Chiefs at Patriots - Divisional Playoff Game

I can't say that I'm not disappointed, but I am way less disappointed than I should be. I'm also way less disappointed than I've been for any other playoff loss, really. It isn't even that we weren't in this game, because we were. I'm proud of these Chiefs for that, really.

I'm far less disappointed because for the first time in a long time, I feel comfortable with where the Chiefs are going. They're moving boldly on the "steadiness" Clark wants, with all the pieces being put deftly in place for more playoff success. Look at the Patriots. More power to them, they just got into their fifth straight AFC championship game.

One of the key distinctions between the two teams was in the steadiness, but it had to do with the difference in the two team's steadiness on the field. The Chiefs matched up perfectly with the Patriots, and quite frankly, should have won this game.

But there were too many "unsteady" things the Chiefs did. Many will point to the Knile Davis fumble, but earlier there were two other strong drives into New England territory that netted us zero points. There was the miserable clock management on the last drive. There were the dropped interceptions and the interceptions we couldn't get, like that one at the very end that bounced UP ------ and right into the hands of their receiver for a 1st down we couldn't let them get.

There was Kelce stumbling and then barely not being able to reach and grab Smith's pass that would've been a touchdown we needed and didn't get. There was Wilson snatching that ball at the five then not sprinting enough to get us into the end zone, costing us valuable time with a scant few minutes left in the game. Then back in the first half there was the fumble by the Patriots receiver not called that no one saw well enough for the Chiefs to challenge in order to keep the Patriots from scoring a touchdown a couple plays later.

That's how the Patriots beat you. They just play smarter and luckier, really, that's it.

I mean, the Patriots did not run the ball. They did, maybe a half-a-dozen times, for a total of 10 yards or something. All they did was pass, yet Tom Brady is such a phenomenal quarterback that he just carved us up without needing any running game whatsoever. Give the guy credit.

And give us credit for seeing what happened with all this and...

Being ready for it next year.

For you see, we hadn't really seen a quarterback of Brady's caliber all year long. I really knew this would be an issue. The only two who were really anything -- and by that I mean, really anything, I mean Super Bowl terrific-anything -- were Aaron Rodgers and Andy Dalton, and they carved us up pretty good too.

So yeah, we'll be working on that next year, I'm confident about that.

Still, I think we could've beaten Brady if we had Justin Houston out there and Tamba Hali in fine form. Houston didn't even take the field and Hali was a non-factor. It is indeed disappointing to hear all about the many injuries, the Patriots' Gronkowski and Edelman and all those guys supposedly hobbling, yet they played great, while our injured guys didn't make a dent. It was nice to see Maclin out there, but he packed it in halfway into the game.

His replacement, though, Jason Avant. Have to give the big shout-out to him. What a game. Every time we needed a big catch he made it. His last one was a laid-out grab on 4th and 8 to keep our last drive alive! Very exciting!

As it is, the Patriots now join the old AFC East group of teams -- Colts, Dolphins, Bills, Jets, and Patriots -- who just have it in for Kansas City in the playoffs. We're now 0-11 against them all since we won the Super Bowl on January 11 1970. Yes, I'm thrilled we finally got our playoff win last week. Now we've got to work on this dreck.

Thing is, I like what we've got. I like that this is a Chiefs team that is poised to take all this in and learn from it, to see what this Patriots team does to win playoff games, and then go out there

And do the same thing.

Steadiness on the field, I'm great with that. I'm great with the deeper run through the playoffs this young and soon to be much-more-experienced team will take next year.

As for now, I'm done blogging. I may squeeze in an extra postseason post with a few more things to note I didn't get to here. Maybe sometime this week, we'll see. I may add a postseason review with something neat -- I have been thinking about putting together one with our ten most memorable seasons. And you know what?

2015 was definitely one of them.
__