -- not -- the -- Chiefs.

Yeah, it's all a bit excruciating. As it is I've just got to keep my expectations to just about zero. I know we have a phenomenally good team, and I so very much want to write about it here. But as I've posted here a number of times in this preview series, I've done it so often before each of the many past Chiefs postseason appearances ("Wow lookit how great we really are we have to win this time!!!") and it has eventually meant so little that I just don't want to bother any more.

I mean, let's do this, let's look at probably our weakest area, defending the run, and the poor play of our linebackers Reggie Ragland and Anthony Hitchens. Thing is, both of those guys are still very talented and very athletic. This season we all know they've too often missed their marks or taken poor angles or simply not finished. I got that.

But why is it during your typical playoff game, that kind of thing just continues to be rotten for the Chiefs while our legitimate strengths just dissipate? Why is the opposite for the opponent, just about every single time the Chiefs step on the field for a playoff game?! Why can't it be the case where a Ragland and a Hitchens rises up to be as good as they're supposed to be, and our other already exceptional players continue to stay exceptional?

Yes, yes yes yes, it should happen for once, for once after so many heartbreaks, that our team should play like our team's played all year long and we win a playoff game.

Right now, I am just reveling in our accomplishments for the year. All the Mahomes and Company achievements. All the accolades that come with a No. 1 seed. All the good feeling about knowing we've deftly arranged the injury management and playing time of key players so they'll be fully healthy for January 12 -- think Eric Berry and Sammy Watkins just to name a couple. And trust me, I am excited about our playoff game at Arrowhead in two weeks, I am.

In the meantime, I have to put up yet another pic of the empty seats right in the middle of a game between the gargantuan market Giants and mega-media darling Cowboys, and the game was a close one! New York fans refused to show up in droves again, again to me more evidence that the NFL will somehow, someway take care of business to rectify that because of the competitive duplicity: We just can't have New York fans abandoning this game, there are too many of them with money they're not spending on us.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs are selling out and the Kingdom is comprised of some of the most devoted fans in the NFL.

Here's another ding-dong thing about the NFL that I've just realized: Where are they on this bowl game abandonment by the best college football players this year? Some future-NFL collegiate football players are skipping their bowl games to supposedly take more time to better prepare for the NFL draft.

Excuse me?

In fact Ohio State's Nick Bosa -- I believe considered a top NFL draft pick -- skipped the entire season when, after recovering from a minor injury, just decided not to play for his team any more. Too many have given up on their teams, foolishly reneging on their commitments to their schools, their teammates, and their responsibilities. Yes, that's right, I happen to think responsibility should still carry a great deal of weight, and ditching the school that has committed itself to you before your end of the deal is up is a brazen abrogation of your responsibility. The bowl games themselves generate a lot of money for the players to get the education they signed up for to begin with, as well as for millions of other students.

The school's themselves should be penalizing these players somehow, yet I understand the players may just say "F--- you I'm going off to make a million dollars now." So then what? Short of enough principled people in our society getting off their asses and expecting more from people by vocally refusing to tolerate this, what about the NFL taking a stand?

How about telling collegiate players if they don't fulfill their commitment, which does include suiting up for your bowl game, then you are ineligible for being drafted by an NFL team for a full year after you leave your school. How about that? How about making a stand for righteous things like this?

Ahh, I know. Roger Goodell is still commissioner, I see. Huh.

What does this have to do with the Chiefs?

Seems to me everyone was pretty great with Patrick Mahomes going to the mat with bold leadership gravitas after the Kareem Hunt mess and remarking, "We don't do that kind of thing here." Seems to me that kind of took in the Kingdom, around the football world, and even beyond by those who do genuinely respect that people should genuinely respect people in certain ways. Seems to me that kind of happened.

Sure I believe the Chiefs are committed to making principled stands about these kinds of things, that's a truly awesome thing about our team. Why am I mentioning it here though? Why do I so cynically believe this bowl game idiocy will come back to hurt the Chiefs somehow -- much because it is a thing we allow to happen that hurts our society? Already I'd read a commentary by a sports pundit who shared something very insightful: What's going to keep a collegiate player who now disses his college from dissing his NFL team at some point in the future?

As it is, we're where we are now, and it is very much a very good place to be. 20 teams are missing the postseason this year, we're not one of them. 30 teams are not the No. 1 seed in the conference, we're not one of them. 31 teams don't have Patrick Mahomes and his cohort of playmakers, so right now, this is fun. The regular season has been a blast, and at least for the next two weeks we get to really enjoy where we're at.

And if you didn't notice, today is the one-year anniversary of that marvelous day when Patrick Mahomes went into Denver and showed us all what he could do. It was a glorious day, I remember it very fondly. This year has been a very nice extension of that.

And again, please, I'm fully on board with this:

Here's to it going way past January 12.
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Raiders at Chiefs - Week 17 - Record: 12-4

AFC Western Division Champions, third year in a row!

No. 1 seed and home field advantage throughout the playoffs, with accompanying bye week!

Patrick Mahomes, only the second dude in NFL history to tally 50 touchdown passes and 5,000 passing yards in a single season! I mean, look at that number: 50 touchdown passes in a season. I don't know if you remember but when Dan Marino got 48 in 1984, he shattered the previous record of 36 by George Blanda and Y.A. Tittle from the '60s.

Sure the rule changes over the years have made the passing game that much more pronounced, but still...

You can't deny that much of Mahomes numbers are the result of his phenomenal talent, vision, energy, hard work, and desire to win. I should add (as Mahomes always does when asked about it) that he does have some tremendous weapons at his disposal: his tight end, some fine backs, a strong core of receivers, a steady offensive line, and a head coach born to mold and shape this kind of quarterback.

I do want to write more on today's wonderful events, and continue the very simple preview posting I've been doing. But more of that tomorrow.

For now

GO CHIEFS!!!
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Chiefs Playoff Preview, Part III

I like this photograph, there on the right. I got it from a best color scheme website, and I admit I cropped it a bit, but I like the colors, streaks, and angles. It's got that arrowhead look.

Evokes the feeling the Chiefs are going to scorch through the playoffs on the road to the Super Bowl.

I like it.

I really like Kansas City Chiefs deep, deep postseason runs. I like them a lot, I really do.

I have to continue to blog, however, to process, to confront, to therapeuticize (if that's a word) with a key thread running through the grey matter in my cranium.

I just don't think the Chiefs will get past the first playoff game.

I will tell you right up front that the reasoning here is simple. For one, I have to see a Chiefs team for once go out there with some real got-it and not have the typical stupid crazy-ass thing destroy their chances to win the game in the most abjectly horrific way imaginable -- it is certainly true that our imaginations have been mercilessly slaughtered through the years. I simply have to witness a solid hard-fought triumphant effort before I can have confidence we're ever going to win any playoff game ever. We've just experienced too much heartbreak to think any differently.

For two, this time I'm going the distance tempering my expectations. This season I'm laboriously working to expect nothing from this team. I'm absolutely exhausted every year offering up playoff preview take after playoff preview take saying how good we are at this and how good we are at that and we simply have to win this time. I'm sick of it. It never matters.

The advantage here is if we don't win, well, it's no different than before. Whatever. "Hey, we got in the postseason again, had a fine regular season year, all that, awright. That was nice." If we do win, however, then it's bonus. "Wow we won! What a splendid surprise! This feels really good! Awright!"

See? See how much more tolerable that is? Waaay more tolerable than any of the dozen or so years we've had the most excruciating one-and-outs for no apparent reason whatsoever.

Our Week 17 game is, essentially, a playoff game. We do have a real postseason affair coming up either the following week or the one after, but if we can't win this one against the Raiders then something is really wrong with these Chiefs. After everyone's been talking about Patrick Mahomes being a shoo-in for MVP it is already quite clear that if Mahomes cannot lead the Chiefs to a No. 1 seed-clinching win Sunday, at home no less, then the MVP award is going to Drew Brees. He too clearly deserves it and he already has his Saints team in the No. 1 seed slot in the NFC.

Here's something I'd like to share with you, related to our long rivalry with the Raiders. Did you know that sometime over the past few games, somewhere there in the middle of this season, Kansas City surpassed Oakland in total franchise regular season wins between them. Yes you saw that right.

The Chiefs now have 468 all-time regular season wins, and the Raiders have 466. The Chiefs winning percentage now stands at .521, and the Raiders are at .518. Is that hard to believe? I know why it is hard to believe.

It is because the Raiders were utterly dominant in the late '60s, throughout the '70s, for a good portion of the '80s, in both the early '90s and late '90s, and for a short stint in the early '00s. Since those AFL '60s the Chiefs were never a threat to do any postseason damage, ever, even though they've never really been horrible for very long -- they've just been very... average. Since their Super Bowl win in 1970 they've made the conference championship game once, and even then they got smeared.

See, that's the key thing. The Raiders have 25 postseason victories. Twenty-five. In the mix there are three Super Bowl victories and you've got "Just win baby," the silver and black pride, and the Autumn Wind mystique.

The Chiefs have 9 postseason wins, total, including our Super Bowl. A pathetically wretched nine. That's it.

So let's see... Chiefs better than the Raiders during the regular season, but in the postseason... yeee-ah.

I've gone to the mat to document many of the reasons why I think that is so. One of them is that the ordained powers-that-be clearly do not want the Chiefs to go far in any postseason action -- and trust me, to be fair, there are a number of other teams that are just as reviled. I'm honest about that. But it is true.

Someone may argue that a team like the New York Jets has been pretty bad for a while. Answer: it'd definitely be bigger money for the Jets to win, but with this all being a zero sum game it's fine if the team winning is a Patriots or a Cowboys. Oh, the Cowboys haven't won it all for a while, but they'll be in the playoffs yet again this year. That's not for nothing.

What I find interesting is that last Sunday the Jets stadium was half empty for their game against the media-darling Packers. What about that? What that says to me is that if the Jets aren't winning, the fickle New York fans will stay home, yet this provides more reason for the powers to get going working on getting the Jets and Giants to be winning again. The only way they'll make their money is to stir the interest of the legion of New York fans, far greater than any other fan base.

In fact, I'd even venture to say this is why the front office of a team like the Jets has been so miserable. It is because the decision-making personnel feel they don't have to work as hard because they know the NFL will always find some way to get them competitive.

It may indeed be why someone like our Brett Veach knows he must work that much harder. In some profound ways I'm great with that. Really, when you think about it... that's terrific. It just means we're doing what we should be doing to eventually get that good solid postseason push, and ultimately if we do win, it will be because we earned it.

Even if we don't win a postseason game, that's cool. I'd rather be a fan of this team than any other.

By far.
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Chiefs Playoff Preview, Part II, The Charvarius Ward Issue

I have not seen any Chiefs news or anything related to our present circumstances post-demoralizing-loss-to-the-Seahawks. Fortunately it was only mildly demoralizing as we still have our destiny in our hands. We win this Sunday and we've got the No. 1 seed throughout, no matter what the Chargers do. On the other hand I have to confess that while I understand why everyone soooo clamors for home-field advantage, in the postseason Arrowhead has always been Arrow-Through-The-Heart Stadium. I saw a graphic on the TV during the recent Chargers game -- typical of our postseason agony: we've lost six straight playoff games at Arrowhead.

Anyway, I've seen nothing since last night at around 9:00 PST. I've avoided looking at anything Chiefs, and secluded here at our Christmas resort there is a distinct dearth of folks remarking about things. It is refreshing, indeed, though I can't not ruminate on our team's performance. It was ugly, especially -- and all-too-typically -- on the defensive side.

Here's the thing.

It wasn't Charvarius Ward's fault.

I haven't seen it, but I'd bet every Chiefs fans wants Ward's head right now. But please. For one he's brand spankin' new and they held out injured Kendall Fuller so he's ready for postseason play, that was a good call. For two, Russell Wilson and Doug Baldwin are already exceptional football players, and they just had monster games last night. Did they pick on Ward? Of course they did. But enough times, especially as the game wore on and Ward got a bit acclimated to things, he actually did a fine job of blanketing his assignments.

Thing about that is, it really looked to me like he needed a ton more help. He looked to be alone out there, and yet, was this because our safeties had to be pulled up to help with the run because our linebackers are just not doing very well? I'm sure there's been enough very justified railing against Reggie Ragland and Anthony Hitchens. These guys are supposed to be at least decent at plugging things up, but they far too often just seem to be getting run over. I don't know. Just my own personal impressions from what I see. But again I don't think it was nearly as much Charvarious Ward at all. If anything he grew up a lot last night. He looks athletic enough for the position, but again, maybe there are bad things about his game I just didn't see.

Sorry, but what I did see is more of what will surely be considered that broken record -- over and over and over again. Sorry but I'm a truth teller:

The NFL is really truly abjectly ding-dong.

A pass interference call against Ward occurred in our end zone after the ball was tipped. Replays showed the call was holding, a legitimate penalty that should have been called, but the call was pass interference, a very questionable interpretation and if it happened after the tip the officials should have ruled against that call. Coach Reid threw the red flag to challenge.

Reid's challenge should have been upheld. Instead the ruling on the field stood, even though the hold was not called but a phantom pass interference was. Essentially, a very plain non-call that should have been rightly ruled a non-call was allowed to be called. Challenge overruled, Chiefs lose a time-out that actually would've helped them later stay barely alive in the closing minute. Instead the Seahawks were able to take a knee to end the game.

Now yes you could say "Well it was a holding call they didn't make to begin with." I understand. I'm with you. I never ever want to win a game because WE got the incorrect call, never ever. But the fact is, rules are rules. The holding call wasn't made, and the pass interference call should have been voided. By the book, to be fair.

Not. This is the Chiefs.

This, by the way, is why there must be two officials in the booth with original play-calling ability. I've said this a million times, broken record ad nauseum I know! Again again again let's just get the play call right even if it is a penalty or turnover or any kind of call requiring an "interpretation." Please! We can get the interpretation right people!

Then there was this gem. Oh yes, as usual, there was more. With the Chiefs still in it late, I believe if I'm not mistaken we were down by a FG, and the Seahawks were in the red zone. I even believe we'd had them at 3rd-and-goal with the ball at the 7 or 8, something like that. Not sure and I'm not going to look it up because I just don't want to see any ding-dong stuff about this game -- unless of course I see news about Chiefs fans rising up and demanding that Clark Hunt and his supposedly wieldy NFL power fire Roger Goodell and put the NFL on notice for this crap.

Anyway, back to the ding-dong thing from the game. Again, it was late with the Seahawks threatening, ahead by 3, and we needed a crucial stop. Ward was called for holding Doug Baldwin in the end zone. The replay showed that Ward barely touched him, and he may not have even done that. He definitely did not hold him. In that split second Baldwin noted that this young inexperienced cornerback was on him, remembered that the officials were feasting on him, and when Ward made a motion that would look like holding to the officials, Baldwin really sold it by running right into Ward's arm then spinning away from it -- and he got the call.

Afterwards the announcers were joking around about not wanting to have the job of being an NFL official, because those kinds of calls are just too hard to make. They weren't dissing the Chiefs mind you, they were clearly remarking in the sense that they knew it was a completely horseshit call. They knew.

The Seahawks then had a 1st down at the one. It was forgone conclusion. They got the touchdown that put them up by 10.

Bottom line, it is one thing to see this happen in a regular season game that fortunately meant nothing in terms of us being perfectly fine with winning next week against a weaker Raiders team to get the No. 1 seed. It is wholly another thing to see it happen in the postseason. No matter what happens next week, we have a playoff game. Only thing is, we will likely have a playoff game, No. 1 seed or not, against a presently marauding Titans team or a Colts team (joy) or Ravens team or some team like that and the distressing thing is that we need every single weapon we have to defeat not only any one of these formidable opponents, but an NFL that loathes our presence in any game of any major consequence. NFL games turn on single big plays, and when the NFL negates key players (think Kareem Hunt) or the officials negate key plays (think Charvarius Ward) it is really hard to win. Don't we know it.

That graphic in the Chargers game not only showed the world that we've lost six straight home playoff games -- simply unfathomable without the help of the NFL, sorry, it just is and Chiefs fans know it -- but that we've lost 11 of the last 12 postseason affairs and have a 4-16 playoff record since our Super Bowl win in January of 1970.

Don't we know it.

If anything good came from last night's game -- anything really good that results in some postseason wins merely because we'll play well enough to defeat all that crap -- it is that we have to keep practicing and playing and plugging and punching it all out to stay in shape for that January affair. If we had won last night we'd essentially have three weeks of meaningless football until our first playoff game. As it is we have to be going strong through to our first game, and if we by chance lose next week we'll likely drop down into a road game against some other division winner the following week. I think no matter what we've got to stay in it so we'll be ready for it.

I also always wonder why people might think, oh no, we'll just be more tired when we get into the playoffs. Here's why that is so frustrating: you mean the other team won't be? What magical juice did they drink that keeps them from being as tired as we would be? In fact next Sunday the Titans and Colts will be playing a game that is essentially a playoff game. Winner gets a playoff spot, loser goes home. Then it's likely they'll have another playoff game, and when they win that one they must play the rested No. 1 Chiefs on the road. And then what's going to happen?

I'm just going to tell you right now. I've pounded out a lot in this blog post right now, I have. It belies my extraordinarily simple preview post theme. The whole thing is very very simple actually. Most of this preview post is, as you know, therapy. That's all. You know that. I appreciate your very very very gracious indulgence, really.

But what is the simplest plainest easiest every-Chiefs-fan-knows-it one single main point that is in some ways THE ONLY thing that matters?

It is that even with a Chiefs team that is as good as it is -- please, the entire universe knows we have a stunningly phenomenal quarterback and a couple of good running backs and a terrific tight end and a fine offensive line and a cohort of exceptional wide outs and a couple of really pretty good cover men and a future Hall-of-Fame safety and a trio of ferocious pass rushers and a splendidly accurate punter and a booming kicker and a world-class special teams unit and one of the most ingenious and innovative head coaches in the game and I'm not making any of this up to feel like my team is better than it really is...

It is that as good as this team is, all we need to see in any given playoff game item is

A really stupid crazy-ass thing NOT to happen.

You know it. We all know it. It is ever-so true.

Can we just have a playoff game where we are not utterly destroyed by the stupid crazy-ass thing?

Really.

That simple.

That's it.

Thuh end.
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Chiefs at Seahawks - Week 16 - Record: 11-4

Yeah, I managed to put together a post promptly after this game. For what it is worth. It is therapy if anything. Thanks for joining me.

We had our standard ugly share of penalties. We had two nasty turnovers that essentially amounted to a 10-point swing. Yet again we missed tackles everywhere: not finishing the sack, not stopping a runner before the 1st down marker on 3rd-&-long. I'd heard briefly that our poor run defense would suffer under Seattle's fine running game, and yeah, we suffered. On offense we farted around far too much with plays that went nowhere, just plain failing to take advantage of Patrick Mahomes' phenomenal passing ability.

When we start getting Mahomes untracked with plays and routes that favor his abilities, whatever it is he can do, we'll do well. Let Patrick loose, really. He had his share of those passes. And some of our receiver catches, sweet -- that TD from Mahomes to Demarcus Robinson was a beaut. But this Seahawks team has a defensive backfield that was said to be a sieve, and we got 10 points in the 1st half.

We're now 2-4 in prime time games this season. We beat the Broncos and Bengals. We lost to the Patriots, Rams, and Chargers by a total of 7 points. We lost to the Seahawks tonight by a touchdown. Every game we've lost this year was in prime time. Six nationally televised games this year, huh. Maybe I shouldn't complain -- I remember went we went years without any.

We started ablaze at 9-1; we've since gone 2-3, barely winning the two we won in that span. I'm sorry but I can't help but think, hmm, did the ridiculously detrimental Kareem Hunt episode affect us? I guess that's what it's all about then, huh. Will we rise above it? Will we get off the mat and do business like we should?

So yeah, this was really intended to be a preview post anyway. We've got a playoff game. Yay. This December month is pretty much like all the others. We've done so well that we're in the postseason again YAY WE'RE ALL SUPER EXCITED ABOUT BEING THE PLAYOFFS AND SEEING THE CHIEFS MAKE A SUPER BOWL RUN YAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!

Until that inevitable playoff game -- almost always scheduled to be the first one on Saturday at 5:00 CST when no one is watching because the NFL treats the Chiefs like a no-draw piece of crap anyway -- we spend every minute of every week navel-lint analyzing our team and just feeling reeeeally good we've got another postseason shot at good things in January.

But that's all we ever get to experience.

A delightfully nice December -- just about every single year -- but a contemptibly miserable January.

So yeah. Call me cynical. Call me one who sees a Chiefs team that needs a bit more got-it than the splendidly boyish exuberance in Patrick Mahomes. Call me someone who fears a defensive backfield that will face in the playoffs a quarterback and receiver combination as good as Russell Wilson and Tyler Lockett and Doug Baldwin. (Baldwin, by the way, even faked being held in the end zone against one of our young D-backs, got the phantom call putting the ball at the one, and the Seahawks got the game-clinching TD on the next play. Only the Chiefs...)

And yeah, I'm going to bring it up again, sorry, but...

Call me someone who sees this Chiefs offense noticeably weakened because the NFL's ineptitude nine months ago cost us one of the best running backs in the league.

Yes, Damien Williams has done pretty darned well, really. Yes, Darrel Williams looks to have potential. Yes, Spencer Ware will do wonderfully when he's healthy again. Yes, Charcandrick West did a couple nifty things tonight even scoring a touchdown.

Will it be enough in January?

Don't get me wrong -- as in every December, I do feel the same way, as always:

I am hoping with everything in me this year January will be different.
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Chiefs Playoff Preview, Part I

Lost in all the hype about closing out the AFC Western Division Title, the prize all in the Chiefs Kingdom are enthusiastically excited about, we do have a wonderfully splendid thing already.

We're guaranteed at least one playoff game.

I also believe the achievement is dismissed a bit because so many in the Kingdom are certain this team is going muuuuch further than it ever has. Huh. I'm a bit more cynical, and the thrust of this year's "Playoff Preview Extravaganza" will be surprisingly simple. You'll see.

In the mean time, I'm writing this now here in the middle of the week for a number of reasons.

One, I just feel like pounding out something Chiefs right now. Just to vent a bit, that's all. Blogging is good therapy, as any "Chiefs Game Today" readers can attest.

Two, we will be out of town for the next Christmas week, and although I will be thoroughly immersed in enjoying the Chiefs Sunday night affair with the Seahawks, I just don't know what's on the docket after that. I do hope to pound out something of a game-oriented post not too long afterwards, but the social director (the wife) has command of things that week. Besides, if I write anything, it will more of the preview post for our we-really-hope-is-not-the-only playoff game -- again stunningly simple.

Three, some of that preview has to do with this:

I did a bad thing and peeked at a bit of Chiefs news today, and hey, I discovered we've got six players in the Pro Bowl. Woo-hoo! Only the -- ::gulp:: -- Chargers have more with seven.

But yeah!

Eric Fisher got in! He's having a fine year, good for him. Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill got in, well deserved. Dee Ford got in, how about that! Fine pass rusher, yes. And Anthony Sherman made it! He's such a gamer. Awesome.

Annnd, who's that sixth guy? Hmmmmmmmm, it couldn't possibly be a ------- quarterback could it?

Super awesome.

Fantastic.

Terrific.

Yeah.

Yeah --- Huhhhh.

No really, not being facetious.

Good, I like it, and...

Yeah.

...

...

...

Ahem.

...

...

...

I don't want to see any of them in that game.

You know. You know why. Chiefs Kingdom dwellers are smart savvy football people. You know the Pro Bowl is now played the week before the Super Bowl and Super Bowl participants do not have to send their players to the Pro Bowl.

So this Pro Bowl thing? Don't get me wrong. I love that our players were picked. I love that they are now so celebrated.

But please.

It's just the agony.

It's the pain of the several years before when the Chiefs led the galaxy in Pro Bowl selections and yeah, we had to show up because our fine team got nowhere close to the Super Bowl. It's the excruciating disconsolation of seeing even for a second a Chiefs guy in that game doing fine things because of yet aye-NUTHER ding-dong thing that happened three weeks earlier that plopped our players there instead of over THERE, you-know-where.

So yeah, it is simple. The preview is just processing the grief. Yeah I get over it, but a part of me still doesn't. A big part of me believes as you do that this is a good team and can go far, even all the way, even in spite of the NFL and what it does to us -- I do have a great deal of confidence.

But part of this simple preview thread to our first playoff game is just tempering expectations. The number of times I'm hearing "I think this is for real!!!" -- it sounds all too familiar. You remember -- we said it in '95. And '97. And '03 and '13 and '15 and '16 and '17.

So yeah, in some ways this year is no different than any of the others, for right now anyway. "Yay us! We're fighting valiantly in the AFC West!" "Yay us! We've got a good team with good players!" "Yay us! We've got a playoff date secured really excited woo-hoo!"

For now that's a very good thing.
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Chargers at Chiefs - Week 15 - Record: 11-3

The date was September 10, 1960. It was the very first game the Chiefs ever played, then as Lamar Hunt's brand new Dallas Texans. They were facing one of his brand new league of teams-his-team-could-play, the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chiefs shot out to a 20-7 lead and Lamar was heard to remark, "Hmm, maybe we shouldn't beat them by so much." I am certain he felt if his team was going to wallop every team 56-7, there would be no interest in the league and it would die. Good point.

Turns out the Chargers came back and won 21-20. The Texans ended up finishing second to the Chargers in that season's AFL West standings, and Lamar Hunt regretted ever having that sentiment.

Fast forward to 2018. Chiefs and Chargers again, only later in the season with the division on the line. Chiefs at 11-2, Chargers at 10-3. What's different about me and Lamar is that I want the Chiefs to win every game 56-7. What's the same is I felt if the Chiefs lost this game it actually may be a not-very-bad-thing, because I was concerned the team would let their guard down if they'd already wrapped up the division and a first-round bye.

Why do I have to feel this way. I know why.

It is because the NFL desperately does not want this team to win in the postseason. The Chiefs have so much up against it if it even wants to win a single playoff game that it requires them to do so much more to win past Week 17 than any other large-market media-darling team does, including employing the services of the odds-on favorite for MVP at quarterback to pilot the team.

As it was last night, just like that 1960 game, the Chargers were down by a lot, in this one by 14 points three different times, 14-0, 21-7, 28-14, and they still won 29-28. In the last minute deep in Chiefs territory they confidently used their bigger, stronger, faster receivers and the laser-strike arm of Philip Rivers to first score a touchdown to make it 28-27, then brazenly go for two knowing our D-backs simply could not cover their receivers. It was as if it was foreordained.

Thing is, it never should have gotten to that point if the NFL did not put the conditions in place to generate a lot more excitement having two teams battling it out for division supremacy. Again if the Chiefs win there's nothing left to watch until January and there'll be way fewer people watching stupid beer commercials to buy more fermented wheat water to fry their brains. Now that the two teams are tied for the division lead there's interest! There's attention! There's money! I am not against anyone making money, but as I've always written, if it happens against the competitive integrity of the given sport, then it is fraud.

I know many will chafe at this continuous thread of my expansive Chiefs take, and that's fine, I do appreciate the readership, thanks no matter what. But here's what I saw last night.

A graphic said the Chiefs have now set a record for most consecutive games of scoring 25 points or more, with 19 straight. Huh. Very cool. Thing is, sandwiched in between allll those regular season games is a playoff game, ee-yep, that one against the Titans in which we scored only 21 and lost by one point. Eeeee-yepp. Didn't score 25 in that one.

Then there is the officiating. It is so horrible (indeed it went against the Chargers a number of times, yes) that they should implement a number of remedies. (Yeeawh, like the Scorecasting factor will still not play its part in the Chiefs' demise, but anyway, for the redundant purposes of thinking the NFL might have a small sliver of genuine integrity...)

First, the NFL has got to relegate two officials in the booth with monitors, and give them original play-calling ability. If there is a play that must be made right -- including any possible penalty, then they should be making calls. They also have got to clean up the interpretations, because officiating interpretations of holds, pass interferences, and unnecessary roughnesses are wretched. These renovations are perfectly fine and very needed... unless of course any extraordinarily reasonable solutions like these would keep the NFL from further impeding the Chiefs postseason success.

To wit, on one Chargers drive Daniel Sorenson was covering Antonio Gates and was called for holding. He almost picked off the football, but it wouldn't have mattered because of the totally phantom call. The most aggravating thing: what if Sorenson makes the pick -- and it likely would been a pick-six -- and it really matters? Like, oh, in a playoff game?

Now -- off the subject of the poor officiating for a second -- Sorenson should have made the interception. What is wrong with our defensive backs just not catching thrown balls?! There was a pick Eric Murray had go right through his hands, These kinds of failures are making our fragile defense even worse, these "unforced errors" if you will. How many other Chiefs D-backs do you see just regularly not making those plays, killing the Chiefs team themselves without the help of ugly officiating?

Thennn there was that last Chargers drive of the game, the one everyone knows about, the one some are actually talking about. How about that abomination. There was under a minute left in the game, indeed down to mere seconds, and the Chiefs were up 28-21. Yep, every perceptive Chiefs fan is wondering, what kind of ding-dong thing is going to happen now to derail our chances to win this game.

After Dorian O'Daniel made a perfectly clean hit on Philip Rivers -- and yes, the Chiefs pass rushers were doing a pretty good job of pressuring him last night, the key thing you've got to do to beat him -- Rivers exploded. The announcers were even intimating it was a targeting hit, but O'Daniel really did not do any deliberate helmet-to-helmet tackle, even though helmets did make contact. This was actually the right no-call by the officials.

So Rivers takes off his helmet, there on the field, and screams at the refs waving his arms around. Excuse me but I thought helmet-removing was definitely, categorically, undeniably an automatic unsportsmanlike penalty. No call. Guh?

Rivers then throws a pass too deep in the back of the end zone that easily could have been considered uncatchable because the receiver reached for it so high he finished far out of bounds, but Kendall Fuller ever-so slightly tugged on his left arm, the perfect and very ridiculous nod to the official to throw a PI flag. Please. Please please please please please.

From the one yard-line, which again is almost a certain touchdown for this team, Rivers throws a pass to a receiver at the right side of the end zone who first clearly pushes the defender off, and second, bobbles the ball without keeping both feet in bounds. It is reviewed, and... play stands! Touchdown!

Gurghk. The Chiefs are all too familiar with this bozoness.

Well, that's what we've got. That's what we're up against. For now, we now know we've got to take care of business in Seattle and at Arrowhead to finish the regular season against Oakland. We got good play last night from our main guys, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, of course Patrick Mahomes. The O-line did well and Damien Williams did well. Our new back Darrel Williams scored a nifty touchdown on a screen pass.

And yes, Eric Berry is back. He only played the 1st half, and you could see him out there barking out assignments, showing everyone where to be, firing off the line, making plays. Oh boy will it be great to see him in there for the whole game. Afterwards he said he was fine, it was all good for him. Maybe him not being in there in the 2nd half is something that allowed Los Angeles to get back in it, after all they did score 22 points in that half.

Maybe Berry is that much of a game-changer. Maybe he was held out for so long because the Chiefs so much need the very very best weapons any pro football team can have out there to win in January -- you know it is so true.

So again, we now have to win in December. That's not a bad thing. Let's have our players keep preparing and playing the hardest football they can play because, yes...

We will need it for the immense challenge that is the postseason hellhole.
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Ravens at Chiefs - Week 14 - Record: 11-2

The legend of Patrick Mahomes continues to grow.

Chiefs are down 7 with little time left in regulation. It's 4th-&-9 at around our own 40, and Mahomes can't get a good look so he rolls right, and with a couple of Ravens linemen converging he heaves the ball downfield ------- and Tyreek Hill swoops under it to grab it and take it into the red zone. 48-yard pass completion. Just a few plays later he hits Damien Williams with a screen pass for the TD while a blitzing strong safety was bearing down on him.

After Harrison Butker misses what would have been the game-winning FG and the game goes into overtime, Mahomes gets to do it again.

The Chiefs got lucky with the coin toss again and Mahomes starts the offense driving down the field, chewing up OT clock, and this time Butker hits the FG. With the new overtime rules the Ravens have a chance to tie or win outright with a TD, but our pass rush steps up and makes more plays, keeping the Ravens from getting any points just 14 yards from FG range.

And this is not even to mention the insane, the crazy, the reeDONKulous no-look pass Mahomes threw to Demarcus Robinson earlier in the game. Please. The play was critical to get us to a very important FG to put us up 17-10 at the end of the 1st half.

This game was a tough one. The Ravens were what we thought they were, a smart, vigilant, and relentless defense. Mahomes was under pressure the whole time, and that was actually a fantastic thing so he can just keep getting what it takes to matriculate the ball down the field against as good a team as this one.

But the toughness of this Chiefs team. Spencer Ware got banged up, went back out. Tyreek Hill had a foot issue, went back out there and managed to catch that clutch pass from Mahomes limping around out there.

Thing is, this is the kind of game all of us Chiefs fans are desperate to see them win in the playoffs. We were watching the second half of this game in a restaurant and we just got some appetizers to go with our enjoyment of the game. Because the game was so close, so dicey, and the place was kind of cold, I started shivering. Aagh! This stuff gets to me too much. I try really really hard not to let it, but sometimes it just does. I'm going to be a wreck if this kind of thing happens during the playoffs, even with all the toughness we're supposed to have enduring seven straight losses in playoff games decided by a touchdown or less.

On the other hand, when the Chiefs did something good, most notably the Mahomes 4th-&-9 completion and the Justin Houston sack and strip to stop the Ravens from going anywhere further at the very end of regulation, the place erupted in cheers. Wow! A number of Chiefs fans here in southern California! Surely it wasn't as raucous as it would've been at Big Charlie's in Philly, but it was a taste! A lot of fun!

But yeah, maybe, just maybe this was a taste of the never-give-up, die-hard, take-no-prisoners, it-ain't-over-till-it's-over, push-it-to-the-limit GOT-IT that the Chiefs will have going for them during a very long and delightful postseason run.

Finally, gotta update the Patrick Mahomes touchdown pass count. He had two today, now it's 43 on the year. He's now tied with Drew Brees' 2012 season. Next up Dan Marino's 1986 of 44.

With this win we've clinched a playoff spot and we get to enjoy the next three games doing our hoping hoping hoping thing that we'll win some games after No. 16. As it is we'll be angling to get top seed and home field and all that stuff. (It helps that New England lost when Miami actually pulled off a no-time-left-lateral-the-ball-all-about and won.) Thursday night we've got a huge game against the Chargers with the division title on the line.

While January has rarely been very fun for us, December is once again still a very joyous time for the Kingdom.
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The Clark Hunt Episode

I can't help but add a few final thoughts about the Kareem Hunt situation that blasted us this weekend. Today all the NFL pundits had their back-to-the-work-week remarks about it, yet I saw very few of them. I did speak with a colleague at work about it, someone with whom I sometimes talk pro football. He knows I'm a Chiefs fan.

He said Kareem gave an interview on ESPN, one which I did not watch and do not intend to. He gave it an "F," his take that Hunt was being insincere and only offering up the expected mea culpa because he had to. I'm sure that's what the show was all about. These kinds of things usually are and again why I don't pay any attention to sports things as much as I possibly can. That stuff just nauseates me.

All the things I considered when I wrote this, and a bit later this, are still things I do still feel quite strongly about. But I will add this post, one which covers a lot more of the positive things I'm beginning to feel about all this. Yes, I will feel extraordinarily disappointed if I see Hunt show up on another team and help them with winning things for years and years. But that's for another day.

As it is I'm hearing that just about everyone on the planet is expressing enormous respect for what Clark Hunt and the Chiefs did in dismissing Hunt and doing it so forthrightly. It wasn't just a matter of Kareem lying to the Chiefs but lying to them so brazenly and keeping the lie going for the length of time that he did. It was also the fact that apparently the reason Hunt accosted this woman was because she wouldn't put out for one of his friends. This, to me, is just as reprehensible. If Kareem Hunt has that kind of character, I do not want him on my team.

Do many other NFL players treat women and sexuality with such disrespect? Of course they do, and why again I still stand by my prominent claim that the NFL should be way more attuned to nourishing and upholding integrity and righteousness among its stakeholders, something Roger Goodell has demonstrated he is ill-equipped to do. (In fact, here is something I just came across. Hmm, how about that -- I'm not the only one...)

For one thing I want to emphasize that I know all of this is just a game. I confess I let my Chiefs passion get in the way far too much. I've said before that there is a part of me that feels, "I don't care if he should be in prison for a capital crime I hope he scores 100 touchdowns." I am also well aware of my enjoyment of a game that itself is violent -- could that be considered quite hypocritical? Sure.

On the other hand men need to get out and just wrestle, they just do. It's in their nature. Football is a terrific outlet for that. Will they get injured in very unsavory ways? Yeah, of course, but we revel in the challenge. I'm so good with all the ways the NFL could make the game safer in that area, I'm great with that. Get me on board with the most vigorous lobbying for those things. I've always done so here in this blog effort.

As for the key positives, the first is that Clark Hunt must be commended for summarily taking care of business now. One of the items that softens the blow of his failures in February was that he did undertake the proper due diligence at that time, and the recent revelations were things he could not have known about. In the sense that much of what we do has a supernatural element to it, maybe Clark's courageous probity will make The Thing Hunt something that is a blessing for the Chiefs Kingdom. That would be wonderful.

Another relates to a brief anecdote I'd like to share here.

As you may know I'm also a big San Francisco Giants fan. Back in 2012 the team picked up a fine player, Melky Cabrera, and he was knocking the socks off the baseball. He not only made the NL All-Star team but was the game's MVP. With him in the lineup we were cruising to a division title.

Suddenly he was suspended for 50 games because of a performance enhancement drug violation. Oh wow. We are toast now. The whole season is now right in the crapper. I thought, okay, 50 games, no big deal, he'll come back by the playoffs and we'll be fine. Okay, whew...

Except, guess what the Giants did? They unloaded him. Gone. Outta there. Never to don a Giants uniform again. And then, do you know what happened?

The Giants still won the World Series.

I share this because this is precisely what I thought about when the Chiefs jettisoned Hunt. Right now I wonder -- could the same thing end up happening for the Chiefs? That would be awesome.

Yes I still do think we could have played better against a weak Oakland team. Yes I still fear for what we face in the next three games against very good Baltimore, San Diego, and Seattle teams.

But because of what Clark did I'm beginning to think that the team knows how much Clark respects the players, coaches, front office staff, and the Kingdom enough to richly encourage them to keep working hard for the cause.

Some of the little that I've heard is that the Chiefs are looking around for that extra back to bring in. It may not even be a veteran but a younger player who may be a good fit. That's another positive, that Brett Veach has shown he can get that guy. Trust the process. Clark knew we really didn't need someone who could be a distraction, especially one that could poison the Kingdom, but he also had enough confidence in his fine young GM to take care of the football business. I too believe he will.

Finally, even with Patrick Mahomes' overthrows and Tyreek Hill's drops Sunday against the Raiders, we still put up 40 and won. The best part was that Spencer Ware, Damien Williams, and the offensive line played splendidly. Here's to the very best of the Chiefs Kingdom shining through this episode and maybe, maybe even as a result of the principled stance the Chiefs took, we can actually enjoy a really nice winning playoff run.
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Chiefs at Raiders - Week 13 - Record: 10-2

I'm telling you, it is there. There is some profound supernatural thing going on here. Many of my blog readers may chafe at that, or they may just stop reading. That's cool. But I've seen it too often. A team has some awful off-field thing happen and it just affects them adversely on the field.

I wrote a bit more about the Kareem Hunt thing at Arrowhead Pride this weekend. That post is here if you're interested.

But this was a game we should have won going away. We eeked it out with a very late touchdown pass from Mahomes to Conley to get the score from a ridiculously scary 33-30 to a slightly more comfortable 40-30.

But everything was off. You could tell. And while I think the Kareem Hunt thing was quite instrumental, if only because we had to scramble to get a relatively new run-game scheme together, it is just a thing that afflicts the Chiefs all the time. It is this thing Hunt. It is never really being able to have enough got-it to compete with the big boys when it counts. It is the NFL and its rich sycophants loathe having the Chiefs succeed.

There's something.

Again, we were playing a Raiders team that was atrocious, on both sides of the ball. We should have run roughshod over them. The 4th quarter was especially bad, even though they'd said this season the Raiders have a 70-something negative point differential in the 4th quarter, worst in NFL.

As we all know our defense is not the best, so we did allow the Raiders to get back into this game pretty easily. That was because, for one, Justin Houston has really lost a step, sorry, but it didn't look good today. Our run defense was miserable and we lucked out when they fumbled it away three times. It was also because yet again the officiating was horrifically bad against us -- what is new. They called PI's against us for the most incidental contact, and sorry, it does make a big difference. When the Raiders scored a late touchdown making it very close their receiver clearly pushed off, but no call.

Our offense stalled a few times, and while Spencer Ware and Damien Williams actually played very well, I can't help but think we would've been more proficient with Kareem in there. Sure you can scream until you're red in the face that he will never be back, I can't help but just amplify the point that we should never have lost him in the first place yet we did much because of the inane stuff that just happens to the Chiefs.

I can't deny that I hope our terrific talent, strong character, and resilient leadership overcomes that stuff. I'm always hoping for that for all the reasons I've shared so many times before: The Kansas City Chiefs must always play up-against-it.

Some very good things about today's game. Travis Kelce was Patrick Mahomes' go-to guy, and did he deliver. Those two kept making play after play, especially when we needed it most. They said Kelce had a career day in a number of categories.

Late in the game announcer Dan Fouts said we do really well on the "ad-lib plays." How about that -- a number of times I'd written here expressly hoping for Andy Reid to design plays just like that for Alex Smith. Now how frequently does Mahomes just squib out of the pocket and deliver.

Our offensive line is actually playing tremendously well. We're getting running lanes and fine pass protection. Again Ware and Williams actually ran pretty well.

Reid keeps up the innovation stuff. That wild wildcat touchdown by Ware started from a crazy formation, very fun to watch!

My favorite play of the game? With only about half-a-minute left in the 1st half Mahomes did his scrambly thing and hit Demarcus Robinson on the far side of the field reasonably close to the sideline, yet Robinson didn't run out of bounds! Instead he crisscrossed to the near side working hard to get a seam to try to score the touchdown. He did get out of bounds to stop the clock with enough time for Mahomes to hit Kelce for the TD, but I really liked the courage! Sammy Watkins didn't play and Tyreek Hill had a subpar game, but I'm telling you I actually really like Demarcus Robinson and Chris Conley and what they can contribute.

And Patrick Mahomes. He had four touchdown passes giving him 41 on the year. There are now only eight QB seasons of more. In fact here they are! It won't take long now: 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 55. From Brady, Brees, Manning, Marino, and Rodgers. That's it.

On the broadcast they were saying things like this: "The Chiefs average 28 points by the 3rd quarter. That would be good enough for 6th in the NFL for a whole game." And then this one: "The Chiefs this year average 7 yards per play, that would be an all-time NFL record."

But this result was all we got from a game against this Raiders team? Yes a win is a win, and the Raiders were still a proud NFL team playing at home. I can't say I'm not concerned about playing a really good Ravens team next week. Then we've got San Diego right on our heels the following Thursday. Then we have to go to Seattle and they're playing great football.

Will we truly, fully, sufficiently overcome this Hunt debacle? We'll see.
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