Jaguars at Chiefs - Week 17 - Record: 9-7 - Part II

THE MIRACLE HAPPENED! Denver got bogged down and the Niners beat them in OT!

The Chiefs are in the playoffs!

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!!!

The Chiefs are having one huge New Year's Eve party tonight!

My head is spinning, but here's the bombardment of stuff that's banging around in there. I'll try and put it together with some reasonable semblance. And trust me, my curmudgeon hat is safely stored away for a while.

I have to say that while the Chiefs are my number one team in all of sportsdom, the San Francisco 49ers are my second favorite team in the NFL. I was born in Kansas, but actually grew up near the Bay Area. Living there for so long, I obviously got much more coverage of the Niners and followed them quite dutifully, cheering them with great joy through the glory years of the 80's.

I say this because Niners fans have seared into their memories one particular horrific Monday Night game in Denver from 1985. That season the Niners were struggling after being world champions the year before, coming into snow-drenched Mile High with a 5-4 record. The Broncos won the game 17-16 with the help of a snowball thrown from somewhere at kicker Ray Wershing, who then missed a field goal that would've won the game for the Niners.

Wow, what has happened to the home-field Broncos against the Niners since. There was obviously Super Bowl XXIV in 1990, when Denver in their home uniforms were handed the most lop-sided loss in Super Bowl history, 55-10. In 2000, the Niners got the Broncos, who'd won the Super Bowl two years before, so exhausted in their 38-9 win in the last game ever at Mile High Stadium that they lost the wild-card game the following week.

And then there was this season. All Denver needed to do was win.

I had left to do some shopping with my family after the Chiefs game, and I didn't really want to endure the ups-and-downs of this Niners-Broncos affair. I'd just resolved to get the news all at once, when it was well over. So at almost 5 pm our time, we're waiting in a line of cars at a drive-thru burger place and my wife says, "Let's see what happened with the game." She turns on the radio, and I'm stunned...

The game is still going. We listen for a minute, and find out it's in overtime with the score 23-23. This is just unbearable. The Broncos have the ball at their own 11 with about 7:00 left in OT. I'm thinking, great, all they have to do is tie and they still get the playoff spot. But after they run a play, the announcer says, "Wow, these guys are really tired out there." That makes sense, the high altitude and all. But I'm actually thinking, this is really good for us. Denver's deep in their own territory, if we can hold them here, then we've got great field position.

I turn off the radio. Still, I just don't want to go through this.

We get our burgers, get home, and I click on the website. Sure enough, there it was.

SF 26, Den 23.

Wow-oh-wow-oh-wow-oh-wow. In that instant I felt that sort of overwhelming stunned and elated feeling at the same time. I ran in and shouted the news to my wife and kids, high-fiving all of them. I discovered that Denver did indeed stall, the Niners got the ball back, drove down a bit so Joe Nedney could kick the game-winner through. And from the weather reports I heard this week, there was lots of snow in the midwest. Whaddya think of that, Bronco snowball-throwers?!

My uncle from Kansas City called me right after that to talk about this incredible day. About this miracle. We had a 1 in 16 chance straight up, and probably worse than that because Denver had to have been heavily favored.

I think of this as the complete inverse of exactly ten years ago. Remember that? I mentioned it in an earlier blog entry, but to go over what happened on the last day of the season that year: After being 9-4 on Thanksgiving, we lost two in a row to put us at 9-6. A win over Buffalo at their place and we're in the playoffs no matter what. We lose to them, but can still get in if Jacksonville loses to Atlanta. In the last seconds of that game, down 19-17, the Falcons get all the way down to the Jaguar one yard-line whereupon Morten Andersen, arguably the greatest kicker of all time, bricks it. He bricks an 18 yard FG attempt.

I still so remember the despondency of that moment.

But the pain is made much less excruciating with today. That's because for one, the field goals finally worked in our favor in a big, big way. Not only did Cincinnati's kicker brick his easy FG today that would have won their game, but the Niners kicker got his clutch FG for us. In fact he went 4/4, his longest a 46-yarder. We needed every one of 'em.

Secondly, yeah, there it is-- we won today against Jacksonville. As bad as it was that we didn't make the playoffs in '96, it was almost as despairing that this then mere second-year expansion team did.

In this game we actually showed that we deserve to be in the playoffs, finally. A few things came to the fore that could be advantageous for us. I've spent a lot of time highlighting our "glaring deficiencies." Now's the time to showcase our strengths-- since we are a playoff team. (Proud smile...) For your consideration:

- Herm Edwards' "magic," which I'd mentioned a couple games back that, whatever the case, I would be looking for in the last few games of our season. Today he really let fly! We were so much more imaginative on offense-- there was more play action, Larry Johnson even tried a pass, and we got that awesome flea-flicker touchdown.

- Our defensive backfield. It really doesn't get enough credit, but it was such a joy to hear the color guy announcing today that the Jaguars couldn't get a particular pass play done because our coverage was so good. The addition of Ty Law has been a big plus, and he even had a terrific pick setting up one of our TD's.

- Our experience. While I complain about how old we are, this may actually be a big bonus in the playoffs. Eddie Kennison had a phenomenal day. One catch he made was easily a nominee for an NFL season highlight best-- tiptoeing down the sideline, he juggled the long pass until he gently pulled it in for a big gain. Tony Gonzalez is still a monster, and I'd like to think Trent Green can get it done, even though my uncle thought he had a miserable game today.

- Larry Johnson. I've gone the entire season without making much mention of him, but that's only because it is such a given that the guy is a stud among studs. He set an NFL record today with most carries in a season, something like 400-something. My uncle thinks we really have a chance against Indianapolis next week because they can't stop the run. If that is so, and we get that play-action going much more than we have, then we could have a shot at that revenge for what the Colts did to us in the '95 and '03 playoffs.

- Special teams. Believe it or not, one of our consistently best players has been, yes, punter Dustin Colquitt. Bernard Pollard blocked another punt today, this one he took in for a TD. And aren't you just waiting for Dante to bust one again? He's so due. (Oh, and I have to mention: remember 20 years ago, 1986? In the last game of the season, we made the playoffs on the strength of three special team TD's, against, yes, the Steelers.)

What's so great about all this is that, yes, we've got nothing to lose. I almost actually like going in being a 9-7 team more than a 13-3 one. This is almost like the Twilight Zone-- there is just no way we should've gotten here. But we are, and yes, yes, I'm making no apologies-- I don't think for a second we don't deserve to be there. Hey, the Steelers barely eeked in last year and got by Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Denver (all on the road), and finally Seattle to win the Super Bowl. If we get that far, that'll just be-- I don't know, I can't even say.

Right now, we're just here. And today's day, for what it was, will always be treasured by any Chiefs fan no matter what has happened or ever will happen.

It certainly is by me.