The Kareem Hunt Episode

This is precisely why I have to do my damnedest to evasively refuse to pay attention to what is going on in sports. My only guilty pleasure is watching a single Chiefs game 16, sometimes 17 times a year. Tha's it.

But I can't help but witness the insanity that goes on when certain things hit the news or someone who knows I'm a Chiefs fan tells me something about the Chiefs.

So I hear today that Kareem Hunt was videotaped assaulting a girl. I did look around at what people said about it though I did not watch the video myself -- for reasons that will become clear in a moment. The responses ranged from "Don't hit, don't kick, don't be stupid like that" to "It wasn't as bad as what Ray Rice did."

So what is it? On one extreme of the behavior spectrum is softly singing a hymn while picking flower petals, and on the other is overseeing the genocidal elimination of all handicapped children.

Somewhere in between there is what Kareem Hunt did.

So what should happen?

Here's the situation as I've gathered it. On some night in February Hunt and this girl got physical with each other in some hotel hallway and the surveillance camera caught it all. Punches were thrown. The police did get involved, filed a report, all of that standard procedure. Charges were not filed, but the Chiefs were notified. Chiefs brass asked Hunt about it and he said it was no big deal.

Fast forward to today.

TMZ releases a video of precisely what the police registered and Hunt relayed. It goes viral. The Chiefs are then pressed for more information about what they knew and they tell us that Hunt lied. He first goes on some special suspension, then the Chiefs release him.

This makes me sick.

What makes me sick is not what Hunt did. Yes, I guess I must make the disclaimer that I do not approve of what Hunt did. I don't in any way. But this is precisely a huge part of the problem here. One of the reasons I did not watch the video is it is not up to me to decide what happens with Hunt. When did the court of public opinion become judge, jury, and executioner? Okay, don't answer that, it's been that way for millennia.

It's just with cameras and microphones everywhere and rabid social media mavens covering the planet, you'd better watch what you do and say. 1984 never looked so good.

So yeah, with that disclaimer in mind -- What-Hunt-did-was-indeed-a-very-bad-thing -- what, tell me, is the purpose of TMZ? I can't think of a more puke organization than this one or more reprehensible individuals as those watch it and enjoy it. If what Kareem Hunt did falls on the behavior scale of a legitimately prosecutorial offense, then law enforcement would have and should have done its job -- back in February. Since they didn't charge him or arrest him or do anything that demonstrated this incident was something to be fully addressed for justice to be adequately carried out, why is anything happening now eight months after the fact?!

TMZ is that august organization that snatches up any and all video audio anything it can splash before the slavering public to humiliate people. Sure there are boorish ding-dong celebrities out there, but even they should be afforded the dignity TMZ cares nothing about. Sorry but TMZ and anyone who wants to do what they do should themselves be prosecuted, if anything censured for their moronic activity. For those who don't get it, I said censured not censored, although why must I clarify that as if "FREEDOM OF SPEECH" means its okay to ruin people's lives with camera footage.

But Kareem Hunt did a bad thing! I hear screeching across the airwaves. Yes, he did, but did he really lie about it? Maybe to him it was just a scuffle and that's it. Just between them. He's good, she's good -- maybe that's what Hunt genuinely felt about the incident. I'm not justifying the action in any way, and Hunt should have known better. But could he have been sincere in how he initially responded?

No, the real disappointment was Clark Hunt being a ding-dong just a couple hours ago by flat-out releasing Hunt because he doesn't have the balls to stand up to the TMZ court of fools and the idiot politically correct mob that helps make the wimpy NFL brass so loathsome.

Now there may be things I don't know about this whole incident. Maybe Hunt did something else that was particularly worthy of prosecution. But if this was it? This conduct on the video that the police and district attorneys and any other law enforcement personnel felt unworthy of any procedural action. Kareem Hunt had his due process. Did law enforcement blow it? Maybe, you could make a case for that. But I'm sorry, as it is this is not only a miscarriage of common decency but, yeah...

YET ANOTHER INSIPIDLY ASININE THING TO HAPPEN TO THE CHIEFS.

I wrote a whole blog series about Hunt, just all the stuff revolving around the Lamar/Clark Hunt world that have just wrecked the Chiefs and their success on the football field. Go ahead, if you haven't read the horror story, go ahead, read it. I'm actually quite fair and balanced I think, and still very respectful to the Hunts in it all, considering.

But this? I'm telling you, this steams me, as it should every Chiefs fan.

Clark Hunt, what are you doing.

Yes, Clark Hunt is just as much at fault. He could have looked at the police report. He could have talked to the DA. He could have known everything about what happened. He could have got corroborating reports about the incident and been thoroughly on top of it all from the outset.

He's releasing Kareem Hunt now because he was lied to then? Why didn't you confirm, Clark? If this was going to eventuate into the thing it is tonight, why Clark did you not make sure it wouldn't come to this way back in February?

This is exactly the kind of inane leadership issue with the Chiefs that has driven Chiefs fans crazy for eons. We are some of the most faithful, devoted fans on the planet, and Clark handles the whole affair with an ineptitude that is likely to go down as one of the worst in sports management.

Okay, so what do we have. I know it's hard to do this after witnessing this debacle, and knowing what we've got for an owner, but still, we can ruminate on it. It's what we do.

So anyway, we do have Spencer Ware, so at least there's that. I'd love to see Darrel Williams in there, see what he's got to be honest with you. We'll definitely see a lot more of Damien Williams, and while neither of the Williamses is likely to suddenly be showstoppers, we can hope. And let's hope our fine core QB-WR-TE package can continue to shine.

Now will we make it to the Super Bowl? As I said before, I'm looking to 2020, 2021.

It's looking more like that's the more realistic possibility now that we've lost one of the premier backs in the league.

But if we keep getting the kind of pathetic leadership from Clark like we just saw here, anything in the Chiefs future is going to hurt a lot more than we thought.
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Chiefs Mid-Season Report - Can This Team Win the Super Bowl?

This past Sunday, the day before that thrilling Chiefs-Rams game, Alex Smith badly broke his leg in his game playing for the Redskins. Every Chiefs fan definitely felt it and many prayed for him. Good thing -- for even though Alex could not get us through the playoffs as we'd have liked, he was a terrific quarterback for us. He had guts, character, and a lot of fine quarterbacking qualities. For every one of the five years he had the helm of our offense, the Chiefs had a winning season.

Here's the thing, this devastating event occurred 33 years to the day after Joe Theismann suffered his notoriously gruesome injury against the Giants on Monday Night Football.

I mention this because some may say it is superstitious when I merely think about the idea that things happen because of unseen spiritual forces. As you know I am a follower of Christ, and I know that I don't know why or how most things happen. I confess I still do think about them. I don't think there was anything to what happened to Alex Smith other than he got crunched by defensive linemen, and I mostly think the NFL should still do more to prevent those kinds of things.

But I still think about the whys and hows of things happening.

And I do so quite a bit regarding whether or not the Chiefs have a shot at a World Championship. I wrote a whole blog series this past winter about what I was thinking after our latest playoff debacle.

The question is quite prominent this year for obvious reasons.

Does this Chiefs team have a real shot at a Super Bowl this year?

One of those superstitious memes infecting all sports fans' psyches is the "cover jinx." This week Patrick Mahomes appeared on both the Sports Illustrated cover and ESPN magazine cover. Does this mean the Chiefs are doomed? I, for one, have never bought into any of that. Back in the winter of 1982 Joe Montana was on every magazine cover (including SI's) and the 49ers still won the Super Bowl. Through the years SI cover figures have been more successful than not.

No, Patrick Mahomes is the real deal. It is all the other stuff I see and think about that derails the Chiefs after Regular Season Game No. 16. And it is that about which I am most concerned.

See, here's my take, for right now. I'm not buying the "this-Chiefs-team-is-different" sales pitch until I see them do things in the postseason that show it, when they can actually take an opponent and demoralize them, even if it means dramatically winning in the last minute simply because we had more got-it.

As you know, the complete opposite has been happening to the Chiefs for eons. It is a bit agonizing: The Chiefs have lost seven straight playoff games decided by a touchdown or less. The Tom Bradys and Ben Roethlisbergers and even Jim Harbaughs and Marcus Mariotas have always had more got-it than the Chiefs and inexplicably defeated much better Chiefs teams. Why? As I've said I've thought and thought and thought about it. Far too interminably than I'd like to admit.

Do I think we don't have a chance then? Of course not. I've always considered, well, maybe this Chiefs squad will be the one that turns it around. Maybe whatever forces affect pro football events will finally favor us.

Thing is, I'm tempering my expectations. On the most basic level it is really hard to win in the NFL (unless you're the Patriots). So many other teams are really good. In fact just look at the AFC right now. I don't pay much attention to it, but I saw the Ravens are using their new quarterback Lamar Jackson to run all over the field and win games for them. The Steelers are just not faltering, with Big Ben and Antonio Brown just lighting it up as always. The Patriots are still formidable. The Colts have Andrew Luck playing great football -- oh wouldn't you like to have to face them again in the playoffs. Houston is playing great, and San Diego is the team in our own division who is playing tremendously good football. Tennessee is playing well, Denver could even present trouble.

But we have Patrick Mahomes! Um, don't forget, Peyton Manning for all his great years in Indianapolis won only one Super Bowl for them, in 2006. Brett Favre for all his greatness with Green Bay won only one for them! In 1996. Drew Brees is still out there, playing great, showing he's one of the best ever -- he's got only one, in 2009.

Here's what I figure. If we have Patrick Mahomes for the next 10 to 15 years, and we can get a Super Bowl win at any time during that period, I'll be happy. Sure I'd like ten of them, and I don't see why we couldn't get quite a few. But then, there's that stuff. Just that annoying stuff that happens that has made the whole postseason experience so miserable. Yes, I hope like crazy that changes, yes... and please, expecting at least one Super Bowl win with all we're up against? I think that's pretty good. And besides, if we get more, then it's gravy. Yes it would be glorious to have a run like the Patriots have had, just the being that good where that can actually happen.

Ah, the joy...

So really, I'm shooting for more like 2020, 2021, in that range. That'd be great. And please know, I'm not dismissing this year at all, and I'm projecting for other years not because our defense is not the best. I actually think our defense is better than people think. (It's our lack of discipline and committing penalties that is my greatest concern!) But our defense? We have young defensive players like Breeland Speaks and Dorian O'Daniel showing what they can do. We still have a fine pass rush in Justin Houston and Dee Ford. Our cover guys can do decently and when Eric Berry comes back our D-backfield will get a big boost.

No, it is very possible for us to win this year, it is, and the main reason is our offense. With all due respect to Kareem Hunt, Spencer Ware, Tyreek Hill, Travis Kelce, Sammy Watkins, and the rest of our terrific weapons on offense, I wanted to just write with some historical perspective on how phenomenally good our new quarterback has been.

How much more can be said about Patrick Mahomes? I mean, really, do you find yourself wanting to look at or watch or read the latest punditry about him? Thing is, after they've gushed about his latest exploits, then what? What else can be said? We all know about how he was groomed to do the amazing athletic feats he does by playing shortstop, by hanging out with his dad on the field where the Mets played, all that delightful stuff.

We're also treated to how ingeniously Andy Reid has arranged the offense to make the best use of his talents. That SI piece was more about Reid than Mahomes, and one of the more interesting things Reid has said recently is that the college game is five years ahead of the NFL -- it's been more innovative for some time. You can easily see how Reid is leading the way getting some of that splendidly cutting-edge stuff into the Chiefs game.

And Mahomes is delivering.

Here's the history when it comes to the Chiefs, and naturally some of why we are so wonderfully entranced by all this.

We all know Mahomes has 37 touchdown passes so far, through 11 games. I've already mentioned, just looking at the stats, there are only 21 QB seasons of 38 or more, whole entire seasons. Remember back in 1984 when Dan Marino shattered the record with 48? Mahomes is only 11 away from that, with five more games to go. The record, by the way, is 55 (Manning in 2013), and another of those nifty factoids we all love is that Mahomes is promised ketchup for life if he gets to 57. Woo-hoo!

In 12 starts he has 10 wins. For comparison:

The only other drafted and developed Chiefs quarterbacks to have wins in our history are:

Todd Blackledge. He had 13 wins total from 1983 to 1987. This encompasses 24 starts. Yeah, remember he didn't start too often. Just about every time John Mackovic told him "Okay it's time" he'd suck so Bill Kenney would go back in. But look at that, 13 wins. That's pathetic, but why go into it, we know all about it and we've forgiven him, let's face it, a lot because we can appreciate Mahomes so much now. Oh, and Blackledge had 26 touchdown passes for the entire time. Yeah.

Steve Fuller. He also had 13 wins, from 1979 to 1982. This was in 31 starts. I should add that Bill Walsh was scouting Fuller at Clemson when he liked Dwight Clark more watching him catch Fuller's passes. The guy who ended up being quarterback for the 49ers was of course Joe Montana. Do you know what Montana's highest touchdown pass season was? 31. Yeah, you read that right. 31, in 1987.

Mike Livingston. He actually played for quite sometime, and you've got to give the guy major kudos for leading the Chiefs to six wins when Len Dawson was injured during their 1969 Super Bowl year. But after that? Not great. He had a total of 25 wins in his 69 starts after that Super Bowl, on into the woeful mid-to-late 70s.

The amazing Mahomes phenomenon is something that I see as kind of make-up for the brutally long years the Chiefs have slogged along without a D&D quarterback, taking nothing from the Montanas and Greens and Smiths. Remember, the Chiefs went from September 1987 all the way to December 2017 without a single win from a D&D quarterback.

Since then we've had 10 of them.

And yes, they are all attributed to Mahomes as well as his cohort of fine backs and receivers, his strong offensive line (aren't you glad our quarterback is getting some time to do things back there?), and the wildly fun collegiate-style play-calling of Andy Reid.

Is this enough to win a Super Bowl?

Absolutely.

Sometime, yes.

And yes here's to it happening this year.
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(The fine artistic rendering of Mahomes is by ESPN's Sergio Ingravalle.)
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Chiefs at Rams - Week 11 - Record: 9-2

Brief notes about this game: It was supposed to be in Mexico City, but the field there was so trashed that they had to move it to Los Angeles. I'm glad they did that, for a number of reasons.

What was with the uniforms? The Chiefs looked stylish in their all-whites, but the Rams were donning their all-yellows. No wonder the Chiefs don't have an all-gold look with a red trim, they'd look like bleeding bananas. Oh, and how about this. We're in our road whites at the Los Angeles Coliseum, the site of Super Bowl I, the Kansas City Chiefs being a proud participant.

And of course this is the showcase game of the year. 9-1 versus 9-1. They'd mentioned all kinds of ways this game was the biggest matchup of the year this late in the season in NFL history and all that. What was kind of goofy is at one point in the middle of the 2nd quarter they showed a graphic: Total yards so far for each team: LA 191. KC 191. And the 9-1 records. Weird. It was also 23-23 at the half, with both kickers missing an extra point.

Right out of the gate there was crap call on Eric Murray -- he was doing nothing inordinate to a "defenseless receiver." He addressed him cleanly as receiver Robert Woods dropped the ball. A touchdown pass followed. This is the kind of officiating silliness the Chiefs have to deal with, it feels so interminable. After the call the announcers said nothing, no remarks about how easily the call should have been made. And there was a penalty right after that on Demetrius Harris nullifying a big gain, but they didn't show a replay or share a thing about it. Jordan Lucas had a block-in-the-back penalty called against him later on a punt return that was barely a touch on the back of the defender. In the 3rd quarter on Goff's TD run the right tackle moved well before the ball was snapped. No call. Errgh.

Yes, we ourselves just can't stop committing legitimate penalties. We had ten, yes ten penalties in the first quarter of this game. We could do much better -- sounds like a broken record. But it just drives me crazy that so much of the aggravation comes with the interpretation type calls in the hands of the officiating. Sometimes they may not even be paying attention, as one PI call was made after the pass was clearly tipped at the line. Andy Reid went screaming about the tip by making what looked like a time-out motion -- and of course they charged him a time-out and never gave it back. He won the challenge, yet was still charged a time-out, something we could have really used as we had a two-minute drill going at the end of the 1st half. This is just ding-dong officiating. Yes we need to get our asses in gear and not commit penalties, but how ding-dong is this officiating.

What is so ironic is that they said before the game that they put the first-team officials in there, even replacing officials regularly assigned to this team to make them even better, something they only do in playoff games -- unprecedented they said.

This is not even to mention the ridiculous taunting call against Tyreek Hill during his touchdown on a mile-long Mahomes pass. Please. Now I personally don't think players should do that. I don't like most of the idiotic dances they do -- I think they're all foolish. But please. What Hill did with the peace sign scoring that long touchdown? Gimme a break. This is just on the NFL and another mark against the league for not doing more about it all.

Patrick Mahomes had his 32nd TD pass of the season to Hill, his 33rd to Hunt, his 34th to Conley, his 35th to Kelce, his bomb to a wide open Hill his 36th, and that nice crossing pattern to Conley for his 37th... Six altogether. There are only 21 QB seasons in NFL history of more than 36. Whole seasons. Mahomes still has five more games ahead of him for this season. Something I really like seeing a lot of, something that you just didn't see nearly as much as you are this year: Mahomes is getting that time to throw, his receivers are getting out there in a lot of space.

Mahomes got thoroughly schooled tonight with those strip sacks and D-TD's -- I like it. I want that to happen. I want him to know how to be better by avoiding those kinds of things, having them happen, then learning from them. That second TD by Samson Ebukam was just a fluke thing anyway. Those things happen.

Give them credit, the Rams may not have the best defense in the world, but their defensive line without question is one of the best, and it did make a huge difference tonight. It was so intimidating that late in the game  on one particular play Mahomes just gave up. He stepped back to pass, felt the pocket collapse, and just tucked in. He's always tried to find a way out, but on this play he just gave it up. He'll learn.

Oh, and still he converted a 4th-&-2 just a couple plays later, leading to our go-ahead score late. That's cool, but from those last two drives when we had a chance to tie the game, he'll learn how to adjust to that fierce pass rush, and know he doesn't have to go for broke on any given play -- the two last picks were on deep throws.

This was a barnburner for sure, the highest scoring Monday Night Football game ever. It was like a basketball game, the score, really. Final: 54-51 Rams, first time ever both teams scored 50+ in a game. It was the third highest score, both teams combined, in NFL history.

This is just a single game against a non-conference opponent. While it had all the pageantry and accolades and all the rest of it, it was just one game. In fact it was a great game for us, because we can learn so much from it, and Mahomes can grow more from it.

Not saying much more about this, because I'm hoping to have a mid-season report of sorts coming up. It's the right time, we've got a bye week, I've got a little time off for Thanksgiving, let's really look at this Chiefs team in the context of history. That's next...
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Cardinals at Chiefs - Week 10 - Record: 9-1

This one was a bit more unnerving that it had to be. We have to remember that very pertinent maxim "Any given Sunday." The Cardinals are a proud NFL football team with good players. Josh Rosen looks like he'll be a fine quarterback. Larry Fitzgerald is still dangerous. I've seen David Johnson ranked as the very best running back in pro football. And the Cardinals pass rush definitely got to us -- I think I'd seen somewhere that Chandler Jones is one of the best D-linemen out there.

Thing is, our pass rush was tremendous today. Dee Ford. Allen Bailey. Breeland Speaks. Chris Jones. Justin Houston got back into things in a big way today. Even Ron Parker had a blitz sack today. These guys were all over their QB today keeping the Cardinals from getting anything really going.

It got a bit touchy when they got a nice drive for a TD to open the 2nd half, tightening the score 20-14. But after a nifty Houston interception of a screen pass just after the 4th quarter began, Spencer Ware scored the dagger touchdown on a short run to make the final score 26-14.

Patrick Mahomes got his two touchdown passes to surpass Len Dawson's mark for all-time Chiefs season TD passes. Believe it or not, with seven games left and the chance for Mahomes to get a few more, there have been only 81 quarterback seasons in NFL history when a QB has had 32 or more. Thing is, Mahomes did not get the 300 yard season to make it nine in a row. His last pass attempt was a deep out to Tyreek Hill when Hill did not break outside to the wide open field there. You could tell Hill was upset.

No worries about Hill though. He not only scored the two touchdowns Mahomes threw, but he caught seven total passes for 117 yards. He was terrific -- one of those TDs a deep fly pattern that split the defenders, just the kind of connection we like to see between Mahomes and Hill.

So we won a game we were expected to win, that's cool. Our next game is that long-awaited Monday night extravaganza against the Los Angeles Rams in Mexico City!
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Chiefs at Browns - Week 9 - Record: 8-1

Today's game featured a very interesting quarterback matchup: Patrick Mahomes vs. Baker Mayfield. Two years ago they met as the quarterbacks of Texas Tech and Oklahoma, respectively, and they lit up the scoreboard. Together they set records for yards and points and whatever other astronomical passing numbers there could be. I'm not going to go find them now, but I do know the final score was 66-59. With his passing and running I believe Mahomes set some record of 800-something total yards from scrimmage in a game.

What's kind of funny is that just yesterday Oklahoma and Texas Tech played their annual game, just the day before Mahomes and Mayfield went at it as pros for the first time. This time it was Mahomes who came out on the winning side today enjoying a bit more non-ludicrous score of 37-21.

The subject of his current football occupation, this here Kansas City Chiefs, is still being racked by penalties. At one point we had the Browns at 3rd-&-goal from the 23 and Anthony Hitchens got some personal foul call giving them a 1st down that led to a touchdown. Please. Come on guys. Again, everyone is raving about our talent and our offense and all that -- it is fun. But we know too well that this is just not a disciplined team when it comes to avoiding penalties.

Our first half defense was ugly, our second half a bit better because Cleveland had to start passing more. Our run defense is just very, very spongy. Here's the thing however. We actually get good clutch plays from certain players, and not just a few! Chris Jones, Breeland Speaks, Kendall Fuller, Steven Nelson -- just some of whom I have immediate mental recollection. We have good players, and for all the vitriol spewed at Bob Sutton we do get some good schemes working when we need them.

But really, let's face it, nothing is different than what we've expected all along. If we can keep them at 30, we should be good.

Of course, that's because of our offense which was humming beautifully again today. Mahomes had another 300+ day, they say this is one short of the record of consecutive 300+ passing yardage days. Kareem Hunt was phenomenal again, 160 total yards, just scorching up the field with his patented combination of speed and power, running and receiving -- the whole package.

The first touchdown of the second half was just noteworthy for Mahomes accuracy. He fired it into the end zone between two defenders just high enough so Travis Kelce could snatch it. If Mahomes misfires, he's got help: the notable play was the one-handed juggling catch Spencer Ware made to get something like 20 on the catch-&-run.

The Chiefs also got a blocked punt from Damien Williams -- that is something we haven't mentioned much, maybe we just take it so much for granted: our special teams! I have seen a few remarks from around the punditsphere about the quality of our special teams. Yeah our offense is good and our defense not-as-much, but our special teams play helps make the Chiefs a genuinely fine pro football team. And how funny is that, we're hardly even using Dustin Colquitt.

I must say at the end of this one, that last week I was a bit lazy regarding how many straight games we've won over Denver. I have to just specify that we have won seven straight, our last loss that horrible game when we went up 24-17 then Jamaal Charles fumbled and Peyton Manning led them to late TD to start that 5-game losing streak in 2015. Thing is later that year we soundly defeated the Broncos during an 11-game winning streak that made 2015 one of the most memorable Chiefs seasons ever.

As it is on this season, we're now 8-1. I do want to post more about my thoughts, put up something of a mid-season take, but that'll have to come during Thanksgiving break -- the week we play that game-of-the-year against the Rams. Right now I just have so much to do, work, family, ministry... but yeah, a lot of amazing Chiefs things happening this season -- amazing to say the least.
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Broncos at Chiefs - Week 8 - Record: 7-1

This was something like the sixth straight win we've had over the Broncos -- is that right? I think I'd heard that. Something like that. I remember back in 2013 when we had that splendidly blistering start to the season... and then we faced Peyton Manning and the Broncos.

Well, the Broncos really don't have a quarterback like that these days, and I think that helped us. We got by with a 30-23 win and it should've been a bigger win. I don't know why we can't do more in the 4th quarter but after Kareem Hunt's hurdling power catch-and-run extravaganza (second game in a row!) went for touchdown we did zilch on offense.

It was funny, we saw Dustin Colquitt jog out there in the 4th quarter for only the second time in the game and we all thought what the announcers were saying -- Colquitt has hardly punted this year! I mean, Colquitt is a terrific punter, but really -- how great is that!

Mahomes in between the three-and-out to start the game and that lame 4th quarter was that guy we'd all been swooning over for the entire first half of this season. He did throw a bad interception late in the game but please, don't fret too much about the picks. This one, like many, was reasonably deep in Denver territory so it'd be no worse than a punt had it gotten to 4th down. And after this one we got the ball back on a fumble recovery a bit later.

Game-by-game Mahomes is raising his quarterbacking IQ little-by-little, step-by-step. Let it happen, it's fun to watch.

Meanwhile, what a game by Sammy Watkins. He really showed his stuff in this one, and even when he isn't the featured guy, the opponent's defense knows his such a formidable weapon that he's opening things up for everyone else. Today he had eight catches, every one of them a fine one, including two that went for touchdowns each of them requiring him to catch and make jet runs to the end zone.

We also benefited from a lot of penalties -- on the Broncos. That was a switch.

I'm still very concerned about our run defense. The Broncos two backs together easily got 100+ on the day. Yeah that urge to rip into Bob Sutton starts to well up inside, I got you, but Sutton still had the D make key plays -- Dee Ford was all over their quarterback, Chris Jones had a nice sack, Dorian O'Daniel was firing out stuffing their swing plays, Kendall Fuller had a pick where he came out of nowhere to swipe it away from Demaryius Thomas.

It was encouraging to see that the injury report listed Eric Berry and Justin Houston as "doubtful" instead of completely out. Really, let's be real -- as much as we want them back in, give them time, get them healed and ready to play. Oh, I didn't check, but Anthony Hitchens went out with an injury, we'll see if it's serious.

Halfway through this season's campaign and we're a comfy 7-1, our offense still doing the job, our defense making just enough plays to get the dubya.
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Bengals at Chiefs - Week 7 - Record: 6-1

The play of the night came early. We watched Kareem Hunt take the handoff around right tackle and appear to be buried in a pile of Bengals, until lo-and-behold there he is still running! And then hurdling a guy to get big yardage! Guh? The replay showed him being wrapped up by a defender only to spin out of it to keep going.

For all the things people are saying about Mahomes and all the offensive weapons, is not Kareem Hunt one of the best? He scored a number of touchdowns tonight, much of it with his ferociously tenacious running ability.

551 yards of total Chiefs offense on the evening. There you go.

Okay, on to the defense. So is there hope? Against a decent Bengals offensive unit?

First of all at the beginning of the game when they introduced the players and showed those PFF rankings, our guys were not horrible, they really weren't! The exception was for what I thought was really one of our defensive strengths: Anthony Hitchens and Reggie Ragland! These are our highly touted inside linebackers and they were ranked close to the bottom of all NFL inside linebackers! I know they had a poor game against the Patriots, but ouch.

One of the very interesting things about our defense is something I'd heard a number of times in previous broadcasts. Really? Is it true we are at the top of the NFL at stopping the opponent on third-and-long? When you think about it, yes, we have done very well at stiffening a bit and getting that last stop we need. Yeah we give up way to many big plays on 1st and 2nd down, and our run defense is very soft -- here's to Hitchens and Ragland making the corrections there.

Now to Patrick Mahomes. Here's the highlight: 1st play of the 2nd half, with the pocket closing in Mahomes gets smacked hard on his throwing arm, shakes it off with a vengeance, then promptly steps up to hit Watkins for 50. Whuh-oww. Throughout the night he flipped it there and there and there and did business. One critical mistake he made was underthrowing Tyreek Hill and getting intercepted, and you just saw it: he took something off when he could have easily fired it the requisite 60 yards to get it to him.

The funnest featured video was that of a ten year-old Patrick Mahomes playing basketball, taking the in-bounds pass and firing it across the court towards the basket -- sure enough, he makes the basket for the game-winner and gets mobbed by his teammates and other courtside participants.

The funnest remark by the announcers during tonight's typically fine NBC broadcast production was from Cris Collinsworth. After a screen pass completion to Hunt getting the ball close to the goal line he said, "So much going on, so much lateral movement -- it's like playing the Globetrotters." Later he added, "There's so much flash and dash, just play 'Sweet Georgia Brown'!" The producers then showed highlights from earlier in the game and did play the music. Very sweet indeed.

We're as good as the Harlem Globetrotters.

How much fun is that.

I'm hoping that even with this blowout tonight fans fully and richly enjoy watching our Kansas City Chiefs, simply because you have to think that the ratings for this one dwindled quite a bit after Ron Parker's pick-six making it 38-7 midway through the 3rd quarter. Yes, could it be, could it be? I don't know if this is a good thing because I want the Chiefs to be showcased in any way they can be, or a bad thing because of the principle, the principle of competitive integrity, but yeah... could it be?...

Are we becoming a media darling?

Well, yeah, let's just wait to see what happens in the postseason and hope that no matter what, when we win we win fair-and-square.

As it is now I can't deny this is very very very fun.
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Bengals at Chiefs - Week 7 - Preview Post for Prime Time Game

I'm going to pound out a quick preview post now because I will have no time tomorrow, and while I will be watching the game I will have little time after the game because, again, it is an evening affair.

I've always wanted to treat each individual game on the merits, but let's face it. We are all looking for two things:

- In what ways will Patrick Mahomes and the explosive offense astound us?

- In what ways will the defense disappoint and will we finally see any rays of hope from any improvement?

So yeah, tomorrow after the game I'll briefly put down my answers to those questions.

For now I just wanted to address the deep concerns I had for last year's team, right there in the middle of the season when we so abysmally floundered. Remember that? It was so bad -- suffering through completely inexplicable losses to the three New York state teams -- that I shouted at the top of my blogger lungs for Andy Reid to replace Alex Smith with Patrick Mahomes.

It was indeed a thoroughly justified response. Alex Smith had shown that he simply could not deal with a good Cover 2 defensive look, and while he did finish strong and get us into the playoffs he could not finish in a playoff game, scoring zero points in a second half against a Titans team that we had no business losing to.

On the other hand, the point of this post is that, yes, I'm very very very glad Reid did not put Mahomes in.

The reasons for this are critical to our success this year.

One, Mahomes was able to learn a ton from Alex Smith and just rest taking the entire season to gather information and process. For whatever the liabilities of Alex Smith, he is extraordinarily smart and affable, just the right combination for a youngster like Mahomes to absorb what he must to be ready to fully take the reigns in his second year.

Two, starting right at the beginning of the season with Mahomes at quarterback gave him the privilege of being assured this team is his. No quarterback controversy, and no second-guessing what Reid is going to at quarterback. Sticking with Smith for the entirety of the year last year also gives Mahomes the confidence that Reid will go with him for the duration no matter what -- even when he struggles, everyone knows, Mahomes is the man.

Even though we ended up tanking the season last year, Reid's decision to stay with Smith meant that this year will be better than it would've been otherwise. I am certain of that, and I'm sure most NFL prognosticators and Chiefs fans would agree.

On to Sunday Night Football!
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Chiefs at Patriots - Week 6 - Record: 5-1

Nkay, here's the brief late take on this game. My longer "preview" post is here from this afternoon. Again, since it is late I've got just a few observations.

Our defense looked like it was wilted lettuce in the 1st half, but in the 2nd half they toughened up. We have a decimated defensive backfield, but we played tough. Tom Brady is still Tom Brady, and they still have a fine offensive line and a good new running back in Sony Michel.

We are still committing just too danged many penalties. We simply will not win long-term if we don't stop it.

When New England went up 37-33, Breeland Speaks had Tom Brady easily tackled, but let go of him allowing him to run for the touchdown because I'm sure he thought Brady had thrown the ball. Was he refusing to finish the tackle because he was nervous about being called for that newly strict roughing the passer penalty because he didn't know he hadn't thrown the ball? Ergck.

As for Patrick Mahomes, he missed ugly on a number of passes, but on others, the guy is Gumby -- those were the announcer's words. Mahomes still astounded with some of his physically demanding pass completions. The key for him: experience experience experience. Tonight the Patriots did a lot defensive maneuvering to try to mix him up, and when he gets more and more of that he'll be more and more prepared.

Kareem Hunt. Wow. What a weapon he is. He seemed to take right off from what he did last year in that classic opening game in New England. Running and catching and simply grinding out every single touch he has.

NBC has a terrifically entertaining broadcast. Comprehensive coverage of everything, very fair, well called, and all the splendidly fun stuff about the history -- especially all the stuff about Patrick Mahomes. At one point there was a graphic with side-by-side photographs from 2000 of Tom Brady as a rookie in the NFL and Patrick Mahomes as a five year-old shagging balls at the World Series.

This was definitely a very fun game to watch.
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Chiefs at Patriots - Week 6 - Preview Post for Prime Time Game

I'm going to pound out most of the day's post before tonight's game. There are just some things I'd like to share, most of it a thread I've featured prominently in this blog enterprise before. I also have to get up for work very early tomorrow morning, so when the game ends I'll add a few remarks in a new brief post, and then we're good for the week.

I do very much like our chances in every single game we play, and that is mostly because this "Seven Samurai" team we have of Patrick Mahomes and his posse of runners and pass catchers. In fact watching a very small bit of NBC lately I have seen a promo for tonight's game that has Mahomes as this phenomenally high-scoring video game character, closing with an image of him smiling with flames all around him. Love it!

I'm actually anticipating with some hope the game(s) that this team loses, so they will keep that fire going. Trust me I do want the Chiefs to win the next 57 straight games. But I'm just steeling myself because that loss will happen, especially important because we all have this belief now that this team is invincible.

As I've shared before winning can be a curse. I've written about it here: I'm a baseball Giants and Royals fan and a basketball Warriors fan, and over the past eight years I've got to enjoy seven world championships among them. This is splendid fun, but it does mean when your team loses it seems to be a bit more painful. There is some value to having a team no one expects to win and then winning those fun games every once in a while, there really is.

Now please I would not trade this Chiefs team for any other. This is an incredibly exciting time to be a Chiefs fan, probably more now than at any other time. We all know how much Brett Veach and previously John Dorsey have done to put this team on the field and into the hands of Andy Reid, one of the premiere coaches ever in the NFL.

But I can't go another moment without augmenting the real challenge that we have as Chiefs fans.

We are not a New York or Boston or Los Angeles team.

And this team we play tonight?

A Boston team -- one which has been to the Super Bowl seemingly for perpetuity.

Every time the Chiefs take the field I take pride in the Kingdom, no matter who is out there. Yes it is awesome this set of players is out there now and I cheer them on passionately every time. But I also know...

I know we are up against it.

It is a bit harder to do it in pro football, but it is still done: Advantages are given to the large market or media darling teams so they will win more frequently to keep entire major professional sports leagues financially viable.

And since it is Major League Baseball playoff season, I'd like to share something with you.

The Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers are in the postseason again this year. I went ahead and did a little of my research again, and wondered, indeed how successful have been the teams you'd expect the powers-that-be to favor? What are the actual numbers?

I consider the strike-shorted 1994 season a turning point for this, because before that you had the very disfavored Blue Jays (not a major market or media darling) winning two straight World Series, and just before that the greatest World Series in history did not feature the Yankees or Dodgers but rather the boring Braves and Twins.

Since that time 24 years ago, starting with the 1995 season, the Yankees have made the postseason a whopping 20 times. They have had a winning season every one of those 24 years. Incidentally, since the late 1960's when the Yankees had a brief spell when they didn't appear in a World Series and the powers-that-be decided this was not good for baseball, the Yankees have had exactly seven losing seasons. This was out of 50 since that other major milestone, the realignment of 1969.

The Red Sox have made the postseason 13 times and have had 20 winning seasons in the 24 since 1994. They have of course won the World Series three times.

The Dodgers are a very interesting story. They've won their division now six straight years. In the 24 since '94 they've made the playoffs 12 times and have had 21 winning seasons. What makes this so amazing is that from 2004 to 2011 they were owned by the reviled Frank McCourt. I mean, I live in the Los Angeles area and anytime anyone speaks of this guy it is with the most vicious revulsion. He was considered so bad the baseball mandarins took over the team and handed it to Magic Johnson and his ownership group.

Here's the thing. During McCourt's ownership the Dodgers went to the playoffs four of those eight years. They had winning seasons in all but two of them. How many teams dream of such horrible ownership? I believe the whole McCourt episode was ginned up to get this team to a point where it could be in a position to better do the winning a large market, media darling team must do to prop up the entirety of the sports league.

For comparison? Look no further than the Kansas City Royals, on top of the baseball world for two glorious years in 2014 and 2015. The Royals top brass went crazy laboriously putting together a championship team for the five or six years before, and it did materialize in those two phenomenal years. Now? This season the Royals finished with 104 losses.

Know the last time the Yankees lost 100? Never. They did as the "Highlanders" back in the Stone Age, but the most they've ever lost is 95 in 1991. The Royals have lost 90 or more games 16 times, and they've only been around since 1969 and they were a dominant team in the late 70's and early 80's. (I can't help but add that from 1955 to 1967 when Kansas City's major league baseball Athletics essentially served as a farm team for the Yankees, the A's lost 90+ nine of those years and 100+ in four of them. Meanwhile during that time New York and Los Angeles were busy winning 13 pennants and 7 championships between them.)

When the Royals won the 2015 World Series the MLB's powers cringed. To them the Royals were merely one of those tools that must be in place for some of those kinds of teams winning in some instances to convince most sports fans the whole thing is is not totally rigged. This is not to say at all that the Royals winning was undeserved -- indeed that is much of the point: they probably deserved it more because of what was stacked against them to accomplish it.

Anyway, the number of times the Royals have made the playoffs since 1995? For those Royals faithful you know: two. That's it. 2014 and 2015. Thuh end.

I know this is a blog about pro football and the Kansas City Chiefs, I know.

But this competitive duplicity plays a part in our success -- or non-success because we're up against it just as much in the NFL.

Tonight the Chiefs are being showcased because our brand spankin' new quarterback is such a popular player, and he's going to get a nationally televised look-see against the most prolific quarterback in history. Could it be the case that Patrick Mahomes is helping make the Chiefs a media darling team? Ooo-eee!

I don't really think so. Unless you're the Patriots or the Cowboys or the New York Giants, the NFL's version of the Yankees-Red Sox-Dodgers, you're going to have to do a lot more to get into the elite level. (And the Giants at 1-5? Don't be fooled. While I pay no attention at all to anything, all I've been hearing when I do happen to catch something said about pro football is about how Eli Manning is through and how much Odell Beckham Jr. hates his team right now. Just watch the sports talk shows and you'll see who the favored teams are -- and it's been that way for years and years.)

So here's what I think about tonight's game, ultimately. If we win, fine, good, I like it a lot. If we lose, it'll give the team a feel for what they must do to do better next time. I don't even necessarily think the favors given to the Patriots will help them win all that much tonight. In the long run they do, yes. But no sour grapes about any of what may happen tonight. I know most people have long recognized how much the officiating favors the Patriots in any given game anyway -- it is pretty obvious.

Thing is any given loss throughout the season is just no big deal. I just hope we can stay injury-free, as does any team and their fans hope for their team.

The officiating though? Yeah, it'll be what it is now, that's fine. The real question is

Will the officiating do its typical thing and kill us early in the postseason? That's the real question. And yes, I've shared this a dozen times before, I'm convinced it is made to be that way. For baseball it is a bit different, a lot is in the exploitation of front office advantages, for football a lot of it is the officiating -- and it is likely to be worse now with even more interpretation-oriented calls like that new more strict roughing-the-passer penalty. But holding calls and pass interference calls and determining-validity-of-a-catch calls all so easily go against a not-large-market not-media-darling Chiefs team.

For now, it's the regular season. For now it doesn't really matter that much. For now we're likely to win the AFC West even with a few ugly losses, but all teams have those over the course of the year. Who knows right now what'll happen in November and December?

I'm writing this portion in the afternoon of this beautiful October day, looking forward to seeing us in prime-time tonight. In fact, hey! They flexed us into prime time against a very good Bengals team next Sunday! How about that!

Maybe we ARE turning into a genuine MEDIA DARLING TEAM! Wowwie!
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Jaguars at Chiefs - Week 5 - Record: 5-0

In this one we faced the quite acclaimed Jaguars defense. It was billed as the No. 1 offense vs. the No. 1 defense. The Jaguars defense was certainly up to it -- their players were perceptive, fast, and pursued with a relentlessness we haven't seen before. Patrick Mahomes even had his first interception, a pick that flew on him and it may have been aided by the wet conditions. He had another one later.

Our defense actually played pretty well. Was it us or the exceptionally poor play of the Jags offense, particularly the ugly messiness of their QB Blake Bortles? In the 1st half we actually got some surprisingly strong defensive play and key stops -- a nice Armani Watts pass breakup at the goal line on a 4th-down play, a Dee Ford strip-sack right after that 1st Mahomes' interception to get the ball right back, and a Chris Jones pick-six after an attempted screen pass.

In the 2nd half we held, but we were a bit more bendy. Before Jordan Lucas made a pick to terminate the Jaguars last-ditch drive to try to get back in this at the beginning of the 4th quarter, Orlando Scandrick had two key pass breakups. This guy and his experience may be more valuable than we think, his interception at the very end of the game sealed it.

Over on the offensive side our O-line played especially well. There was a long pass to Sammy Watkins in which Mahomes had all day to throw. How nice is it to see that happen for us for once. When Kareem Hunt scored a rushing touchdown for the Chiefs the O-line just blew up the Jags defensive front.

And what can you say about Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill. They just made play after play after play -- snatching passes anywhere they were and getting great yardage after the catch. Even though neither of these guys scored, their plays set up all of our offensive points.

Now to the not-great things.

The disqualifications thing is major. Chris Jones and Dee Ford were both ejected because of unsportsmanlike conduct calls. We cannot lose those guys, and I'm sure this week they are going to express enormous contrition as they play on an Andy Reid-led team.

To be honest, I have a lot of reservations about the taunting thing. Yes I do think there should not be taunting and I don't know what happened there on the field, but unless I can see more consistency from the officiating I still can't believe the Chiefs are not squeezed more in these kinds of calls. These kinds of calls that are just far too much open to interpretation. I don't know but it looked to me like the Jaguars Jalen Ramsey continued to spew the trash-bilging while Tyreek was a model of decorum.

Still, we're suffering from too many other-kinds of penalties. It just shouldn't be that hard for Reid to get our team to tighten up these areas also. I kind of thought we were looking to be one of those preeminent, reputable, disciplined NFL teams. Well those first two things ain't happenin' unless we start doing that third thing.

There are also the injuries. The sidelines were an infirmary ward today. We lost several key defensive players including Justin Houston, and we still don't have Eric Berry out there. We even lost Laurent Duvernay-Tardiff late. Let's hope these are not that serious as we move forward. I mean, we've got a well-rested New England waiting for prime time next week. This hurts.

When your best players are going down or getting kicked out, you can't help but allow an NFL team to make it a game, especially when the Chiefs have already spent the season leaping out to a huge leads then getting the Chiefs Kingdom adrenaline surging when they let the opponent back in it late.

It was like that in this one. Even though we had a very comfy lead, up 30-7 with about nine minutes left, things did happen to make us nervous.

The good thing we can take from this is that Patrick Mahomes got his feet wet (not just literally!) getting picked twice and throwing no touchdown passes -- let him get a feel for what that is like and motivation to keep working at not having it happen when it could hurt us the most.

I have seen a little analysis of Mahomes' play and when you get past all the phenomenal tool-set stuff, it is very apparent that this kid doesn't just run well, he doesn't just pass well, but he probably does the one thing most important for a quarterback to do: make reads well. Seriously, it has been amazing how well he's been seeing what's happening, adjusting, and making good decisions. Today he got to do that against what they say is the No. 1 defense in the NFL. That's great experience to have for a kid this young.

Now we just have to wait and see the extent of all these injuries and how much Andy Reid can get guys to be team players and not do ding-dong things to get themselves ejected.

For now we're 5-0 for the second year in a row. That's pretty neat, I wonder how many teams in NFL history have had two straight 5-0 starts -- I can't imagine it is that many.
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Chiefs at Broncos - Week 4 - Record: 4-0

We seem to think that this team will waltz right on through the NFL. With this offense, with the astoundingly impossible playmaking of Patrick Mahomes being the talk of everybody everywhere -- it seems like we are unstoppable. It can't be denied with this offense and with this quarterback, our team feels unstoppable.

Tonight we had to work very very hard, playing in Denver, playing a tough close one -- just the thing we need Mahomes to cut his teeth on.

There will be a loss somewhere down the line. There will be a bad game Mahomes will suffer somewhere down the line. There will be some interceptions, some untimely fumbles, some disastrous moments of NFL football quarterbacking.

This game was a close one and it looked like that tough loss might be tonight.

Not.

Did our defense play better or was it their inconsistent quarterback, inexperienced core of running backs, and questionable coaching calls? I don't know. Orlando Scandrick made plays tonight even though he had a bad PI. Eric Murray had the pick of the year, but as a safety -- I don't know how so many receivers can get that wide open that often.

And what is with all the penalties? I know it is very loud Denver out there, but please. One series we were in field goal range then too many penalties pushed us out.

But what about the good about this game. Kelce came alive in the second half. Kareem Hunt exploded, running for more than 100. Our receivers made clutch throws when needed.

And of course, what about the Patrick Mahomes-led charge to score two touchdowns in the 4th quarter to win this one.

Dare I say it? Very Montana-esque.

The left-handed throw -- left-handed! -- to Tyreek Hill to get a clutch 1st down. The scrambling to make plays -- a television announcer said something like Mahomes outside-the-pocket yardage was more than anyone in the past ten years. The absolute resolute garantulute ability to make -- the -- play.

Right now this is just fun. Very intense. Thrilling. All that.

Sure a lot more can be said to dissect this game, but it is late and I've got work early tomorrow morning. There'll be later games when I can write more of the standard stuff about our insanely weird defense.

And games when I can write about what we all behold the eyepopping things Patrick Mahomes will do next.
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49ers at Chiefs - Week 3 - Record: 3-0, Addendum

I'd already made my "Chiefs Game Today" post for this one, but right now at almost 7:00 pm I saw this article. Sure enough, just like last week when the Pittsburgh stadium was about half-full for the Chiefs game, today most stadiums had far too many empty seats.

Notice the article did not feature a shot of Arrowhead.

That's because when they showed the panorama of our stadium at one point during the game's telecast today, it was full.

It was genuinely a sea of red.

Now yes it was the first home game for the Chiefs. Yes Arrowhead is generally a fine place to see a football game. And yes the Chiefs explosive offense is quite the attraction.

But still.

The Chiefs fans are the best in football.

In spite of the idiotic things the NFL is doing to shoot themselves in the foot -- I notice Roger Goodell has not been fired yet, hmm, maybe some day -- the Chiefs still draw because of the superlative passion in The Chiefs Kingdom. The NFL and its competitive duplicity can eviscerate attendance and very justifiably so, but we'll still support our Chiefs.

Just a pretty fine marvelous thing I wanted to add.

Again, here's my take on the game itself.
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49ers at Chiefs - Week 3 - Record: 3-0

Do you feel the same way I do about this team? Please. Let's be honest. When the offense is on the field life is wonderful -- we thrill to watching all the talent do its thing, particularly in the passing game. When the defense is on the field life is miserable -- bar the doors Nellie because no gargantuan lead is safe.

Let's first just revel in the phenomenal first half of this Chiefs offense. Five possessions, five touchdowns. One of those touchdowns was a tremendous Mahomes scramble concluded with a bullet strike to Chris Conley in the back corner of the end zone. As Conley pulled in the pass the TV announcer exclaimed "Are you kidding me?!" This was the third touchdown of that five touchdown first-half performance.

The last touchdown of that half came at the end of a tremendous drive featuring amazing catches by Ware, Williams, and Kelce who grasped the ball with one-hand. The touchdown was a pass to Watkins who powered his way into the end zone. It was beautiful.

We should indeed marvel at it all -- wonderfully splendidly marvelous.

Then there is our defense.

About halfway through the 3rd quarter I thought, hmm, I'm going to start noting all the fine defensive plays we make. See how many we actually make. Here's what I wrote:

- Nnadi and Ragland stop runner for no gain.

- Bailey and Ragland stop runner for no gain.

- Bailey sack with 49ers in red zone and us holding a mere 14-point lead.

- Houston sack on the next play.

That's it. That is really all I could write about our defense. Our D really looked like butter as the 49ers just rammed the ball down our throats on the ground. Here, look at this -- 1st half score: 35-10 Chiefs. 2nd half score: 17-3 49ers.

With about 5 or 6 minutes left their starting QB got hurt, and they put in their backup. He promptly threw a TD pass to cut the lead to a single score, but a very questionable offensive pass interference call negated it. That call essentially secured the win for us because on the next possession Kareem Hunt and our O-line did decently enough running the ball to close it out.

We also got bailed out by a ton of 49ers penalties, so, yeah...

Really it is simple. We have no push at the line. We have poor pursuit. We miss tackles all over the place. Our smallish defenders are getting manhandled at the point of attack. Every 4th or 5th play we have some gruesomely ugly blown coverage. The announcers said at one point that defensive coordinator Bob Sutton will get it all cleaned up, that we're getting better.

Ha.

I don't believe it. It's just not happening, at least without Eric Berry in there. I mean, seriously, we cannot acquire Earl Thomas soon enough.

Watching Patrick Mahomes run this offense with all those weapons is pure joy.

The defense...

Very very scary. We all knew this would be the case, but it doesn't make it any less scary.
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Chiefs at Steelers - Week 2 - Record: 2-0

It has been just under 32 years, just a little bit longer than the number of years it had taken us to win a game with a starting quarterback who was drafted by the Chiefs. Well, Patrick Mahomes took care of that drought on the last day of 2017.

Today Mahomes and the Chiefs took care of the 32-year drought, finally winning a game in Pittsburgh. Since then the Chiefs have lost six straight there, most of them by scores that looked like we'd sent out the third string team.Would you believe it? Our last win there was that final-game-of-the-season special-teams win to get into the playoffs in 1986. Since then it's been very not-good.

We got this one, however. And through the first quarter it looked liked we'd walk right over them, leaping out to a 21-0 lead before our very bendy defense allowed Pittsburgh to rip off some long TD drives to make it close.

But enough of the bad things about our defense. Here were some good things about it.

Kendall Fuller was a pretty good back there, breaking up passes and smothering receivers -- yes I know he wasn't perfect but he made critical plays especially late. Reggie Ragland and Anthony Hitchens are pretty good run defenders -- I don't know if it was more them or more Pittsburgh's weak running game, but we did decently keeping them from beating us on the ground. (Yeah, Ben Roethlisberger kicked our butt through the air, but well, we already knew that...) And Dee Ford had a clutch pass tip to stop a drive after the Steelers were yet again marching down the field against us.

But hey, what can Mahomes not do. I was listening to Mitch on the postgame and he said the Steelers have always done this blitz zone thing that the Chiefs have never been able to figure out. Turns out the Chiefs today threw the ball deep down the middle of the field and that's the way to beat that stuff.

Hmm, everyone had always said Alex Smith doesn't have enough of an arm to get the ball there, and I'd always thought, nahh, can't just be that...

Well, maybe there was something to that.

Now we've got a guy with a cannon for an arm. Let the numbers speak for themselves.

Mahomes threw six touchdown passes today to five different receivers. He had five incompletions. Wow. Again, 6 TDs, 5 INCs. How often does that happen. I have to add that it was very nice to see Sammy Watkins show what he's got. I've always been high on him and knew he'd get it done. He did it in a number of ways today, really good to see that.

Mahomes also set a record for touchdown passes in the first two games of a season with ten. Next highest, Peyton Manning with nine in something like 2013 I believe the graphic said. What other  superlative stat-laden things will they say about him? Yeah, we can rapturously swim it all, but let's just give him some time to settle in and keep learning. There's a whole season and more ahead.

I can't deny that I'm itchin' to shred our defense a new one about letting a team riddled with injuries and an aggravating hold-out (Le'Veon Bell) make this an actual contest, but hey, we knew that going in, not going to get into it. At least they held today -- let's face it we're going to have to endure nailbiter games of 42-37 until Eric Berry is healthy and our young defensive players can establish themselves out there and contribute. And it was in Pittsburgh, a hellhole for Chiefs football for years and years and years.

So for now, let's just savor this one and what our new quarterback can do out there. Very very sweet.
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Chiefs at Chargers - Week 1 - Record: 1-0

The score looked like the one I think we all know we'll have to settle for with this team if we want to win consistently.

38-28.

Yeah, just too many points allowed by the defense.

But a lot of points scored by our offense.

First the bad: the defense. Yes, we all knew it, but it was confirmed today. I know many more Pollyannish Chiefs fans and pundits will say some good things about it, but really. Let's face it.

Our defense backfield stinks. Yes there were some nice plays. Kendall Fuller did okay, Steven Nelson was serviceable, Ron Parker was decent with a nifty interception... but yikes. Orlando Scandrick was miserable, and I just don't know about Eric Murray. I think they'd mentioned Armani Watts a couple times but I don't know how much he was in there. Sure enough, Eric Berry needs extra, extra time to recover from a heel injury, and he wasn't out there as everyone said he'd be.

But the truth is what is out there on the field, and believe me this game should've been much closer, or even a Chargers win because of that D-backfield. It's just we got tons of relief from a half-dozen easily catchable dropped balls by Chargers receivers. There were a few that were money in the end zone, easy Charger touchdowns, just dropped. Their receivers, whoever they were -- the Chargers threw to their backs all the time -- were just wide-open and in space over and over and over again.

But really, isn't that the 2018 Chiefs? Really, get used to it.

It seemed our defensive front did okay, being in Philip Rivers' face all day. You'd think that pressure would be good -- Dee Ford had a sack and was close on a number of other occasions. But dang Rivers is just so good, releasing balls just before getting hammered and hitting the target almost every single time.

Our offense?

Tyreek Hill.

There you go. He was it. No one else was seen from -- Travis Kelce was invisible, Sammy Watkins actually had a couple of nice grabs but nothing more. Our run blocking was not great as Kareem Hunt went nowhere.

But you've got to give credit to Patrick Mahomes -- the announcers said he likes "Patrick" because his dad is "Pat" -- because his skill was definitely showcased today. His rocket pass to Hill on that deep slant for their second touchdown was a thing of beauty. Mahomes did fine directing the offense and "matriculating" the ball down the field, on the whole he really did well.

Thing is, Mahomes did not do so well with some little things that more experienced quarterbacks do, like making quick plays at the end of the first half just to get into field goal range. With three minutes left and up by ten points, he missed an open single-covered Kelce on a 3rd down that may have gotten them the key 1st down but would've at least would have kept the clock running making it harder for Los Angeles to try to come back. Really, for those strategic instances he's got to use people like Kelce more.

But Hill's explosiveness was just astounding. His explosiveness along with his feel for the ball and for the game is just phenomenal.

A final shout out to Andy Reid for doing all those splendidly dipsy-doo things he does with the offense. You've got to hand it to Mahomes and the rest of the Chiefs offense, they did marvelously with it. Mahomes even threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to... Anthony Sherman! Only one thing, just one thing -- what's with Mahomes running all the time? I like the twist-a-roo option stuff with all that but, please, very scary!

Oh, and one more final shout-out to the fans. It was a sea of red out there at the Chargers stadium! A couple of moments in the game featured the Chargers offense on the field facing a 3rd down and the fans were really loud! How crazy was that!

Up next we go to Pittsburgh where we have lost, what, I think 57 straight games by a combined score of, what, 32-2?

Well, for this week we can enjoy a win under our belts and Mahomes in the film room keeping his game going and going and going.
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Chiefs 2018 Preview, Part II

Okay okay, here's a Part II of the Beginning of the Mahomes Era Preview Extravaganza. (Part I is here.) It really isn't going to be much, however, because I'm exhausted and I'm back to 12-hour workdays tomorrow. Today was also a work day for me, catching up on loose ends -- they don't call it Labor Day for nothing.

But since the opener is this Sunday in Los Angeles I probably should just pound out a bit more of my take on the Chiefs this year. Really, I might as well cut to the chase. I'm really looking ahead for any real shot at a Super Bowl in 2020, 2021. That's okay, really, nothing wrong with that.

Yes I am expecting Pat Mahomes to light it up. Yes I am expecting Sammy Watkins to show us much more than his piddle amount of playing time allowed us to see in the preseason. I think Andy Reid showed us nothing in the preseason very deliberately -- and I think most know it. Everyone is still salivating over the potential of this offense.

I have concerns about our O-line, but we still have solid players at four positions there, and Reid is keeping five offensive linemen on the bench just in case any get injured or Cam Erving at left guard doesn't work out. Pretty sure they all won't be there after Demetrius Harris serves his one-game suspension, but we'll see.

As for the defense, we do have solid players up front and, yes, we have the guys to get decent defensive backfield play. It's just will we be able to hold teams to under 30 points so we come out ahead if our offense predictably excels? That is the big question. We do have capable defensive players, but will weak links and new players unfamiliar with the system be our undoing?

Thing is, Brett Veach knows this and isn't taking any chances. In April he went bananas drafting for defense and if those guys come through it'll truly be down the road a bit before they can contribute on a dominant playoff contending team -- the Breeland Speakses and the Dorian O'Danielses and the Derrick Nnadis and the Armani Wattses. It usually takes a couple years to see how your draft picks really work out. Maybe they'll surprise right now! I'd like that! Trust me I want to win a Super Bowl this year!

The key D-guys from the draft two and three years ago? Just for comparison? Chris Jones, Eric Murray, and Steven Nelson. That's them, that's it, and really, they're not bad.

But it still seems a bit thin, and Brett has been workin' it, workin' it, workin' it to shore things up.

In some very profound ways it is all new out there. What a season this will be. Can we make the playoffs? Can we win a playoff game without some ding-dong stupid thing happening to kill us for once?!  Again, it's all new and it is clear Brett has shown that youthful vigor in taking care of business.

Let's hope that the very best of Hunt emerges for the first time in a long time, and I'm great with that happening at any point over the next several years, that'd be awesome. And yeah, that does mean nothing less than hoisting a Lamar Hunt (of course!) trophy followed by the one with Vince Lombardi's name on it.

And for those who don't know what I'm talking about with this Hunt thing, back in February I just ruminated intensely on some historical Chiefs items in a series of posts starting with this one.
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Chiefs 2018 Preview, Part I (For Now...)

I'm going to simply pound down a quick post with some of my impressions about the Kansas City Chiefs the 2018 version. I'm doing a brief one now because I really just don't know when I'll get to anything really elaborate. I'm working two jobs that essentially have me working 12 hour days.

I so enjoy this blog effort, but since I started it in 2005 a whole slew of webzines have emerged with people writing much more detailed pieces about everything Chiefs. That is an awesome thing. I particularly enjoy Arrowhead Pride, they have the most pertinent and passionate takes on all things Chiefs.

This blog will just continue to be the humble takes of a devout fan for upwards of now 50 years of his life. As always I thank you for reading.

What of 2018?

First of all everyone is talking about the potential of Pat Mahomes, for very good reason. This preseason he's picked up on showing us all those flashes of brilliance. Something I'd like to see more is for him to do more just stepping up in the pocket and trusting his arm to make those tight throws. That's what we got him for. I just think there've been too many instances when he scurries out of the pocket and has to run for his life.

Our offense is no worry at all. Again, we're all slavering over all the weapons. The only concern is the O-line particularly the insanely unresolved issue at left guard.

The defense is the main concern, and everyone and their cat's uncle is concerned about that Chiefs secondary. Recently Brett Veach had to pick up yet another D-back to try to fill out a core that is wildly in flux. Weirdly he traded a guy that should have filled that left guard slot, Parker Ehinger, for a Cowboys UDFA corner. I like that he's going to the mat to take care of business there, but is the late scramble indicative that we are simply hurting there too much?

The main concern to me is Eric Berry. He hasn't played a down in the preseason, and I firmly believe last year playing hardly at all in preseason contributed to his Achilles heel injury because he just wasn't game-conditioned for the Patriots. Here's the thing about that, not to ride Berry and Chiefs decision-making too much.

I'm just wondering, to what extent has his cancer battle just kept him from being physically capable of lasting longer through the years?

After the cancer in 2014 and a full 2015 for recovery, Berry had an amazing 2016. He was back and heroically so! Last year he was out with the season-ending injury, but now he's still not played and they're saying his other foot has been bothering him. What's the deal?

I'm hoping it is indeed what the Chiefs are telling us, not to worry, because really, our D-backfield must have him there. I'm really hoping he is not going to end up -- cynical me -- on the PUP list after all.

Over the next couple of days we'll see what Brett is going to do. The cut days have arrived, and again I really like Brett's attention to what is needed, cringe-worthy perceptions be damned.

Again, if I have a sliver of time I'll add a bit more. If not this'll serve as my preview -- at least I've gotten some meaningful words on the page.

Super Bowl chances? With our offense definitely, even with Mahomes' inevitable growing pains -- the guy has shown he's a gamer. With our defense, ehhh, and I know most of us are thinking reality here. Brett is too, which is why he went hog wild drafting D-guys back in April.

But when you think about it, we really do have some top flight players on our defense! We've got to have Berry out there buy we also have Justin Houston, Chris Jones, Anthony Hitchins, Reggie Ragland, and Kendall Fuller. Dee Ford and Steven Nelson can be at that level. Yeah, these guys can't miss a step and will need help from others we're really hoping will emerge, but we can't be totally down on this defense. If they actually play even decently, we do have a shot.
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What It Takes

On successive nights last week, June 7 then June 8, the Washington Capitals and the Golden State Warriors won their respective major professional team sports championships. What does this have to do with the Kansas City Chiefs? Quite a bit, in fact, and as I post for what may be the first time ever in June, I ask that you indulge me as we look a bit into these two teams' title runs and discover what it takes to win.

That first team, the Capitals, plays ice hockey, and I pay the scantest attention to anything NHL. My good friend at work is a big Los Angeles Kings fan, so we'll chat sometimes about their prospects. I just pretty much let him tell me stuff because I know very little about the sport.

There are two key things about the Caps that remind me very much of our Kansas City Chiefs. One, they wear red jerseys on the ice, and two, their playoff history has been just as abysmal as the Chiefs.

After they won it all, the broadcast put up a stat there on the screen -- the Capitals have had the most playoff appearances before getting their first championship as anyone, 20-some-odd playoff appearances without a title until last Thursday night.

The thing I want to point out here is that after their last playoff catastrophe, I'd read an article that went into how improbably and wrenchingly painful their playoff losses have been, describing each one, how each time the Caps were the better team but this crazy-ass stupid thing happened and that crazy-ass stupid thing happened -- most often at the hands of the Pittsburgh Penguins -- over and over and over again.

It was like reading the playoff history of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Seriously. It was so much like it.

Then you have the Warriors. I am indeed a big fan of the Warriors and have been since I was a kid, as I've mentioned in this blog before, and yes, I was faithful when they were contemptibly miserable for years upon years upon years. I'd even recently come across this piece from Grantland, from Bill Simmons himself, pretty comprehensive research there, really, and completely and wholly heart-breaking -- that it was that horrific, this Warriors team and its still somewhat recent long agonizing history.

But it is sometimes quite gratifying to review what your team had been through to truly enjoy the mountaintop experience. For those who don't know about the most recent Warriors history, they are now truly the most dominant team in the NBA, and it isn't even close. They'd just won their third title in four years, they aren't even done with their dynastic run, and they are changing the way pro basketball teams do their business. Everyone is working like crazy to emulate the Warriors way, and yet, what is that way?

Well, there was some luck when they snatched some pretty prime players in the draft. Still you needed to get the scouting right and my goodness, did the Warriors ever need some splendid luck after all the rotten luck they'd had for years with their personnel moves. But that is a lot of the point. Once new ownership took over bringing along bright front office decision-makers, that set in motion an environment of winning these players wanted to perform in.

Some will say the addition of Kevin Durant was the key, and that it was just unfair that such a talent should join an already elite team. But again, this is the point about the ownership, the front office, the environment.

He was attracted to that.

What does this have to do with the Chiefs? Two things. And neither of them are the whole we-were-once-so-bad-but-now-can-be-good thing, though that certainly applies here, no doubt.

First, to be the best you've got to position yourself to be the best, and the only way you can do that is to insightfully grasp the reality of what you're up against. If an NBA team wants to beat the Warriors, it has got to do the right things and be damn serious about those things to compete. The Warriors not only have so many skilled players out there but have so many options to utilize their talents. Most teams have a couple very good players and a handful of decent play designs. The Warriors simply overwhelm you with far more than anything anyone's got for them.

As for the Chiefs? Brett Veach got serious about getting players like Sammy Watkins and Anthony Hitchens this year, picking up Reggie Ragland last year, being in the mix of securing Pat Mahomes, keeping Eric Berry in the fold long-term, keeping Andy Reid happy who for all those ugly things we know about him is still a phenomenally gifted coach at developing players and devising a multi-schemed game plan that gets the most from his players on the field.

Maybe losing in the playoffs in such horrific ways is moving us to get going really doing what it takes to compete at the Warriors level.

That second thing simply gets back to the ownership, the upper levels of commitment, and for several blog posts I ruminated long and hard about Hunt, the idea that our postseason nightmares are the result of something from the deep past related to something Lamar Hunt that is somehow carrying over into Clark's leadership. Not going into any of that at all, because I'd like to think I've still been quite respectful of Lamar's legacy and Clark's current stature.

But I can't refuse to make the critically salient point that any team's success --

Starts at the top.

I say this because a couple months ago I thought I'd get into The League by David Harris. It's a bit older book, from something like 1986 if I remember. Now I absolutely loved his book on Bill Walsh, The Genius, but this was rather a dry read. Some good stuff in it, but much better is America's Game by Michael MacCambridge -- who, by the way, is himself an admitted Chiefs fan.

But I perused The League a bit and much of it is about Pete Rozelle and his battle with Al Davis and in and around all that is about all the bickering among the owners about this and that and...

And there is stuff about Lamar. Yes, he does write a bit about the silver debacle, not flattering at all, not just to the Chiefs but to the entire NFL. Harris does get quite a bit into Lamar's other sports holdings, and how much this really chafed the other owners. Hmm! I just did not know that.

There was even a court case about it all, in 1980, about just how much should NFL owners have their hands in other sports ventures as presenting a serious conflict of interest. Lamar's North American Soccer League was essentially on trial. What I wanted to share with you here was something amazing Lamar said in court. Here it is:

"Probably the most important reason [for the AFL's success] was having a solid ownership group... Not all were of the same resource capability, but they were pretty well all of the same dedication toward getting the job done. Sound ownership is very important to a sports team operation and I believe success in one [sport] leads to success in another."

Here is Lamar plainly confessing that the key is the ownership. Want success? Gotta have that owner.

Ironically, it has always been my contention that Lamar's involvement in forming those other sports leagues truly compromised the ability of the Chiefs to be competitive for years and years. He may have said that good ownership carries over into other things, but if you spread yourself too thin, you aren't doing any favors to any of the things in which you have an interest.

Was that a legitimate aspect of Hunt that afflicted the Chiefs as much as it did? I can't say that it wasn't. It may now be reasonably asked, what does any of that have to do with us now? No worries, I got you, I understand.

I'm just looking at what the Capitals did.

I'm with you.

See that photograph there at the beginning of this post? See the sea of red in Washington D.C?

Here's to seeing it in Kansas City in February.
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