The Very Very Ugly -- The Chiefs Abominable AFC Championship Game

After a day of addressing the pain of yet another Chiefs playoff game in which the near-supernaturally stupid things that used to happen every time we get there gash yet another huge yawning wound in our hearts, I thought I'd have one last go at what's what. Usually it is the good, the bad, and the ugly, but here it is all ugly.

1. Andy Reid, Eric Bieniemy, and Patrick Mahomes - the really ugly.

Yes, you could easily throw our bunch of receivers in there, I agree, but what is so stunning about all of this was how the entire country just watched the Chiefs so proficiently demonstrate, yet again, how such a exceptional pro football team can be so profoundly shitty at just the wrong time.

In the first half we were unstoppable. I actually thought, "We've got this. This is money." I never for a second thought what happened four years ago to us could happen again -- remember that game against the Titans? We're at home against a far inferior team and after going up 21-0 at the half we end up losing 22-21. How does that happen?

Ahem.

It happened again. We blast out to a 21-3 lead, and with enough time to easily score a touchdown just before the half on 1st-&-goal from their one -- you know, send Darrel Williams (who was supposed to be a healthy addition for the game) into the end zone, you know, just trust your O-line to get the job done, you know, do something innovatively awesome with Travis Kelce -- instead you fart around and two plays later get bupkis.

So you know, you see it there, we had a 21-3 lead and lost 27-24. It should never have gotten to Harrison Butker for the second game in a row having to nail a long field goal to tie the game just to get to OT. This game had no business being in OT. That goofy interception the Bengals made in OT that pretty much got them the win was not a whole lot different than the one in that Titans game when Marcus Mariota passed the ball to himself and scored a touchdown because we refused to just intercept the danged ball. 

Same unbelievably stupid thing.

And that's the point to all of this. For a while these past few years the stupidness seemed to subside. I thought we'd gotten past it. We won a Super Bowl in there once. The Chiefs playoff stupidness had to have ended! Awright!

Not.

It's still there.

Yesterday there is no way football minds like Reid and Bieniemy and Mahomes could have done what they did -- or gruesomely not do as the case was -- without that wretchedly ugly Chiefs stupidness just consuming their psyches. Play after play after play...

Even if you attribute it to Reid so stulifyingly abandoning the run game in that harrowing 2nd half especially when they switched to a three-man rush, the failure of which, granted, was truly quite enormously stupid, how it is Reid is doing this kind of thing so often, after just not-learning for all those years upon years upon years of coaching? Sorry, it is nothing other than the surreal-but-very-real Chiefs playoff stupidness just coming back from the grave to eat us alive.

I mean, I'm still stunned. Did you watch how much better the Chiefs were overall than the Bengals? It wasn't even funny. In every facet of the game we overmatched them by far. Anyone who tries to tell you "The Bengals did this" or "The Bengals did that" was not watching this game. If Reid-Bieniemy-Mahomes did anything like they'd usually done it -- like they were doing just fine in the first half! -- this would've been a rout.

But no.

The Chiefs playoff stupidness is somehow, someway still wafting about in the worst way.

2. The Chiefs pass rush -- equally as really ugly.

I said this when the Chiefs were wallowing about in their 3-4 funk to start the season and I'll say it again. 

Please. Brett. Brett Veach. I beg you. Go whole-hog Los-Angeles-Angels-only-drafting-pitchers-every-draft-pick-they-had and

Only draft front-seven defensive guys.

Please. Don't listen to those doofs screeching about drafting a cornerback, or an offensive lineman, or anything but a pass rusher and run stopper. Please. Cover your ears and hum "Camptown Races" until the draft -- while you're using your deft abilities to get the very best of those front-seven guys.

Briefly, about our defensive backfield? Here're my thoughts. Our cornerbacks are not bad. Ward was fine yesterday. Sneed had a pick. Fenton has shown promise and yes he did get taken by Ja'Marr Chase for a TD but, please, that's Ja'Marr Chase, and he didn't get help. It is our safeties who need help. Sorry but Juan Thornhill is really pretty average. And sorry but Tyrann is really more of a free safety. If anything we need a good strong safety, but in a real sense, he is a critical part of that front-seven.

There are only three guys we should keep who reside there right now. Nick Bolton, Willie Gay, and Chris Jones. And I'm already mad at Chris Jones for doing what the pass rush didn't do -- simple:

Finish.

They had Joe Burrow dead-to-rights so often last night and finished the evening with -- wait for it...

One sack.

I didn't look a the final stats, I think they'll count his final kneel down to get their kicker a better position to win it in OT, but I'm pretty sure the Chiefs registered a single meaningful sack on the entire day. We'd all watch them crush the pocket, what, a dozen times? And then

Just plain refuse to tackle the guy.

It was as if a huge invisible stupidness banshee just pushed our pass rushers out of the way, really! Not kidding! Watch the film! Every single time. Our guy would just whiff, or just glide right past him, or something. It was a nightmare, all - game - long.

Yepp. Looks like Chiefs playoff football of old.

So yeah, while the Tershawn Whartons and Mike Dannas are nice players, very nice indeed, they won't get us past the stupid stage of playoff football, they just won't. I'd like to keep Melvin Ingram for another year if he's got left what he still had this year, but that doesn't answer our long term needs to ensure our defense not only dominates against a weaker team like the Bengals but can actually be competitive against the really good AFC teams like the Bills! And the teams in our own division are getting really tired themselves of losing to this Chiefs team. Indeed -- this is the entire point of my last thread -- 

The NFL is getting really tired of the Chiefs winning so much.

3. Roger Goodell and the NFL -- the most wickedly ugly.

The NFL blew it because they should have wanted the Chiefs-Rams matchup, only because the Chiefs are the team that would give the Rams a good Super Bowl game. And I'm not saying they didn't want it, but they didn't get it. Sorry, but the Rams are going to slaughter the Bengals in the Super Bowl. Nothing against the Bengals -- I do mean what I shared in my last post: I'm actually happy for those Cincinnati fans, I always like it when a team that hasn't won for a while wins, that's terrific.

Now, you may ask, why is this the NFL's fault? And why would the NFL want the Chiefs in it if they don't like the Chiefs?

First of all, again, purely from a matchup standpoint the Chiefs-Rams is a better attraction. Oh the NFL and everyone will spout about how much the Bengals will bring and all that -- that's standard procedure. But to be honest, the Bengals are no more desired than the Chiefs, both small-market non-media-darling teams. It is just they are in the Super Bowl now, so let the hype begin. Doesn't change how the NFL feels about the Chiefs.

The main point here is that the NFL is a puke organization for all the idiotic things it has brought into the fold that make it near unwatchable. To its credit it isn't alone, most of the large professional sports leagues have done it, so they all carry this responsibility. But it is true, you reap what you sow.

This is why I'm actually great with the Chiefs not being there. I love my Chiefs, I loathe the NFL and struggle with enabling this stuff by watching it. 

Here are a few of those things, all of which I've mentioned before.

The gambling connections. Organized gambling operations are pure evil. You know they are because they must put disclaimers on all their ads to "Gamble responsibly." Now the NFL has arranged formal agreements with these Fan Duel and Draft King sites, even casinos -- I saw an ad that had some people in Egyptian outfits on a couch, and I think Archie Manning was in it -- I pay zero attention to any of these because I can fast-forward if I'm behind a bit with the DVR or mute all of it if were up-to-speed. I did however catch that it was put on by some casino and it had the disclaimer in it. This is not only to mention that in the past, any relationship with any gambling enterprise of any kind by any person officially involved in any capacity related to the game was prohibited in the strictest way, for the obvious reason that is could compromise the integrity of the game. I guess when the commissioner authorizes it, it must be okay.

The racialist expressions. Sorry, but spewing out all the "It takes all of us," "End racism," and prints of names of people who tragically died in circumstances the media have twisted for political purposes is simply the NFL screaming at you that if you a white person you are guilty of racism and the only way you can alleviate your guilt is if you do the things the elevated race-hustlers tell you to do. This too is a grotesque evil. It is a violation of the Ninth Commandment against bearing false witness, pronouncing guilt and urging the requisite punishment upon people without truly knowing they have done anything wrong. The NFL, however, has kowtowed to these people and considered it a duty to browbeat you with how racist you are. It is extraordinarily sad I see this crap on Chiefs players' helmets and printed on the back of the Arrowhead end zones.

The Covid protocol insanity. The NFL is still part of hammering its players and other personnel with getting vaxxed while they still allow their players to go out on the field and fans into the stands with the tepidly enforced protocols of showing vax passports, insisting on recent tests, and yelling at everyone to wear masks when here or there or wherever. All of this absurdity is, yes, extraordinarily evil, because the rabid Covid enforcement environment is just a religious cult they are sneering at you to embrace. Look at what they've done to Aaron Rodgers, as well any number of other principled athletes who, because they are so prominently in the public eye they can rake over the searing hot coals of media reprobation to get them showcased in their beloved crusade to make everyone super-duper disease-free in the name the most righteous virtue-signaling by the favored political mouthpieces.

So yeah, I hurt like hell our Chiefs looked so stupid out there in the second half yesterday. I'd like to add the word "uncharacteristically" before the word "stupid," but you know -- you know. You've seen Chiefs playoff games before. Yesterday was, sadly, even with the genuinely amazing Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid and all the rest of it, easily one of the stupidest the Chiefs have every played. And they did it all in a single half.

What makes it especially sad is that they are doing it in the NFL, which is just plain sold-out to those horrific things just addressed.

So in that case, I'm happy.

I don't have to watch it any more.

No more Chiefs this year, no more NFL.

That's a very good thing.

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I'd just finished my post and I had gone out on my prayer walk and I thought, I really should add this. I'm adding it because in this post I called out a few things as evil. I thought, huh, am I bit too judgmental? Then I heard the sirens. Sirens of emergency personnel vehicles responding to something that may have been brought about because of the evil things that are out there. So why must I feel the need apologize for calling things out as they are? Even praying specifically against those things in the name of those people authentically enjoying rich meaningful lives?

I have to add though that redemption, salvation, and deliverance from those evils don't come from just avoiding NFL games or refusing to purchase their product, or even in railing against those things is a spiffy Chiefs blog. Yes, it can be those things, and I do confess I wrestle with my role in them however small it may be. I've shared this many times in this blog. I've been just as subject to evil things wrecking my soul as anyone.

But the deliverance comes in the form of a Person, namely in Jesus Christ and belief on Him. Only He rescues one from the evil in one's own soul. When I say this or that about a pro football player or NFL decision-maker, I'm just as guilty. Thank the Lord that, while I was a sinner Christ died for me! (Fifth chapter of the letter to the Romans, by the way.)

If you haven't seen it, I do have another blog that is part of my ministry -- I've always had a link to it there in the links section. The best link though is this one and if anything that I share resonates with you, please look there and introduce yourself to the One Who Is The Living Word.

Thank you for your readership.

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Bengals at Chiefs - AFC Championship Game

Sure enough, the only thing that cost us this game was just having the right number of stupid things happening to us.

I could mention a number of them, but just that Bengals D-back barely punching that ball from Tyreek's hands in OT and having it bounce right into their other D-back's hands -- allowing them to get the ball in great field position so they could march down for the game-winning field goal. 

There were a lot more -- I mean, after jetting out to a 21-3 we should have stretched it to 35-10 at the half. Then it should have been a comfortable 45-17 win. We were clearly the better team. It appeared we'd learned our lesson from that Week 17 loss. 

We just took our foot off the gas. Somehow, someway, we went back to the old Andy Reidness of not going in for the kill. The Chiefs veered back into having to endure the stupid playoff game things derailing the success of a really good team, and Andy back to his habit of not getting it done in conference championship games.

One of the notable missteps was messing up not scoring at all at the very end of the first half when we had 1st-&-goal from the one with time for two good plays left. That, really, turned out to be major, when you think about it. Then there were the dozens of other stupid things that contributed. 

I'm not going to go into them now. Don't know if I will, just not feeling it right now. Maybe I will, but you know, this isn't the worst. We have our title from two years ago, and we've still got Patrick Mahomes. So this loss just isn't one of the worst. Others were. Not that this doesn't hurt, but still. Four straight home AFC Championship Games, last week winning one of the greatest playoff games ever, still one of the elite teams in the NFL -- who can be too sad about that.

But yeah, just one note about one thing that really cost us, and yes, it is Patrick Mahomes.

The great ones simply cannot be great all the time.

Mahomes' play late was really kind-of not-good. I'll be nice.

Here's the one play I want to mention. Overall it is scary how poor he was playing, but with -- I believe it was 3rd down and we had the ball at the 15 or so, score 24-21 Bengals, something like minute, half-a-minute left, and we really need to score the touchdown. Make the score 28-24 us. In under a minute the Bengals have to score a touchdown to win.

So on that 3rd down, Mahomes goes back to pass and scrambles all over the field. 

And keeps scrambling.

And scrambling.

AND MORE SCRAMBLING.

...Until he's so far away from the end zone -- his receivers so far away and thoroughly blanketed in the end zone -- that he allows himself to get sacked, fumbles the ball, watches it get recovered by Joe Thuney, and leaves himself to sigh in relief as Butker kicks the game-tying field goal.

Not good enough.

We needed the touchdown.

My main point is this.

Remember that 2019 AFC Championship Game, when at the very end of the first half the game-dominant Mahomes scrambled but immediately swerved left and outran the Titans defense for the go-ahead touchdown?

Well, he could have done it this time.

On the replay the entire right side was wiiide open for Mahomes to streak towards the line of scrimmage. He's so good at that, and I just think if he did that halfway into his mad scramble it would've drawn all those defenders up to try to stop him leaving somebody open in that end zone.

Now that was just one play, but I have to say it was emblematic of just the failure of Mahomes to do the requisite Mahomes thing. It happened throughout the second half -- we scored three points in the entire second half. Play after play after play he just looked very un-Mahomes-like.

Don't get me wrong. I want Mahomes out there for every Chiefs snap for the next ten years or more. He's awesome. He'll look at the tape and learn. That's awesome, he'll be back stronger than ever.

But we do have to give Cincinnati credit. They made very few mistakes and exploited every opportunity they had. The number of times Joe Burrow miraculously escaped our pass rush was head-shaking, yes, all those failures cost us too. Good thing for their long-suffering fans, too, it is fun to have your team in the Super Bowl.

As it is, I don't have to follow any of this any more. In an extraordinarily perverse way I don't have to spend the next two weeks looking at Chiefs stuff. I'm ready for a pro football break. Again, not that I don't want the Chiefs in the next 57 Super Bowls, but, well, we're not going to be in it again, at least it's not happening this year. 

No matter, we'll be competitive for every year for the next several, that's a very good thing.

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AFC Divisional Playoff Game - Post Game Take

I simply had to add another take to yesterday's game about two critical things. I won't be getting into how amazing the teams played, particularly the two quarterbacks. You can get all of that from the sports shows and web sites and all that. But two things, one has been touched on a bit, the other I think you'll only get here but I know is on the hearts of every Chiefs fan.

1. The 13 Seconds.

With a minute left and down by four, Buffalo impossibly zipped down the field and scored the go-ahead touchdown leaving Kansas City only 13 seconds to take the kickoff and valiantly try to get into field goal range. Yes, every Chiefs fan's heart was surely right there camped at the bottom of his or her feet. 13 seconds. Not even the great Patrick Mahomes can pull this off. 

Well, a quick throw to Tyreek and another to Travis and ::BAM:: just like that we're in Butker's range, and sure enough he bangs it through to tie the game.

But what about two strategies the Bills could have employed to make it much harder for Mahomes magic to work? I mean, Bills coach Sean McDermott did a marvelous job coaching against the Chiefs, he really did. 

Except that here you are ready to kick off. Instead of just blasting it into the end zone, which is what the kicker did, why not kick it around somewhere, as far as you can preferably, so the Chiefs have to do something with it? Once they touch it, the clock starts running.

The trick to that is the Chiefs could easily be instructed to take any kick and call a fair catch, or if it is kicked straight and skips along on the ground somewhere, a player may fall on it and give themselves up right away. There is no guarantee they'd do any of that and the kick has to be just right, but yes, I do think it would've been worth it. Honestly I really don't think it would have the impact the Bills detractors think it would, if indeed the Chiefs played it right on their end.

Then there is the other strategy not employed by McDermott which I thought would have been more effective. Mahomes has the ball at the 25 yard-line. You just get all your D-backs at the line of scrimmage and when the ball is snapped right away tackle the receivers. Mahomes has nowhere to go, he's stuck, time is running out, and... whatever. Point is the Bills will be called for defensive holding. Five yards and a 1st down for the Chiefs, but neither of those things matters because game time will have transpired. Do that three or four times in a row, time expires, game cannot end on a defensive penalty, Mahomes is now stuck with the ball at midfield for only one more play and a pending Hail Mary attempt -- a lot better situation for the Bills than a high-percentage Butker game-tying field goal.

Would that have worked? I don't know. I do believe, however, that this mere possibility should get the NFL to make a rule change, simply because exploiting the rules in such a way is a nasty way to try to win a game. We all want to see a Patrick Mahomes do what he did or even a Josh Allen do it if he had the chance -- see if any given players can work their magic with their actual game play.

So here's the rule change. Should a team commit defensive holding -- presumably for the purpose of expending time -- then no time is run off from the start of the play. So if last night the Bills did the defensive holding thing, it wouldn't matter because there'd still be 13 seconds left on the clock for each time the five-yard penalty is assessed. I mean, in other circumstances when the offense does something to try to conserve time they take time off the clock -- even when a player is injured they have some kind of ten-second run-off with under a minute left, something like that. Why not do it if the defense is manipulating the game to expend time?

By the way, one of the other rules-oriented things they've been talking about is the overtime rule of first-touchdown-wins no matter what. For one thing I've always hated that rule -- for what its worth I've hated the college overtime rule even more. I'm more of a traditionalist, here's what I think. Put five minutes on the clock, and have a full five-minute overtime. No more sudden death. Whoever's ahead at the end, they win. If the playoff game is still tied, then have another one. And another one. I know there are liabilities to this, such as a team trying to milk every second of that five minutes and kicking a last second field goal, I get it. But I think it would be best if they do something like this to make it more likely both teams get a chance.

Oh, and there's the other reason not to complain about last night's Chiefs win with Josh Allen not getting the football in OT -- we had that happen to us three years ago, remember? So there.

2. The 1971 Divisional Playoff Game.

This is that other thing I wanted to post about, something I thought about as I watched a replay of the last few minutes of this amazing game -- one that the CBS Sports site has already ranked as the third greatest postseason game in NFL history, only trailing the 2014 Super Bowl and the 1981 NFC Championship Game.

As I sat there looking at Harrison Butker there on my television screen get lined up for that game-tying field goal, I had a thought I'd had before in some way just about every time I'd reviewed in whatever way I could the 2018 Colts win, the 2019 Texans Titans Niners wins, the 2020 Browns Bills wins -- any of them, that this is just all the utter and contemptible pukitude of the past horrific Chiefs postseason experiences just heaved up from the depths of our gut spewed all over Arrowhead Stadium, right there. In a good way. Yes, indeed, in a very very satisfying way, for sure.

Yeah, it isn't a pretty picture, but you know what I mean.

You can start with that 1971 Divisional Playoff Game against the Dolphins, which by the way was exactly 50 years ago from this Divisional Playoff Game. Not by date, but by Divisional Playoff Game. Back then the NFL playoffs started much earlier, yep, we all remember, it was on Christmas Day. 1971 season then, 2021 season now.

Everyone thinks it is just the one of the greatest (it made that CBS Sports list of great postseason games). Not to any Chiefs fan. It was one of the worst. Just seeing in my brain that image of Ed Podolak returning that kick down the sideline all the way into Dolphins territory all for naught just shreds my insides. Not that is wasn't a great game, but it was the first of many wretched heartbreakers for the Chiefs. Not going to go into depth about them all, but hey, just to mention, all one-and-outs...

1986 Jets. 1990 Dolphins (that one was really painful). 1992 Chargers. 1994 Dolphins. 1995 Colts (OUCH). 1997 Broncos (extraordinarily excruciating). 2003 Colts (OUCH MORE). 2006 Colts. 2010 Ravens. 2013 Colts (how much more agony can we take?) 2016 Steelers (mmnfnknghkm). 2017 Titans (MMNFNKGHKMMMNGHCK).

Thing is, really, two things actually and then I'm done. I've shared them both before but they're worth repeating.

As perverse as it is, those horrors have actually made all this Chiefs amazingness that much greater. It is almost as if God is saying, "Hey, cool your jets, huh? I know this is painful, but life is painful. Just so you know, it is going to be glorious. But you've just got to hold on, okay? I've got this." What a lesson, and a beautiful one at that.

Remember it is an odd truth, but really, if the Chiefs win every single Super Bowl for 57 straight years, what will happen by the time we're "enjoying" the 18th one? It is really odd, but tough losses are good things. Even if we lose next week or the 49ers get into the Super Bowl again against us and exact their revenge, well then what? 

We still got our Super Bowl win two years ago and we were tremendously blessed to have a very very very good time hocking up all over everywhere all that past ugliness.

That second thing for this note is just the Patrick Mahomes factor as suuuch a twist on what our quarterback situation was for eons. Remember The Quarterback Project. Yes, it definitely needs an updating, but only to show the stark contrast between the cold, barren wasteland of no Chiefs drafted and developed quarterbacks that lasted forever...

And now this.

Nirvana. Utopia. Paradise. Elysium. Valhalla. Whatever you want to call it.

It is amazing.

And it is not just Mahomes, but it is Brett Veach's brilliance at finding him and then surrounding him with the Kelces and Hills and every other role player who's done so much -- how about that offensive line rebuild in what-in-NFL-time was a nanosecond. It is Andy Reid doing amazing things for Mahomes and the team both in chemistry and playmaking and all the rest. People shredded him a new aye-hole for that Blake Bell option play that cost us a possible touchdown, but danged-it-all, back off. Those plays do work and they keep the defense scratching their heads and on their heels.

Sometimes the beauty and glory and joy of where you are doesn't mean anything until you remember where you've been.

And for the Chiefs and the Kingdom, this whole thing is an incredibly delightful reality.

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The image is from Mark J. Rebilas at USA Today, at the ESPN sports site. Thank you.

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Bills at Chiefs - AFC Divisional Playoff Game

Well there you go. The Chiefs will now play in, and host at Arrowhead, a fourth straight AFC Championship Game next week. That has never been done in NFL history, understandably. That kind of thing is beaucoup near-impossible.

It is funny. In one of my standard weepy postseason rants, you know, a post after we'd just lost another stupid first playoff game, on a day just BP, you know, BP: Before Patrick, I'd pointed out that Arrowhead had never hosted an AFC Championship Game, even though -- I looked it up and I'm pretty sure -- every other team had hosted at least one, at least teams that have been around for a while.

But now? No AFC team but the Chiefs has hosted an AFC Championship game since, oh, since, oh... what is something that happened four years ago that seemed like forever ago? Anyway, it was in New England (why not?) and they were playing, yes, the Jacksonville Jaguars. Otherwise, next week the conference title game will be yet again -- in Kansas City.

Too sweet.

Now to the game itself. 

Oh my. 

First of all, what a terrific game by both teams. The Chiefs pass rush simply could not take down Bills QB Josh Allen. He was everything we thought he was. And the intensity and the drama of the last couple of minutes of game time. I think they said, what, 25 points were scored in the last two minutes, something like that?

But when you have Patrick Mahomes, I mean. There were times when I thought we were done. Late in the game we'd let the Bills go ahead, and Mahomes fires a strike to Tyreek who houses it. With 13 seconds left of regulation and down three, Mahomes matriculates the ball so well that we give Butker a chance to tie it, which he does. 

We then win the toss in overtime and that was when I thought, we've got this. 

Postseason Patrick is going to get this done.

Before he got the ball back with the 13 seconds left, I was stunned that our defense let the Bills carve us up to go ahead. I was certainly thinking, whupp, there's the stupid thing that does us in. Cornerback Mike Hughes slipped on a 4th-&-13 play allowing Allen to throw the go-ahead touchdown strike to Gabriel Davis who'd already caught three of the Bills touchdowns.

But then, Patrick.

Enough said.

Well, more to be said, just for the record. We'd won the toss to begin OT, marched down the field, and this baby was capped by a beautiful corner-of-the-end-zone back-shoulder strike to Travis Kelce who hauled it in, stuck the two-feet-in landing, and that was it.

Now on to revenge against a Cincinnati team we should have taken down a few weeks ago. Maybe this time we'll cover Ja'Marr Chase just a liiiiittle more closely.

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The Mahomes image is from Andrew Mather at the official Chiefs site. The Kelce image is from Sam Lutz at that site. Thank you.

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Steelers at Chiefs - Wild-Card Playoff Game

Throughout the entire 1st quarter I simply could not help but think. You know. You know. I hate to say that I thought about it, but I still thought about it.

1995 playoff game. 1997 playoff game. 2003 playoff game. 2016 playoff game. 2017 playoff game. I guess it happened so often I just thought about how it was very possible it could happen again. Ergck.

You know. That playoff game when we do some amazing things, but there are just enough stupid things happening to keep us from winning. Sorry. I just couldn't help but think. I don't think I'm the only one.

Especially when as a 13-point favorite -- the largest spread of any Wild-Card playoff game in NFL history -- we were down 7-0 after a botched Hardman-Williams RPO led to a Pittsburgh defensive touchdown. Hardman actually had a fantastic game otherwise, but Williams wasn't seen again.

Instead the Chiefs went with Jerick McKinnon, who was ballin' tonight. His pass-catching and running vision really got us going in the 2nd quarter, when we scored three touchdowns to make the statement. The third was a long Mahomes-to-Kelce touchdown connection when we were just angling to get a field goal with a few seconds left in the half. That triumvirate of Mahomes-Kelce-Hill took care of business to pull out the convincing win.

You know, it is funny. When we won our first playoff game in eons back in the 2015 season, that win over the Texans, I couldn't blog enough. I wrote and wrote and wrote I was so excited.

Well, now, since Mahomes took over a scant four years ago, we've had postseason wins over the Colts Texans Titans 49ers Browns Bills and now Steelers. It is all tremendously awesome, truly it is, especially in light of all the past heartbreak -- none of these wins will ever be thought of as anything less than wonderful.

But I'm just not going to blog a whole lot about this one. We got the dubya we should have gotten, and now we're moving on to face a Bills team that annihilated the Patriots last night. At least we'll be at home, and we'll need our fans to be especially loud because their QB Josh Allen looked very good.

On to next Sunday at 3:30 (our PST here)!

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Photo is by Steve Sanders at the official Chiefs site. Thank you.

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Chiefs at Broncos - Week 18 - Record: 12-5 - Another More Expansive Take

Thought I'd just pound out a few more thoughts here, just because. Last night I looked back at my post from January 2 of 2018 all about Patrick Mahomes' first start, yes, that glorious New Year's Eve of 2017, and just how much I wrote. A retrospective on his game as well as volumes of what we'd need to do to win a danged playoff game -- which, as you know, we didn't.

Yesterday during the game, we were down, for most of it, and while I always enjoy watching our team and cheering them on, I had an odd feeling of dismissive ennui during the whole thing. What made it so challenging to get into the whole thing was just the knowing how much is against us especially with the officiating. Knowing that we're in the playoffs anyway. Knowing that our run defense was again stinking up the place. Knowing that we really don't want to lose to this Broncos team, but that these fans have got to be beside themselves losing yet again to this Chiefs team in just about as painful a way as half-a-dozen other insane ways they've lost to us over the last six years -- there is just a meaningful sense of sympathy for them simply because I would never want to have to endure what they're enduring.

This relates to just knowing that deep inside, just for me anyway, there is this thing -- I've mentioned it before -- that if the Chiefs aren't winning every game 56-3 then what's the point. But if that were actually the case, then no one would care about any of it, not even Chiefs fans. It is truly one of those twisted ironies about this sports thing. Up until that amazing Melvin Ingram-Nick Bolton game-changer late in the game, the ennui about this one was simply overwhelming, but then, there was that play.

Wow. What a play. What a switch. What a way to take the lead.

And then after Denver inexplicably decides not to do the strategy that has worked for so many -- that strategy being go for it on 4th down no matter how much yardage you need or where the ball is because with your defense gassed you don't want to give the ball back to Patrick Mahomes late in the game... you really have nothing to lose and it has actually worked against the Chiefs very well often enough. Instead with something-like four minutes left they kick a field goal to make the score 28-24 Chiefs, give the ball back to Mahomes, who then proceeds to proficiently move the ball chewing up the rest of the clock.

Every time we watch the Chiefs play the Broncos these days, they show some graphic showing how many quarterbacks the Broncos have had since Peyton. What, eleven, twelve?... When Peyton went with the Broncos instead of the Chiefs back in 2013 we were all disappointed, and sure enough he did astounding things for them for the, what, three or four years he played for them? Even though he would only be there for that long, you simply can't give up on getting a top-ten all-time quarterback. Heck, we did the same with Joe Montana.

But then we, as did the Broncos, had to figure out our quarterback-of-the-future situation. How blessed have we been to have Patrick Mahomes -- I mean while certain aspects of our game were very shaky yesterday and the Broncos played well themselves -- Mahomes is definitely not an issue. Yet again he went out there and made stunning plays with his arm and his feet and his heart that show how much we've got in this player and how grateful we should be this guy is on our team. I don't think there is a Chiefs fan who isn't, in any way.

I think too my ennui was just a kickback from caring too much about all this, something I do freely confess here. How often I need to just back off. How much I admire fans who just enjoy it for what it is and plan to just settle back today to root for the Texans so maybe we can snatch that No. 1 seed. That's all cool.

Meanwhile the NFL has faced an insane rarity -- and you know how I feel about the NFL, serves them right. It is the possibility that the Raiders and Chargers may both make the playoffs if they tie. If the Colts win their game against the Jaguars it won't matter because then the Raiders-Chargers is indeed a game in which a tie will not matter, the winner gets the playoff spot. But if the Jaguars win, a Raiders-Chargers tie guarantees both teams make the playoffs.

This means the Raiders team and the Chargers team only need to run the ball into the line over and over an over again, never getting into the opponent's territory, never really trying to score, punting all the live-long day, until the final score is 0-0 and both teams get their playoff spot. Even if they do try and somehow the score is 17-17 at the end of regulation, could they very much do the play-to-tie thing all the way through overtime and get away with it?

As it is the NFL is faced with rooting for the Colts over another of its teams so this silliness won't even be considered, which stinks. It is also likely it had some kind of communication with the Raiders team and the Chargers team to let them know they really should be trying out there tonight. How goofy it is that the NFL flexed the Raiders-Chargers game to the evening so everyone will tune in because it is kind-of a playoff game.

Hmm, maybe this tie thing alone will draw the audience the NFL wants -- to witness what?

Well, again, as far as the Chiefs go we've already got the No. 2 seed no matter what, so if that's what we end up with and we win next week, we'll get another home game the following week. That is very cool, it is, but there is still a bit of that ennui I think because we've had so many playoff debacles in the past. Then again how many times do teams make, for instance in our case, four straight AFC Championship games?

Yeah, no matter what, gotta ride the wave here -- because yes, it just won't last forever. In fact, Chiefs regular season success has actually pretty solid through our history -- I've written about this before and thought I'd just mention here again. I recently thought, huh, what is the longest losing season streak the Chiefs have even had? Obviously it was that six-year ugliness from 1974 to 1979. But do you know the second longest?

Three years. That's it. 2007 to 2009. Yep, even those late-80s Frank Gansz years, or the early-00s -- during any given ugly stretch we've always pulled out an 8-8 season or even been amazing like in 2003. This Chiefs franchise does have a pretty good regular season history, really nice actually when you look at some teams like the Browns and Lions or the current Jets or Jaguars. I mean look at that graphic, the Chiefs have a better overall regular season record than the Steelers do. Is that amazing or what?

In fact just for comparison the Chiefs have had three different time periods of play we have enjoyed nine straight winning seasons! Winning seasons, no 8-8s in the mix! We're in one right now, and counting, but there was also '65-'73 and '89-'97.

So yeah, there is some meaning to the thought that having so much against us has motivated us to get the amazing work we've gotten from Brett Veach and build a culture that nourishes talent like Patrick Mahomes. 

That definitely does make all of this a lot of fun, for sure.

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The image of Mecole Hardman was from Andrew Mather at the official Chiefs site. Thank you. The graphic was clipped from SportsHistory's scrolling list. 

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Chiefs at Broncos - Week 18 - Record: 12-5

It is late and I really wasn't going to blog about this one right now -- I was at a family event tonight and actually watched the end of the game on my phone on the road. But I felt I should say something in a post because my last one was about how much the officiating works to take down the Chiefs any time it has a chance.

Thing is, this game was a close one mostly because the Broncos did play well and our run defense was just garbage -- except for that Melvin Ingram hit and Nick Bolton scoop for the late touchdown that some guy at Elias tweeted hadn't happened like that since 1712 or something. Interesting that there were a number of retweets I read from those mentioned how fearful they were that play would be called back, you know, "forward progress" or something. Why would so many feel that way except that so many of us just know how much the officiating is working against us far too often? 

The most striking thing was at one point in the game a good gain of ours was negated because of a holding call against Joe Thuney. The insane thing about that was the announcers asked their television ref expert about it and he categorically said what Thuney did was not a hold.

I just mention it because just because we win a game doesn't mean the officiating isn't hurting us. It was happening in this game too, though it just wasn't as much as it was in the Cincinnati game. Sure there are any number of things we still need to legitimately clean up on our end. Refusing to hit our marks and tackle is a major one -- giving up on their quarterback running 23 yards for a touchdown was a thing of ugliness.

Anyway, not sure how much I'll post later, we'll see. The simple truth is we've locked up the No. 2 seed and could get the No. 1 seed if Houston beats Tennessee tomorrow. I'm not holding my breath.

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Let's Go Over the Stark Reality of the "Scorecasting" Factor AGAIN, Shall We?

A couple weeks ago I happened to come across a list of the odds of later good things happening for NFL teams at that point. I believe it was a 538 generated list, you know, they rank the teams by what they think are the possibilities they'll win later in the playoffs or win the Super Bowl or whatever. Those teams, in order:

Chiefs, Packers, Cowboys, Buccaneers, Patriots.

Those were the top five, all with far higher percentage probabilities than any of the others. Yes, down the list were the Colts, Rams, Cardinals, Titans, and the Bills were there too, but they were not ranked as highly as these. I'm also pretty sure that was the order of the top five, but I do know they had the Chiefs at the top.

So, ahem, there were the top five, there, from couple weeks ago.

What strikes you about that list? Or rather, in the delightful words in the Sesame Street ditty, "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong!..."

Yep. The Chiefs.

You have to remember a truth above all truths related to the NFL. This truth is inviolate, it has been veritable through the ages. It is this.

The NFL loathe having the Chiefs succeed. They are a podunk-town Midwest small-market team with a name that evokes politically incorrectness with its ugly appropriation of Native American cultural motifs. They are so not the glamour big-market media-darling money-generators as those other teams. 

I am convinced that when Brett Veach (yes I know John Dorsey was GM at the time) pulled of the coup of landing Patrick Mahomes the NFL powers-that-be were sweating bullets. When he turned out to be as amazing as Veach thought they started really pulling their hair out.

When I saw the list I couldn't help but think, yeah, uh-huh, there it is. A Patriots-Buccaneers Super Bowl matchup? Brady-vs-Belichick? A dream event for the ages. A Cowboys-Patriots Super Bowl? Just as good -- those two are the premiere franchises in American sports. Any team playing the storied Packers with its controversial but compelling quarterback Aaron Rodgers would be terrific as well --

As long as they aren't playing the Chiefs.

Don't get me wrong, there're a dozen other teams the NFL doesn't want to see in any postseason action either, so I'm not trying to make the Chiefs into some uniquely victimized pariah for extra sympathy points.

But I am saying that the Scorecasting factor does demonstrate that the NFL is going to do what it can to make sure that a regularly dominant team like the Chiefs ("Oh how we hate that Brett Veach for making them the way they are!...") gets knocked down a notch or two often enough.

Witness yesterday's game against the Bengals. It was horrifically officiated. The Chiefs were coasting on their way to clobbering that poor team when the officials took over. Yes, it can be said that Andy Reid and Steve Spagnuolo did not have their most shining coaching moments in the 2nd half. A lot of people will bleat the typical and ridiculous things like refs don't affect games or it all evens out or if the Chiefs did x, y, or z none of the poor officiating would matter. 

Bullshit.

I do agree Veach et al have had to go all out and work harder than any other team to build and sustain the Chiefs excellence because they've got to be that much better to overcome the NFL disadvantage. I've always made that point and all Chiefs Kingdom dwellers should be overjoyed that we've been so successful under Andy Reid all these years. 

But the Scorecasting factor cannot be ignored, and again it was exposed in all its glory in yesterday's game. That factor is simply this:

That the team the powers-that-be want to win always has an advantage simply by virtue of officials making calls that benefit the favored team. The officials don't even necessarily have to be aware of what they are doing, but they are doing it because in the back of their minds they know one team should have a slight advantage over the other and they will make calls, even if inadvertently or unwittingly, to make sure that advantage is realized. Often this takes the form of a home team advantage, which understandably comes from the obvious favoritism a home team must be given in order to ensure enough locals attend the games.

One evidence of this weight against the Chiefs is the NFL's refusal to put original play-calling officials in the booth with monitors in order to get calls correct. I've been lobbying for this for years, and after watching yesterday's debacle it appears it simply has not gotten much better. They still have coaches challenges -- still stupid; they review all touchdowns and turnovers and everything within two minutes I believe -- a little better; and I've noticed they'll occasionally have a "New York" review -- what's with that? That sounds promising but it seems to be very sporadic and indiscriminate.

Here's the worst of it all that they still allow: There are some plays that are "unreviewable."

That's what makes it all so aggravating. 

Indeed that's where the refs are "free to interpret" things and how the Chiefs were hammered yesterday.

No, what needs to happen is, first, make everything reviewable. Everything. To put some things off limits is asinine, period. That things like defensive holds and pass interferences are challenging to call doesn't change this -- sorry, but yesterday the Chiefs were called for holds and PIs they did not commit while the Bengals were not called for the ones they did. Everybody saw it and knows it, and for the NFL or its sycophantic rubes in the media to pretend those things didn't happened just makes it worse.

Get those extra guys, in the booth, with original play-calling privileges. Then we'll all be convinced you actually care about making things right and true and fair -- because, really, let's face it. They know we're all watching what they're watching, and they have absolutely no excuse for not getting the call right.

For instance when a Chiefs D-back plainly does not commit a penalty against a receiver but a flag is thrown, they guy in the booth who sees it simply needs to call down on the field to let the mistaken official know, "Sorry, dude, but you missed it. I know how you could have thought he did, but he really didn't. No penalty." This is not rocket science. Get the call right.

When the Bengals defender mugs our guy, yepp: guy with the monitor watching it in the booth chimes in. Call down to the field, "Hey, you're not paying attention. That's no crime, you have a lot on your plate there on-the-field dude, but I am paying attention. And you need to stop play and assess penalty yardage there. There you go. Good, thanks."

Get the call right.

GET THE CALL RIGHT. That's all we ask for. 

In conclusion, hate to say it, hate to end this on a downer, and it doesn't even have to do with whether or not the NFL will do anything about this officiating thing, but the fact is the NFL will never stop despising the Chiefs. They just won't, for all the reasons mentioned as benighted as they are. I'd mentioned this when I'd written about the NFL's (and much of the rest of the world's) insanely destructive Covid protocol pablum, but I very much appreciated our one wonderful amazingly wonderful Super Bowl title from a couple years ago much because I believe it may very well be the only one we get. It was quite glorious, however, in many ways because we beat the system. We did it. They can loathe us with all their guts but we still got that trophy.

I hope I'm very wrong about it being the only one, of course! I'm always rooting with all my heart for Chiefs Super Bowl after Chiefs Super Bowl. 

But, yeah...

There's that stark reality...

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Chiefs at Bengals - Week 17 - Record: 11-5

It's nice to see our fine team leap out to an effortless 14-0 lead. Then make it 21-7. Then 28-14. We're coasting now, oh yeah, this Cincy team doesn't know what it's up against.

It's also nice to have a legit offensive rookie of the year candidate in our nice new center, Creed Humphrey, who has indeed been playing phenomenally all year long, firmly anchoring the interior of our line.

Until you go up against the player who will be the OROTY.

The Bengals have him in receiver Ja'Marr Chase, and he absolutely had his way with our defense today. Let's just say he's good, or our defense is bad. I'd like to think it is more of the former because our defense had been playing pretty well. Only thing is today this Chase character did set a record for yards receiving in a game by a rookie, ever. Ever. That's nice.

Whatever the case it was kind of discouraging to see our team play so well at first, four touchdowns on four straight opening touches, then manage a dingle-tinkle three points the rest of the way. Thing is we lost our two fine tackles right outta-the-gate, Orlando Brown before the game started then Lucas Niang just a few plays in. 

This doesn't give our defense an excuse, however. As good as Chase is, that's its maybe. Our defense had better wake up because maybe it may just not be as all-that as everyone has been saying it is. Good to happen now before we start playoff action in a couple weeks when we can perhaps make the proper amends there.

The most crushing play of the game was very late letting that guy get a catch for 30 after we had them at 3rd-&-27. Sure they can say Burrow and Chase are that good, give them credit, but letting them do that on 3rd-&-27 when it counts is inexcusable, very much so. 

That was the game, right there.

It must be added that the officiating was very much in play in this one, for sure. It was so bad no one in the Kingdom needs to say anything, it was so obvious. Just let everyone see it, remark about it, and ultimately watch the Chiefs take it in as motivation to work that much harder as they move forward. (I do, however, feel a "Scorecasting" factor reminder take coming on, maybe if I have some time later I'll make that post...)

Likely we've lost the playoff bye, but at least we've got a home game to start things in a couple weeks.

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