Chiefs 2016 Preview - Post-2015 Season Remarks

I was planning to put up my final post, my picks for the ten most memorable seasons in Chiefs history, but I'm going to put that off for another week. Hey, football will still be going, so there may still be some interest. And besides, next week a few Chiefs will be playing in the Pro Bowl. Whee. Wish they were playing a week later.

Also, I just don't have time to get to it today, but I do want to say something briefly I just feel in my heart I need to say.

In my last post I'd dissected some of the key things that prevented us from winning a game I truly believe we should have won, and not only won, but won easily. Saying that right there is a key part of my remarks not just because I know the worst trolling detractors, and there are many of them, will screech "Agh, you dumbass Chiefs fan. None of those Chiefs playoff losses were because of anything other than the other team was better and your team was worse. Thuh end."

Well, I've got a few pretty veritable arguments to make my case, and while I've thought about making some here I'm not. I've shared many before (peruse the rest of this blog effort to see them, they're not hard to find), and I'm merely augmenting some other things about all that here. Again, I don't have the time for it all right now.

No, it's not as much those people, as I guess some of what disappoints me is that among the detractors are Chiefs fans themselves. "Dave, get over it, move on, it's just a game, who cares, there's always next year, don't wear it all over your sleeve so much." I'm not indicting all Chiefs fans, please. I do often speak with Chiefs fans who like to talk about it in whatever way provides the best therapy. It is why I do this blog, so we can all do the authentic commiseration. There is great value in that.

I also know that along with the idea that Winning is a curse is the corollary Losing is a blessing. I say that because I do very much want our team to do what it takes to succeed, to build the culture, to work hard to get it. Yes, I think they've been doing that, and that is wonderful, it really is.

But last week I'd mentioned something else we need, and we have just never had it, had that thing that a championship team needs to succeed.

The luck.

I mention it briefly here because some will very reasonably say, "Dave, there's nothing you can do about luck, you just need to be ready to have it happen with fine preparation and execution." Okay okay, I got that. And I emphasize that in many ways "the luck" is something you simply can't control.

But I also know every team needs it and I always wonder how much of the "unluck" are things that happen because they are arranged to happen? I'm torn. Yes, parts of me look at it as a conspiracy, I confess. I think about this recent professional tennis match fixing scandal, and believe I have good reason to be ashamed at the things the NFL could be doing to favor certain teams. There are dozens of past examples and present-day seemingly entrenched conditions like this idiotic fantasy football gaming that's going on that keep that big question mark in the back of my mind.

There are even more harrowing things I think about I'm not going to address right here, just not.

Teams needing the luck. What's the point here? Again it may be argued that luck shouldn't matter, that the pride of a team winning is in its ability. Thing is, who doesn't get excited when the breaks just go your team's way? Who doesn't watch because they want to see their team have amazingly fortuitous things happen on the football field you can gleefully shout about with your fellow fans? Who doesn't think somewhere in their soul, "Wow, somehow our team is the favored one!"

It's just, dammn, Chiefs fans have rarely been able to do that after Game No. 16. We've almost always had to endure watching it go the other way. Tipped pass in the last minute (finally what luck for the Chiefs now it's our turn to get that  splendid thrill!) only it drops in the hands of their receiver to end the game. And it is not just that but so many piled up things like that. Yeah, sorry, I just do too much mind-bending to try to figure it out, and think it may be because of too much stuff that I just can't share.

On the other hand is the final point, and one I've made before. Forgive me for belaboring it.

Why be a fan at all?

It is simply because there is something to be said for the Kansas City Chiefs and just being in the mix of what they stand for and what they're about. Yes I do take it waaay too seriously, but then, taking it seriously is a big part of what makes it meaningful.

Right now I'm still thrilled beyond belief we have Andy Reid and Alex Smith -- but on the other hand, there is that frustration, and it isn't even at all about what they did or didn't do on that last ultimately futile scoring drive! Smith's all-too-typical funk of not making pass connections in the 2nd quarter was the killer. Reid's refusal to find a more radical way to stop Brady when he had no running game was also the killer.

Jason Avant making the play of the game

In light of that I am going to stand by them because they can still win, as they've shown. They have a fine team around them, too many excellent contributions from them meriting much of the credit too. I'm already tremendously encouraged by having Clark Hunt and John Dorsey showing the leadership and skill to keep the team doing what they've been doing and keeping them working hard to do it even better.

And at some point, out of all the horrific losing motivating us to get to the next level -- that's the blessing -- we're going to make all this happen so the luck will come after all, in spite of everything thrown against us. In that sense, that's the time when we can hold our heads up high and know the luck came because of the hard work.

I like it.

So, on to the ten most memorable Chiefs seasons, just for fun, next week!
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