Chiefs Chronicles: NFL Week 12
Raiders Week Now & Then, Time Travel from the 1980s, Coach Reid Finally Listened to My Ranting at the TV, and Lots of Links to Chiefs Stuff, Movie Stuff, TV Stuff, and Other Stuff!
(Quick Note: If you received this post via email, the whole article won’t show. Either click the link to go to substack.com or download the Substack app to avoid this issue. Thanks!)
After waiting seemingly forever, “RAIDERS WEEK Part 1: Behind Enemy Lines” finally arrived!!! Chiefs Kingdom is always so excited about it and, before we know it, it’s gone (wouldn’t that be great if we could relive it?). Raiders fans dread it all year and can’t wait for it to be over (I assume). Red & Gold versus Silver & Black. Good versus Evil (too far?). Fan rivalries are renewed.
Speaking of rivalry, does anyone remember the story of the Chiefs fan who, while working on the foundation of Allegiant Stadium in 2017, buried a Chiefs Kingdom flag where the 50-yard line was going to be? This very petty (but probably extremely satisfying) display delighted most Chiefs fans and enraged Raider Nation (this link is for all my Raider Nation family and friends). For those of you who haven’t been a part of Chiefs Kingdom for very long (at Chiefs Chronicles we (that’s the royal we) welcome all fans- except maybe bandwagon fans), that act of gamesmanship was just a single shot fired in a long battle between two of the original AFL franchises (the AFL West was just the current AFC West with the Chiefs going by their original name: the Dallas Texans).
The rivalry between the Chiefs' Lamar Hunt and the Raiders' Al Davis started in the 60s with the AFL/NFL Merger, and their respective teams amplified that rivalry. When Marty Schottenheimer became KC’s coach in 1989, the Chiefs dislike turned to outright hate for the Raiders, and the feeling was mutual. Even though the Chiefs dominated the Raiders during the 90s, the animosity between them never let up. That was the era of Chiefs & Raiders football that I grew up in, and I thought that’s how it would always be.
Due to the Chiefs mostly beating the Raiders since Andy Reid arrived, it feels like Chiefs Kingdom is starting to feel pity for Raider Nation. Just a little. I have a friend who is a hardcore Raiders fan (yes, we still get along) and we don’t usually talk football. I’m fairly polite (no need to rub it in) and he mostly avoids the topic. During the Week 5 game last year (the infamous game with the bogus roughing the passer penalty on Chris Jones) the Chiefs had just gone down 17-0 and he texted me, “Thinkin’ of ya buddy.” I just replied, “After years of pain, I never celebrate too early. Literally, anything can happen at any time.” I knew that with Patrick Mahomes guiding the offense, you could never count the Chiefs out. Long story short, a lot happened, the crowd went bananas on the roughing call, we got to see that lunatic Chiefs fan for the first of what was to be many times, KC came all the way back, and the final score was 30-29. It was amazing for me and terrible for my friend. He took it like a man, though.
Now on to the perils of time travel for a Chiefs fan- as the topic relates to the Golden Age of Chiefs Football, or what we like to call “the present.”
Picture if you will: you’re a Chiefs fan during the late 1980s and you’re suffering through yet another terrible season. In what became known as the Quarterback Class of 1983, KC didn’t select future Hall of Famer Jim Kelly or future Hall of Famer Dan Marino with the 7th overall pick (future Hall of Famer John Elway was already gone; sort of), opting instead for Penn State QB Todd Blackledge. He was not the best QB choice (or even the fourth-best) they could have made. Even if you go with the non-QBs drafted in that year’s 1st round, there were four future Hall of Famers the Chiefs could have conceivably selected.
Sooo…
Your present reality is rooting for a mostly sub-par team (only two winning seasons from 1974-1988), that won’t be relevant until Marty Schottenheimer is hired in January of 1989, and even his teams would have little playoff success. But you don’t know about those last couple of things- they haven’t happened yet. Needless to say, you’re a little depressed. Just standing on a beach in 1988 wearing your linen suit, feeling sorry for yourself, and listening to the latest Bon Jovi/Def Leopard/Cinderella/Guns N’ Roses album (or “classic rock music” according to my friend Caleb- I’m old) on your massive boombox. Or maybe ”In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins.
Suddenly, a stranger walks up to you and tells you that, in the future, the Chiefs will win at least two more Super Bowls. Not only that, but the team will have a two-time MVP QB (who might end up being considered the best ever) throwing passes to the best TE in NFL history. He offers you the opportunity to skip all of the years between now and 2013, so you can see the Golden Age of Chiefs Football from the beginning. He goes on to say that there are multiple ways to get there, so you’ll have to choose.
You decide he isn’t delusional (he says he’s a doctor, after all), so you ask him what your time travel options are. They are as follows:
Pluses: Looks excellent, can go anywhere in time and space, and you can say you’ll do something in the future to get out of a bad situation (it actually works!).
Minuses: Antenna on top can be broken easily, has a phonebooth-sized interior, and points in time have to be looked up in a giant phone directory.
Pluses: From 1985 so it’s familiar to you, looks even cooler than the phone- booth, can be controlled remotely, it’s upgradeable, and it leaves a fire trail when it disappears.
Minuses: Original model runs on plutonium (difficult to obtain), it can only move through time (not space), takes 1.21 gigawatts (!) to travel through time, you can easily change the future during trips backward in time, and because of its futuristic appearance it has to be hidden when visiting the past.
Pluses: The OG time travel device for the sophisticated time traveler, classic Victorian-era styling, and it’s extremely helpful for figuring out what the ladies are wearing no matter which time you visit.
Minuses: A slip of the hand during time travel can cause unexpected problems, it isn’t equipped with an anti-Morlock security system, no one believes you invented it, and it only seats 1 person comfortably.
Pluses: It’s infinitely big (roomy) on the inside (and anything you could ever need can be found inside it), it’s capable of travel through time and space (any possible destination), it has disguise and universal language circuits that help you blend in no matter where or when you are, it looks awesome, and it comes equipped with The Doctor (don’t make him angry).
Minuses: Hard to pilot and easy to lose control of, it’s a magnet for trouble, it sometimes has a mind of its own, and hanging out with the Doctor (Doctor Who?) can be bad for your health.
Whichever you choose, welcome to the world of tomorrow! Go Chiefs!!!
I’ve been telling anyone who will listen (up to and including yelling at Coach Reid on the TV during games) that the Chiefs need to start feeding the ball to the skill-position guys. Those who have shown that they can make big plays- specifically Rashee Rice and Isiah Pacheco. No more democratic approach to the offense, Andy and Patrick! I’m getting sick of hearing the announcers say, “He’s completed passes to 12 different receivers today.” Everyone doesn’t get touches, because everyone doesn’t deserve touches. The Chiefs’ offense needs to be a meritocracy.
Who is to blame for this issue? I guess Patrick throws the ball to whoever is out there, so it isn’t his fault. I pin most of the blame for the extreme manner in which the offense has been spreading the ball around on Coach Reid. Maybe Matt Nagy shares some of the blame, but I really don’t know how much decision-making power he has (maybe do the opposite of what he suggests?). It has been frustrating for me. How is it that I know what they should do on offense and their highly talented, Super Bowl-winning coach can’t seem to figure it out?
All of those things had been bouncing around in my head (and coming out of my mouth) for a while, and then Raiders (not of the Lost Ark variety) Week arrived. All of a sudden, Andy starts feeding Rashee the ball. Less consistent wideouts are not playing very much. Isiah is getting almost all of the snaps/carries at running back and they are actually throwing him the ball, as well. The results of this adjustment were amazing. The Chiefs’ offense looked like they knew what they were doing. This led to a breakout game for Rice, a very solid game by Pacheco, a KC win, and it stopped me from getting mad for at least a week.
And now to pump you up before the game in Green Bay tomorrow night:
See you next week. Metaphorically, of course. Unless you live near me- then maybe in person. Trying to get the next Chiefs Chronicles to you by Thursday morning. We’ll see how that goes.
Ah yes, def Leppard. CLASSIC ROCK! That's pretty funny someone buried a KC flag in the raiders field