Super Bowl Preview - Chiefs Edition II

I'm going to make an attempt to pound out one more post here, with a few more things I'd just like to add. Not much, but I just gotta.

As I wrote in my last post, this week it is just about the soaking up all the hype. There was none of this 50 years ago, so for the first time ever the Kingdom gets to live richly in it. In fact right now I'm enjoying watching Patrick talk about his experiences with his dad hanging around the Derek Jeter's of the world showing him how much hard work is required to be really good. This is just awesome stuff. So much of it -- it is so much fun.

Thing is, I can't help but write a bit about why for 51 weeks in the year -- 52 when the Chiefs aren't in the Super Bowl -- I pay no attention to anything sports because too many of the media are just ding-dong supremes. I can't stand it.

For instance there was the question asked to Clark about when he going to sign Mahomes to the largest contract ever. Now someday Mahomes will get that, and that's a fine thing. But when Clark is extraordinarily thoughtful yet quite properly deflects the question, the impression is only intended to be, "What a cheapskate owner, he's not telling us all about how he must be offering Patrick $300 million right now!"

Then there's the article by the I-simply-won't-name SI writer who essentially wrote about how Tyreek Hill is putting on a face because he's still the worst kind of criminal. Come on. These media people.

Fortunately everything those-in-the-Kingdom have said is so thoroughly good. Mahomes said he'd love to play in Kansas City for his entire career. End of that. I noticed Sammy Watkins even said he likes the Chiefs so much he'd consider coming back and taking a pay cut to do so.

Wonderful.

What a difference. This isn't about how much these guys should or shouldn't be making. I've always thought Watkins was always worth his keep. And really, think about this. Just a scant seven years ago the Kingdom was in the most abject disarray. Remember that? When the 2-14 season that was the worst of anything Chiefs ever?

And just seven years later we're in the Super Bowl? And not only that, but the reputation of the Kingdom is now profoundly 180, all over the place.

I was looking at the story of getting Mahomes in the draft and thinking about how amazing all of that all worked out -- Veach's work and the draft trade and just thought about how lucky we were. Remember when the Saints gave up all its picks in a draft just to get Ricky Williams? Now Williams was indeed a fine running back, but he was in only four playoff games gaining 80 yards total.

We gave up only three ultimately not-so-major picks to be able to snatch up Mahomes. Whuh-ow. Were we more lucky than any other NFL team to have such splendid luck shoved in our faces?

But you know? Don't forget this. We were the unluckiest team by far for the entirety of our existence with respect to drafted quarterbacks. Thirty years of utter futility with a drafted and developed quarterback. No, it's like...

Finally, we get a shot at this thing.

Indeed there are a million things to say and write and share, but I'm going to close with this. Just this simple thing I've wanted to put here.

The night before the AFC title game against the Titans, we went to a high school all-star game. My daughter was doing cheerleading and some of her school's players were in the game, including the quarterback who delightfully led the team on a last minute drive to throw the touchdown pass then the two-point conversion to win it 15-14.

But as the sun set over there on the west side of the field, I had to take a snapshot of that. It is here. I simply could not help but see how much red and gold and arrowhead angles were in that thing.

It was glorious.

Now it's on to Super Bowl Sunday!

Kingdom let's rock the place!
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Photograph of Patrick Mahomes is by Jamie Squire at Getty Images, thank you.
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Super Bowl Preview - Chiefs Edition

Wow, that I may write that in the title.

Super Bowl Preview - Chiefs Edition.

I'm right now watching the Pro Bowl, and over the past few years I've never really enjoyed this game because Chiefs were in it. What? Because Chiefs were in it? The idea: if you're in it, you're not in the Super Bowl. Even though the representative Chiefs players have actually done really well in the Pro Bowl, and they've actually really played -- remember a few years ago when they split up the conferences and Derrick Johnson just plowed into Jamaal Charles almost giving us all heart attacks? -- I mean the Chiefs fine Pro Bowl play is a really good thing, actually, for the Kingdom's cred, but it is of course much more desirable to see our guys in the game a week later.

After winning the AFC Championship game victory I actually thought this'd be great, this year, because we get to see all the players not the Chiefs who're not in the Super Bowl! We're there, and not here, you are, and we're not. Woo-hoo!

Thing is, two things have dampened that poor-winner sentiment.

The first one is what they just shared right here at the beginning of the game. Basketball great Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash. Really puts things in perspective. I've even thought this week, wow, this is great, we got what we want, we're in the Super Bowl. We could win it. We could be on top of the world. Yeah.

Don't get me wrong, all of this is wonderful. Even so -- then what? Can we see and know and act on the million-times more important things?

The second thing is while looking of all these great players not in the Super Bowl, you can't help but realize, ahem, they are all here because they are very good. And as very good players, what happens next year when we play them? Um, yeah. No wonder the NFL does at least something of a good job to ensure the players have a distinctive camaraderie among themselves.

As for the Super Bowl itself, this post is really not going to be much. I have a whole catalog of notes  I've made, many about the last game we played which I've really not written much about. And I honestly don't know how much I'll be covering any of that or even writing preview posts this week.

The main reason is I just want to spend the time soaking up all the stuff happening, and just get into what everyone else is thinking and saying and posting. So many are sharing so many good things, I just want to revel in it. I so want to be in the mix of sharing, too, but there is that second reason...

It is just reality that I have a full-time job that is really full-time, and a full-time family that is also truly full-time. Oh they too are all very excited for the Kingdom, but we will also be traveling far away at the end of the work week to join more family to enjoy the game together. All of that is on the plate for this week.

Again, I so want to blog like crazy about everything Chiefs right now. Much of it will just have to wait until the down-time off-season, and I hope you'll stay tuned.

In the mean time, what is the key for the Chiefs next Sunday, straight away?

They can certainly win on the merits. Many actually think they can -- they've been up 1.5 points by the oddsmakers and that's held steady. I believe they've just got avoid that crazy-ass insane play that has been their undoing before -- yeah, still. That is the key.

As far as the talent and playmaking, the 49ers have a phenomenally good front four, so our offensive line with face its biggest test. Will Mahomes be able to thread the needle with his throws and will our receivers hold on to those passes? Will Mahomes be able to scramble effectively when he must?

A lot has also been made of the Niners running game, and yeah, earlier in the year we were very soft with the run. Hopefully Spags has got these guys in a position to continue doing what they eventually did to Derrick Henry: shut him down soon enough, take a lead, then get them pass the ball. Thing is their QB Jimmy Garoppolo and his crew of receivers are exceptional, so we'll have to be stellar in the pass defense area too.

What I'm sharing is nothing new. Much of the navel-gazing prognostications have been exceedingly broadcast already. And really, every NFL game has its own unique nature, its own idiosyncratic character. Will the matchup be favorable for the Chiefs? It's why we play the game, we get to see.

To be honest what I'd like to see is a close game with some successful dipsy-do trickery on both sides that makes this year's Super Bowl one of the greatest ever -- topped off of course with a thrilling Chiefs win!

Again, maybe more preview to write later, but for now, just delightfully riffin' on the moment!

Go Chiefs!
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The photograph above was from Ben Green at the official Chiefs website.
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AFC Championship - Take Three

I should just flat-out title this post "Brett Veach and the Value of the Undervalued." Really.

This has been one of the critical components of our success and no one is talking about it.

Well, I wouldn't say no one, because Veach's name has come up a few times. But to be honest with you, I knew this team would be special way back when he went to the microphone there in the spring of 2018 shortly after signing Anthony Hitchens and Sammy Watkins. When you watched him and listened to him,

You just knew.

You could just tell he was someone who had a deep sense of what made a good football team. You could tell he had something of, well, a great deal of that got-it in his soul to lead the front office and make the crucial decisions required to form a championship club.

Sure enough, one of the things that made him exceptional was his ability to see in Patrick Mahomes what others did not see. It wasn't that there weren't some who saw it too, but, ahem, there were far too many who didn't, and Veach had the powerful insight to pick it up enough to convince Andy and then-GM John Dorsey to hitch up some draft picks and send them off to get him.

I've got this Chiefs blog to write a lot about all things Chiefs, but there are a lot of sites that do much more and do them much better than this one. I'd like to think that my focus is on the history, but also on the future. By the future I don't mean "Who-we-gonna-get-in-the-next-draft?" What I mean is, do we have the organizational skill and the front office got-it to make the best decisions?

And damn.

Do we have it in Brett Veach et al. And please, all the same amount of credit to Clark too, please don't get me wrong about him. It does indeed all start with him, and his strong insight and commitment to excellence was instrumental in getting Veach up here to do his thing.

Let's look at what has been said about Brett so far in this Super Bowl hype season: "That free agency signing of ___ ___, one of the best ever!" Fill in the blank with whomever -- of course the top candidates from this year are Tyrann Mathieu and Frank Clark, but what about Alex Okafor and Emmanuel Ogbah? Don't leave them out simply because they're now on IR. How about Bashaud Breeland? Major. Where in the world did Mike Pennel come from? How critical was his kryptonite play against the Superman Derrick Henry? Matt Moore! Coming back from the retirement void to help the Chiefs win early this year when Patrick was out. My word, there's Stefan Wisniewski, who was also who-knows-where who's now a part of an offensive line that has keep Patrick Mahomes cleaner than Woolite-washed socks.

Any time there was a hole, however small, he filled it. Any time there was a weakness, he addressed it. And he did it summarily with extreme prejudice. How amazing it was the Terrell Suggs came in for us at the opportune time -- don't think he hasn't had an impact out there.

And even guys he already had and stuck with. Think about Daniel Sorensen and how valuable he's been. Before the season started everyone was screaming for his head -- too big a cap hit! But when Juan Thornhill was injured for the duration of the postseason, everyone talked about whether it would be Armani Watts or Kendall Fuller stepping in. Well, ahem, it has been Sorensen and he has been terrific.

Oh, and how about the Steve Spagnuolo hire? Another score. Finding the guy who'd genuinely get the most from what the players offer, make the best in-season and in-game adjustments, and above all earn the respect of everyone on the defensive corps, it is like night-and-day from last year.

Sure all Veach's moves haven't been the best, but if it doesn't work, he fixes it, and most times he's dead-to-rights when it comes to getting it good. You know what else? Everyone talks about how young Patrick Mahomes is and that we'll have him for a long time. Do you know how young Brett Veach is? Really, as the youngest GM in the NFL -- and he's doing all this? -- that's just as significant for an extraordinarily promising Chiefs future.

It is appropriate then here to confess that I am so glad the Chiefs don't listen to me. Oh yeah I like writing here but you do know that most of what I put down is just part of the therapy. Thanks for being in my group. "Hi my name is David," and this one particular confession is how ticked off I was that Clark fired John Dorsey those however many years ago. After we started to win big after that 2012 horror show, maybe the contrast just made Dorsey look a little bit better than he was. He did do very good things, but hey, look what happened to him this year.

He was fired from the Browns. It did seem like he was turning his Browns team into a juggernaut what with drafting Baker Mayfield and picking up Odell Beckham Jr. and snatching up Kareem Hunt. But wow -- the Browns stank this year.

Again, maybe, just maybe, Clark has a lot more business savvy than we give him credit for.

There is so much more to address in all of this. So much to share about this amazing time in the Chiefs Kingdom. I will add this one thing.

The last game we lost was eight games ago, that ugly beast back in November to the Titans, that game when we were comfortably ahead 29-20 late but just collapsed. Thing about that game is it was necessary. It was necessary because our team needed a hard, swift kick in the pants to just get more disciplined.

To take care of business.

Thing is, we've been doing it. We've been focused and resilient and vocal about being persistent to a fault. I did see a piece online where the writer mentioned that one reason the Ravens were bounced from the playoffs so early was they didn't have any of that because the season was too easy for them, and when they were suddenly down to the Titans they didn't really know what to do.

So yeah, in that regular season Titans game, it was actually very good to get a harrowing visit from a few of the Four Horsemen of the Football Apocalypse. It's about learning, it's about growing, it's about looking to your teammates and depending on each and every one of them to help you get off the turf and make the next play with even more ferocity.

In fact I must say I did finish that post with these words:

"Here's to seeing these afflictions just making our players, and Reid himself, stronger and better as we finish the regular season and maybe even watch them make that stout playoff run we've always been hoping they'd have."

Oh my, have they ever.

You know one thing that's great about this Super Bowl? Besides the idea that it seems destined for this team to be there exactly 50 years after the dawn of the AFL-NFL merger, for this team to be there exactly 100 years after the NFL started in some meaningful form.

What is cool about this one is the number.

54?

Nah. The number is

LIV.

What does that look like to you? Yeah, me too.

LIVE.

How much does this team make the Kingdom live.

It is awesome.
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Photograph of Brett Veach is from The Athletic accompanying a piece by Nate Taylor, thank you. Of Mike Pennel from Jim Berry at the official Chiefs site, thank you.
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AFC Championship - Take Two

I have to pound out a quick blog post right now, late in the evening when I wasn't able to catch all the day's great post-game festivities and such because I spent another fine day with my elderly dad, but I've DVR'd all kinds of stuff and listened to podcasts during the drive.

Still amazing to experience it all.

There is so much to write about, a lot of stuff already shared in all the blogs and sites and sports shows -- one amazing thing I heard in the podcast was the Chiefs had five straight TD drives of 60+ yards. Remember the days when we'd have the ball back at our own 30 and it was like a miracle if we even got a field goal a few plays later. Remember when we'd appreciate how great a punter we had? Now we all know Dustin Colquitt is indeed a terrific punter, but... damn.

Anyway, the main thrust of this post is just pointing out that one key ingredient of our success. Well, yeah, there are a lot, Reid Mahomes Kelce Mathieu Clark etc. etc. etc. Got all that, not arguing against any of that.

But that one key ingredient I'm thinking of?

That crazy-ass insane play again did not happen to kill us.

Here's the reason I bring it up again so emphatically. Because that epic 27-yard touchdown run by Mahomes with eleven seconds left in the first half? You do know that he lost control of the ball, for a moment, just before surging into the end zone. I mean it really left his grip. You do know that don't you?

The reason I'm bringing that up is because of the wonderfully splendidly awesomely fantabulistically something-astoundingly-great way that ball didn't completely leave his grasp and go out of the end zone or into the hands of a Titans defender for a touchback.

See that play was indeed the critical play of the game. It wasn't just that it was terrific play, and that Mahomes is such a gamer -- all that's true. But the reason it was the critical play was that it put us ahead and forced the Titans to have to throw the ball to have a chance to beat us. In the second half we could drop one or two more guys back into pass coverage and let our pass rush do their thing, and that's precisely what happened to mercilessly put the Titans on their heels.

After crazy-ass insane thing after crazy-ass insane thing happened to us in the playoffs, we actually got some things like this heart-stopper to actually be really good for us.

Yeah, it seems like a dream. I've heard that a dozen times so far from a variety of places.

But wow, how crazy-ass insane it is to revel in the reality of a Chiefs Super Bowl!
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First photo from Sam Lutz, second from Jim Berry at the official Chiefs website. Thank you.
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AFC Championship - Take One

This is the first blog post of at least a few, and how phenomenally splendidly wonderfully euphoric it is to have some blog takes about postseason Chiefs greatness. I've blogged so much about the wrenching despair, that despair indeed one of those great things about those deep, dark valleys. Yes, a blessing. Yes, '71 and '90 and '94 and '95 and '97 and '03 and '13 through '18, blessings in disguise all of them.

It is simply because those times make '19 so spectacularly awesome.

There are a dozen different things to say about this game, and I'll have a whole week to share them. But for now, just this photograph. There are Norma Hunt and Bobby Bell up there, wow. And just what has been said about Clark, Brett, Andy, the front office personnel, the coaches, the players, and above all the fans of the Kansas City Chiefs. There were two really astounding things Clark said when he accepted the trophy named after his dad.

First, he thanked the Lord. You never hear an owner do that. Players do it all the time, but how often do you hear somebody of that stature do that? That was awesome. Secondly, he did something I so often hear neglected. Right out of the gate he thanked the fans, indeed, the best fans in football.

Sure, they all say that. But I truly think there is a tremendous amount of truth to that claim. The Kingdom has been through it. See the years above, that says it all.

This is the Kingdom. This is 50 years in the making.

I can only think of all the fans at those places around the country that root for the Chiefs from their little far-away-from-KC metro grottos. The faithful at Charlie's Saloon in Philly. Out here it is Jalapeno Pete's in Los Angeles. Our own home on game day 1,500 miles away. Just seeing the people out and about with Chiefs caps or jackets and talking Chiefs with them even if for a moment.

And the vast red sea at Arrowhead, a place that even there, in our home stadium, has been a nightmarish place to experience playoff football.

Well to close out the decade, on the 50th anniversary of the Chiefs crystallizing the success of pro football in America...

The Chiefs have made it to the promised land.

Finally.

Beautifully.

Gloriously.
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The photograph above is from Steve Sanders at the official Chiefs website.
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SUPER BOWL!!!

For the first time ever, really hard to believe, but for the first time ever...

The Kansas City Chiefs have won the Lamar Hunt Trophy!*

WE'RE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!

Right now I'm just soaking up the post-game festivities, so a more expansive blog post is coming.

For now, as Travis Kelce just shouted, "You've got to fight, for your right, to PARRRTYY!"

ON TO MORE CHIEFS GLORY!!!
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(*For the AFL Titles in '66 and '69 there was no Lamar Hunt Trophy. It was named after the AFL founder years later.)
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Photo by Cassie Florido at the official Chiefs website.
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Chiefs Preview Deeper Run Postseason 2020

"Just go out and do something special."

These were the words of Patrick Mahomes to his teammates when we were down 24-0 to the Texans early in 2nd quarter.

This is the reason we actually truly ecstatically have a chance to win this Sunday. Taking nothing away from the spirited, committed play of previous Chiefs playoff participants or the present ones taking the field with Mahomes.

But there is no question -- this guy is a gamer among gamers. Could it be that with his vocal but also demonstrative leadership at the most important position in the game, the whole team could genuinely have enough got-it to get us to the promised land? So far so good.

As it is we've got the Titans this Sunday for a trip to the Super Bowl. And like last week we started as 7-point favorites but that line has already grown. Thing is, you know it: let's just whoa back a bit now...

The Titans have been a bastard to us for quite some time now. Of course there was this regular season's debacle, well, the 4th quarter debacle. I was thinking, yeah, we had a number of ding-dong things happen to us in the Texans game -- the difference from all the previous playoff affairs? They all happened in the 1st quarter, not the 4th when it has always hurt us the most.

But ya know? There was that wild-card playoff game catastrophe from the 2017 season, when we were comfortably ahead 21-3 at halftime. Then remember the year before in a game close to the end of the season the Titans squeaked past us in that one too, with the help of another measure of victory courtesy the foot of Ryan Succop.

Then there was that loss that started the 2014 regular season, when we just played like crap against a Titans team that eventually went 2-14 on the season. Yeah, we missed the playoffs by one game, the only year an Andy Reid Chiefs team has missed them. Know what else is stultifying about these last three particular losses mentioned? They were all at Arrowhead.

So yeah. Not a great record of achievement here folks.

So yeah infinity, there is that one thing that'll win this game for us.

Our sustained excellent play absent that crazy-ass insane thing that kills us in the 4th quarter.

Okay, so what is it about that overall level of play? There are a few things about which we can ruminate.

1. Patrick Mahomes must play out of his cotton-freakin' mind. Yes I mentioned that in the Texans preview, and we all know he does that as a matter of practice, but this time it's for real. If the Titans have the field position advantage and chew up clock with that outstanding running back they have, we will only have the ball six or seven times in the entire game, at best. This means we've got to make the most of our possessions, the very very most, three or four touchdowns even. Fewer will make it much more of a nailbiter, and yes, it would actually be very nice to win a close playoff game for once, at least. With Mahomes and this offense it can be done, but we simply can't afford any of the dropped passes like we had against Houston.

2. Our defense will certainly designate someone to be the Derrick Henry-hunter, likely Reggie Ragland, and it is good to have somebody like him there for us. If Chris Jones isn't in there it will be much more of a challenge for sure. And with seven or eight guys staying close to the line of scrimmage for the play's duration we've got to have extraordinary games from our cover guys. Yeah, they need to play out of their cotton-freakin' minds too. They can. Thing is to get there we really can't have a second poor game from Charvarius Ward and we've got to get our free safety to channel his best Eric Berry.

I'd like to think our special teams is on top of it all considering what we know happened back in October with this Titans team. I'd like to think we'll be more focused on finishing plays considering what we know happened in the 1st quarter last week. I'd like to think Andy Reid and the staff have scoured the film and prepared accordingly considering what we know happened to both the Patriots and Ravens previously at the hands of the Titans.

If all of this comes together as it should, really, then we'll be good.

As it is, the hope is still very good. Nice to have it once again last a bit further into January.
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Chris Jones photo is by Dave Eulitt of Getty Images.
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Texans at Chiefs - Divisional Playoff Game

It looked as though the first of the Four Horseman of the Football Apocalypse would kill us before this one even started. Without Chris Jones in there due to a calf injury, it looked exceptionally grim. That ugly playoff spell that always seems to hover over Arrowhead was quite thick.

We were down 24-0 before you could even breathe. It wasn't just one crazy-ass insane play to do us in, it was dozens.

To wit:

They scored a TD quickly when they ran a play that totally faked us out. We're down 7-0. On the second play of our offensive effort, we got a false start against us. Then Kelce drops the pass and suddenly we had a 3-&-out. Right away they blocked the punt and ran in for a touchdown. We're now down 14-0. Everyone in the Kingdom is shellshocked.

Sure enough, all that's pounding in my head: Something about Arrowhead. 3-8 Chiefs record overall at home in the playoffs. What - is - that...

It didn't stop. We had another dropped pass on 3rd down. When they got the ball again we stopped tackling. Carlos Hyde, who as you remember was on the Chiefs at the beginning of the year, was chewing us up on the ground.

We finally got them to punt -- yay! -- but then, ::ngnck:: Tyreek Hill dropped the punt and they recovered. He never drops punts. Never. They follow with another TD. When the 2nd quarter started they added a field goal making it 24-0. I'm just thinking, no Jones, no Juan Thornhill -- we're just dead.

But the difference is we still have Patrick Mahomes. Not to single him out as unbelievably skilled as he is, because our entire team rose up -- and that ugly Arrowhead playoff thing? We did nothing other than kick its ass. 

It really started with Mecole Hardman's strong kick return. Kelce got untracked with a super catch & run, followed immediately by a nifty snatch of a pass at the hip by Damien Williams for the TD.

The Texans were then stopped, and they tried a run on a fake punt that Daniel Sorensen snuffed out.

At that point, we just took over. We started catching everything, especially Kelce who even when he was double-teamed was even forcing them to commit PIs or holding penalties. I mean I thought that one baaad thing that would hurt us the most would be some baaad officiating on a PI call. No, our receiving crew is so dominant that the Texans D-backs couldn't help but PI us all the time.

After that harrowing start, we put a 41-spot up on them.

Final score, 51-31. After being down 24-0, we blasted them 51-7. In fact I later discovered that the Chiefs actually ran out of fireworks to shoot into the air after touchdowns, we'd scored so many in such a short period of time. Wow, how about that.

And really, give credit to our defense, who put pressure on Watson just enough to keep him from doing too much damage. Steve Spagnuolo, what a blessing it is to have him in there calling things. And the fans did their job too! Decibel Up was also in the mix of keeping Watson in check.

I'm not going to post as much as I did back in 2015 when we all went bananas after we beat the Texans that time. This post is going to be pretty simple, for now. I may add some later, and perhaps include a preview post sometime this week. But I wanted to add just one more thing.

At one point around the beginning of the 4th quarter, just after our splendid quarterback had another of his extraordinarily nice pass completions -- this one to Sammy Watkins for a huge gain to the Houston 8 -- the camera showed a closeup of Mahomes face as he ran down to the gained line. He was looking to the Chiefs sideline.

It was just so much the look of a winner who will take care of business no matter what.

Call it "The Mahomes Look." He promptly followed that up with another TD pass to Blake Bell. They were saying at that point we'd set an NFL record of seven consecutive touchdown drives. Cool.

Next week we've got a very difficult challenge in facing Derrick Henry and those Titans again for the shot at the Super Bowl. Again more on all that later. For now, how sweet is this...

How very sweet it is to watch our team be the one comfortably enough ahead with a minute left...

How so very very nice...

We get to watch our team kneel to end it.
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Special thanks to Chris Donahue, Ben Green, and Steve Sanders for the photographs at the Chiefs official website.
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Chiefs Preview Postseason 2020 - Part III

On the eve of the divisional playoff weekend I thought I'd pound out a few more thoughts in this post. It doesn't present anything much different than what the other preview posts have shared. The main thing of all is that we just really truly actually fully transcendently magnificently must avoid that one single ugly wretched bastard of a play that kills us in a playoff game.

Last year the week before the Colts game my emotional constitution was was a lot more intense. Now, I'm at peace. Even in the thinking that there could just be that one dropped pass or one missed field goal or something never before seen on a football field, and that this one thing will be the undoing of us -- it has happened so often, how can you not have the thought pass by a synapse or two? It is part of being a Chiefs fan.

But I am at peace much because we're so steeled about it -- I'm just in that mode of so appreciating this team and what they bring to us every fall. Winter? We win and that's just gravy. There's also the consideration that there is a great future for this team. We've got the best GM in the game, a future Hall-of-Fame coach, and the most exciting young quarterback leading the charge -- and we'll have them doing all this for some time now. That's really cool, right now.

Thing is, the way this whole thing shakes out, yet again it would have to be some crazy-ass insane thing that keeps us from winning. Just look at the odds. We opened the week as 7.5-point favorites. Then it went to 8. Then to 9. Right now it sits at 9.5. The first line-setters must've known about our playoff history. Otherwise those putting some skin in seem to feel these Chiefs have nothing to worry about. We're all hoping so.

I'd been looking at some more of the history of the NFL and the Chiefs place in it. One thing I looked at was USA Today's list of Best 100 Teams, as well as their list of Worst 100 Teams. That Worst list? The Chiefs only appear once, that 2012 season at No. 27. That's actually pretty telling. You mean none of the late 70s teams made it? Nah, there were a lot worse out there. None of the late 00s teams made it? They were pretty bad, but they didn't make the top 100. Several teams made the list a number of times, including the Raiders.

Not the Chiefs.

Thing is, the Chiefs made the Best 100 only twice. Huh? Well, the USA Today people mostly considered whether or not you'd made it all the way to the Super Bowl, and then among those who didn't threw in a smattering of other playoff teams from history. The Chiefs got in for their '66 team and of course their '69 team, which in my view was woefully underrated at No. 22.

But no others? Not their '97 team with one of the best defenses ever, getting thoroughly hosed in the divisional game the NFL needed John Elway to win for one last shot at a Super Bowl? Not their '03 team with one of the best offenses ever? Not their '71 team with that wild OT loss to Miami keeping them from a very reasonable shot at the Cowboys in the Super Bowl?

Nah. It is just the Chiefs are barely on these guys' radar. Typical.

But I went ahead and looked at the updated winning percentages overall. The Chiefs are now up to 11th overall in NFL history. They are around sixty games over .500, at .532. They are just a few wins behind the Broncos, and it is likely they'll pass them sometime next season. They are now better than both the Raiders and Steelers. Of course we all know that's mostly because those records include the Steelers poor early years and Raiders poor recent years.

But still.

All this tells us that, yeah, even though we've experienced some disheartening times, we've never been really bad for any sustained period (late 70s and late 00s the only real exceptions, and even then not for very long), we've had long periods of steady excellence (most of the 60s and early 70s, all of the 90s, and most of the 10s and beyond) -- it's just, as you know, we've never done anything great in any postseason to set ourselves apart for any kind of renown.

Still.

The Kingdom knows.

We're good.
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Chiefs Preview Postseason 2020 - Part II

The AFC wild-card games are just wrapping up so we know who we're going to play next Sunday, but it really doesn't matter. Because the Titans finally ended the Patriots reign in the AFC, the Texans will be coming to Arrowhead, partly on the heels of one of the most phenomenal sack escapes by Deshaun Watson you will ever see.

As it is, the Chiefs have a good enough team to beat anybody. They've clearly shown it -- in fact the few times I've looked at Chiefs things out there I've seen "This is as complete a team as any!" quite often. I think that's true. Their defense has come around especially towards the end of the year with the steady tutelage of Steve Spagnuolo, so we're good to go playoffs-wise. Good to go...

Just like every other postseason.

I think you know what I mean by that. My attitude through this whole season has been, hey, I'm just enjoying the ride through the fall. It's been great in the Kingdom for all of September, October, November, and December, it really has. These last seven years of autumns have been phenomenally enjoyable, they really have.

It is just January that is painful.

Will it be different this year? It could, but really a number of things have to happen in each game we play. Let's go over them -- the first one is most important.

1. You've read about it here every year I've blogged just before our first playoff game. You know it all too well:

We must avoid the one crazy-ass insane impossibly ridiculous thing that has murdered us every postseason.

There. Thuh end. That's the key. I'm sorry but we have too good a team with too many weapons to go down to anything but that. We had four losses this year, and all were within a touchdown. Three of them were really because of one critical turnover, that fourth game result was because of the dime-defense/special-teams collapse very late in the game against the Titans.

Otherwise we manhandled every other team in the NFL this season. It is just inexplicable how we could go into next Sunday and just not have any of that keep us from the crazy-ass insane you-know-what.

But it has happened so often. Know what really scares me the most? I'll tell you right now, just to share it here. I fear that ludicrous pass interference issue that should not go against us but because of the new interpretation rules, for some reason, for some yet-again insane way, it will just kill us. Sorry, but I just had to share that. You know, for the therapy.

So what else needs to be happening to ensure that deep post-season run?

2. Patrick Mahomes must play out of his mind. The great thing is that Mahomes was built to do just that, as a simple matter of practice. It's just who he is. It is wonderful, for sure. Some of this is just the idea that he can get us going so strongly that the crazy-ass thing simply cannot beat us. That's quite an advantage.

Part of his success lies in this third thing:

3. Andy Reid's playmaking puts us up by double-digits early and we never have to look back. This has been the success of our team, let's hope it happens in the postseason. This will avoid having to be in a close one late and then having to endure the wrenching of a struggle to either flail about trying to not-lose, or just bumble about trying to get points we should've gotten way earlier.

As far as the defense goes:

4. We've got to find a way to defend against running backs pounding us with screen or swing passes. The Chargers did well with that against us in that last regular season game, and other teams are watching.

Not having Juan Thornhill doesn't help. Thing is, I think about how much this could really hurt us, but please, I always also think, what about the other teams? Why is it the Chiefs always seem to be hurt the most by some unforeseen disability in whatever way that shows itself? Why have the Chiefs never been able to take advantage of some profound weakness on the other team and get that close dubya?

I'd like to think Armani Watts or Kendall Fuller will step in and do okay enough. They should. But after so many postseason failures I just get nervous. Sorry.

But guess what.

We still have hope. That stuff I mentioned earlier about Spagnuolo really molding these guys into a decent defensive unit? When we played the Texans earlier this season, we did lose, but we had them, we really did. Except that there was that turnover, and yes, our defense wasn't what it is today.

We can hope with very reasonable hope for another week. It'll be good.

The fifth thing I think about is this one:

5. The team must be confident but not cocky. I got the link on the right from Bleacher Report, that is Demarcus Robinson scoring a nice touchdown in the Chargers game. The Chiefs know they're a good team, and there's a place for such conviction. But sometimes I see us out there messing up because we aren't as aware of our limitations, ones we need to acknowledge to ferociously stick to the job we know we can do.

When I watched us play the Patriots a few weeks ago, it was clear the Chiefs were the more talented team. But I have to say it, and it is really one of the reasons why the Patriots have been to Super Bowl after Super Bowl after Super Bowl: They were more focused. It was even that they were more disciplined or anything like that. It is was just that their focus was just more directed, more resolute, more refined.

It reminds me of a quote from Jim Turner, the Broncos kicker who after his team's Super Bowl loss to the Cowboys after the 1977 season, remarked about what he saw out there: Before the game the Broncos were whooping it up, jumping up and down, demonstrably excited. The Cowboys, however, entered the stadium walking calmly but securely, heads up high with quietly determined looks on their faces. Turner's remark?

"We came out thinking about winning. They came out thinking about football."

I'm not saying at all that we won't be thinking about football. I'm not saying at all that Andy Reid won't fully employ his most dexterous playmaking skills for the on-the-field action. I'm not saying at all that Patrick Mahomes will not bring every nano-liter of his enthusiastic leadership to infuse into everything the Chiefs do next Sunday.

I am saying we'll need it all in its fullest measure if we're going to win. Yeah, I like that Mahomes has said quite famously, something all of us in the Kingdom feel so deeply about: "All that past Chiefs playoff stuff is history. This is a new generation." I like it, it means a lot, really. We all feel that way.

But they know about it, they do. And I hope they all know what it will take to win this thing.

I really do.
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Chiefs Preview Postseason 2020 - Part I

I thought I'd put up a preview post sooner than later, though more thoughts will be forthcoming. Right now just reveling in our Chiefs success, no matter what happens in January. Sure I want good things still to happen, and I am indeed simply enjoying the hope of Super Bowl glory that 20 teams can't experience right now. It is very good.

I thought I'd just put here some videos that are really cool. The first is just some really fun season close-out stuff, and as far as the regular season goes did we put the hammer down. It opens with the cinematic drama of one of the biggest plays of the year, Bashaud Breeland batting away Tom Brady's last-chance pass in the end zone to win the game against the Patriots. The whole thing, tons of enjoyment for sure.

The second was a much more succinct elucidation of some of the amazing things about this Chiefs team. Some of them I did not know, even though I know we had to be pretty good at these things just by getting the feel for how well we did with them when watching our games: How successful our cornerbacks really were, and how effective our offense was on 3rd down.

It is very very very fun: This Chiefs team is actually pretty danged good.

Really good reasons to be dwelling richly in the Kingdom right now, definitely.
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