I don't believe the Chiefs have ever gone very long without seeing playoff action, really. Even in their dark times they got there, like in the 80s when they still made it in 1986, or the 00s when they still got there in 2003 and 2006. Otherwise they made it all the time in the 60s, 90s, and of course in this golden Veach-Reid-Mahomes era.
Thing is, again, the three times we faced the Dolphins we lost in nasty ways. In 1971 there was the overtime trauma. In 1994 mess-ups by our best players, Montana, Allen, and Thomas messed us up in a game we should have easily won. We also should have won the 1990 game when we were ahead 16-3 at the start of the 4th quarter but couldn't hold the lead.
This one we should win, much because from what I have seen, like the Buffalo game last week, the Dolphins can't seem to close the deal. They have the talent, but something seems to happen in many of their games to derail their success. They do have very good players and a running game that could do them well this Saturday when the temperatures will be at around 0.
That last thing is, yet again, somewhat distressing. The Chiefs have never done well at Arrowhead in the cold. Remember that game against the Colts with the missed field goals? (Umm, what am I saying, it just seems we can never rub that from our memories as much as we'd like to.) Remember the game we lost to the Steelers when their guy made six field goals, the only points they had the whole game? (Here is my blog post preview of that game, replete with the map rich with the freezingest color of purple right where Kansas City lies.)
I'd also like to add a decent thing for our chances, and that is something I happened to see Mitch Holthus tweet a couple weeks ago. It was that in that second half of the regular season, when the Chiefs struggled, their opponents were consistently getting tons of rest, putting the Chiefs at a distinct disadvantage. He pointed out that nearly every team they played during that stretch were coming off byes or Thursday night games played ten days before.
Well now the key Chiefs players have been able to get something of a rest by sitting for the final game of the season last week. Let's see if that rest will be something an advantage for us. Of course the key thing player-wise is our receivers and our health. We need those wideouts to step up their game in some major way, and we need our offensive linemen to be ready to go.
The main main key is avoiding the stupid things. That is what will determine this outcome, and one key thing there may indeed be the thing that compromises our chances and that is what the NFLers get the officials to do in making those exasperatingly debilitating calls. I know they do know that Patrick Mahomes is a television viewer draw, which is one reason Peacock liked picking this game to stream.
But I also believe they'd like to see other players shine so they may legitimately showcase them and draw other viewer interest.
He said there, "Did [the Lakers] have to win tonight? If so just let us know and we won't show up to the game. Just give them the win." (Emphasis mine.)
That memo the Raptors coach did not get? It is simply this. All the NFLers and NBAers and MLBers and anyone else running these massive professional sports operations have certain teams they prefer winning, and almost always those teams are the big-market media-darling teams. The Los Angeles Lakers is definitely one of those teams. That team will never, ever go long without winning a lot. Quite simply this advantage is not afforded most teams in the NBA.
The deeper element of that memo is the dirty secret people like the Raptors coach will likely get fined for intimating in his remarks. That is that everyone in the NBA is great with the Lakers winning, even if they are given those in-game favors to ensure they will win enough. Everyone is good with that, including the Raptors, simply because everyone gets much more money when the big-market media-darling teams win and yours doesn't. To his credit, the Raptors coach wants his team winning, and if his team wins one game against the Lakers that should be no big deal, because an 81-1 record for the Lakers is still fine. In fact maybe a few Lakers losses are good, to keep the ruse going, so people will still come to the games and they won't do what they should just do, what the Raptors coach says really should happen: just give the Lakers the win.
But from what I've seen the Lakers have dropped briefly into last place, and that just won't do. There are just too many Lakers fans paying too much money to keep the NBAers from making sure things happen that give the Lakers those advantages so they'll never be close to the bottom of the standings for very long.
Sorry but the same thing affects the NFL, and right now the Chiefs are hanging by a thread in the NFLers' considerations only because we have Patrick Mahomes -- let's just be real. The instant Mahomes stops being the sports hero that he is, the Chiefs could wallow at the bottom of the standings for eons for all they care.
Let's see what happens this weekend. And please know, I don't want to see the Dolphins get any unfavorable calls either! It should be totally fair across the board. But sadly we all know it isn't. The Scorecasting factor has proved it, and if you just look it isn't hard to see in action everywhere in professional sports.
It'll be unique game Saturday night, what with the weather and it being the first exclusively streamed game. We'll see if the Chiefs can finally take a playoff game from the Dolphins.
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