Chiefs Chronicles: Once More Unto The Breach, Dear Friends- 2024 Season Playoffs- AFC Championship Game
The Biggest Moment in Chiefs History, KC's Offense Has Been Pulling a Long Con on the Rest of the NFL All Season, My Predictions Last Week Were Close & What I Think Will Happen, and More!!!
The Biggest Moment in Chiefs History
Can you feel it coming? (⬅️BTW, if you play the song and watch the Chris Jones GIF ⬇️ at the same time, it syncs up and is AWESOME! I’m pumped!)
It’s almost here.
Less than 24 hours left until the AFC Championship Game begins.
To set the mood for this week’s column, let’s start with a (lightly edited) quote from William Shakespeare’s play Henry V:
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our
EnglishChiefs dead.In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;”
The bold words (in style and intent) above this paragraph are all that needs to be said if someone were to ask what tomorrow’s game means to the Chiefs and Chiefs Kingdom.
Would it be considered a controversial statement to say that the upcoming AFC Championship Game, on Sunday against the Bills, is the biggest moment in Kansas City Chiefs history? It might. Some folks may feel that’s kind of a crazy thing to say when talking about such a storied franchise, but a look at the Chiefs past reveals the truth of the matter.
If you were a fan before Andy, Alex, (Playoff) Trav, Chris, and Patrick arrived, then you know how bleak it felt for the Chiefs and, by extension, Chiefs Kingdom. The Chiefs seemed to be snakebit. All of those years of awfulness and playoff frustration finally culminated in the 2012 season: AKA the worst season in Chiefs, and possibly NFL, history (ICYMI, I broke that terrible year down here⬇️).
(Note: When I talk about the Chiefs “awfulness” I’m excluding their early AFL/NFL success in the ‘60s. This is because it was relatively short-lived, and happened before I was born, so I can’t really speak to it. I did look up their W/L record after that, between 1970-1989, and they went a not great 126-163-7 (that’s right, they had 7 ties!!!) with just 2 playoff appearances, both of which were losses. Wow. Seeing all that just makes me appreciate what we have right now, not to mention the OG Chiefs fans, even more.)
In my 23 seasons as a fan from 1990-2012 BA (Note: All time before 2013 shall now be called BA- Before Andy), the Chiefs had a record of 191-177 (which now seems amazing compared to those teams from ‘70-’89) and played in 13 playoff games, scattered over 10 seasons. In those 13 playoff games, they had an extremely unimpressive 3-10 record (which, again, was still a fantastic result compared to the earlier Chiefs teams- that probably explains why Arrowhead became so crazy loud in the ‘90s).
It wasn’t easy being a Chiefs fan, but I hung on (for some reason saying “hung on” instead of “hanged on” reminded me of this hilarious clip from an old episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien).
Why did I keep rooting for a team that invariably let me down?
The reason is this: I don’t give up just because things aren’t going well (usually) and I knew that someday they were going to be good (probably) and my patience would pay off. That faith may have wavered some, from time to time, but when the preseason rolled around every year I always convinced myself that this season was going to be different and they were going to go all the way. Count on it!
Unfortunately, for everyone involved, it never happened for the Chiefs.
Never happened, that is, until Clark Hunt flew to Philadelphia to convince Coach Andy Reid (fresh from being fired by the Eagles) and his walrus-like mustache (strangely, his mustache was never fired but rather traded to the Chiefs- and saying that reminds me of this ridiculous bit) that coaching the team in KC was his best option (with a deal-sealing assist from former Chiefs head coach, Dick Vermeil- it’s all covered in this article from the KC Star).
The DA (During Andy) Years had begun. We didn’t know it yet (though we all had high hopes), but that 2013 season was going to set in motion a series of events that would change everything for the Chiefs. (Note: The me from the Chiefs’ BA years, never could have foreseen things working out as well as they have.)
The regular season winning started immediately in DA 1 (2013), but the team still couldn’t get over the hump in the playoffs. Even though they made the playoffs all but one year from 2013-2017 (they just missed out in 2014), they were only 1-4 in the postseason.
That 2015 season playoff victory against the Texans was still a big deal, to be fair. Not only because the Alex Smith-led Chiefs won the game 30-0, but also because it was the team’s first playoff win in 22 years. The last QB to do it was some character with the unlikely name of Joe Montana (Joe Mantegna?).
By DA 5 (2017), the Chiefs team/organization had stabilized and they were looking to take the next step. They made the first move in that direction by trading up in the 1st Round of the NFL Draft and taking Texas Tech QB Patrick Mahomes (I reacted like the bad guy in this clip )
In DA 6 (2018), Patrick Mahomes became the starter and the rest, as I’ve written about at length (including last week), is history.
We all know what those Chiefs teams accomplished since that amazing season but, as it is with a bag full of cash, sometimes it feels good to just spread it all out on the floor and look at it:
Chiefs Team Accomplishments in the 7 Years Since DA 6 (2018)
Regular Season Record: 90-26
AFC West Divisional Champs: 9X in a row- streak started in DA 4 (2016)
Playoff Record: 16-3
AFC Divisional Championship Games: 7X in a row
AFC Division Champs: 4X
Super Bowl Champs: 3X
Taking all of that into consideration, and accounting for the fact that the Chiefs are attempting to complete the Three-Peat as Super Bowl Champs (it’s still so unbelievable that is even on the table), leads us to the inescapable conclusion that we are experiencing the Golden Age of Chiefs Football. It may never get this good again.
Because the Chiefs are at their (current) peak, each playoff game becomes exponentially more important than the one that preceded it. It’s sort of like the way earthquake magnitudes are measured as they go up in strength (that chart is bananas). (Note: I live in earthquake country, so this chart is both interesting and scary to look at.)
Last week, the game against the Texans was the most important game in Kansas City Chiefs history- until they won. Winning pushed it up the line.
Tomorrow, the game against the Bills will be (by several orders of magnitude more than the Texans game) the most important game in Kansas City Chiefs history.
If the Chiefs win Sunday afternoon and punch their ticket to a third consecutive Super Bowl, that game will be at least a magnitude 9.0 (we have to leave a little space to go up for a Four-Peat!) on the game importance scale making it far and away:
THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME IN KANSAS CITY CHIEFS HISTORY!!!
Continuing on the theme of pre-game/battle hype speeches (I’ll probably add a few more before I’m through), here’s a great one by King Arthur (played by Clive Owen in the underrated movie King Arthur) to his remaining knights before a battle they are expected to lose:
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KC's Offense Has Been Pulling a Long Con on the Rest of the NFL All Season
How is a team that went 15-1 in games they tried to win during the regular season, earned the top seed and the bye week in the AFC, and is 1-0 in the playoffs (despite risking rust by resting their starters for around 3 weeks) continuously underestimated?
On TV, in print, and every time I talk to people I know about football, I hear the same thing over and over: “Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense aren’t great and have been getting by on luck and favoritism.” To hear them tell it, not only are the Chiefs a mediocre team (that is probably cheating) but the Bills are a juggernaut that is going to roll right over them.
I think it’s all by design. The Chiefs offense has played just good enough not to lose most of the time, letting the defense do most of the heavy lifting, only rising up to win games as needed- often at the last second. There are three possible reasons they’ve done it this way. Reasons ranging from most to least likely, which coincides with least to most fun to think and talk about:
They have had key injuries to WRs and substandard LT play, so Coach Reid has shifted the offense to cover those deficiencies and they’re just floating along in “whatever gets the job done” mode.
After the Super Bowl last year they realized that this matchup with the Bills was likely and they have held almost everything back. No reason to show what you’ve got before it’s necessary- it is better to surprise an overconfident foe with something they aren’t expecting. Like this crazy movie scene, that shows the bad guys getting an unwelcome and overwhelming surprise (I wish I could have watched this movie when it was in theaters):
Patrick Mahomes is just bored and, in true Man In Black/Inigo Montoya fashion, has been “fighting left-handed” to make things more challenging and thus more interesting for himself.
This is the theory that I’m currently leaning towards. Of course, it’s 4 AM and I’m full of nachos (Thank you Nick & Katie for the invite and fun evening!), in immense pain (only a little of that is from the nachos), and exhausted.
Moving along.
My Predictions Last Week Were Close & What I Think Will Happen
Here are things I predicted last week and how they turned out:
Prediction: I said that Taylor Swift would not only be there, but she’d be dancing & singing. Result: She was there but they rarely showed her during the game, so I’m counting that- 100% correct
Prediction: I also said that a rested/motivated Playoff Trav was gonna put on a show for Ms Swift. Result: Playoff Trav not only showed, but he did his thing to the tune of 7 receptions for 117 yards and a TD. He also broke Jerry Rice’s record for most playoff games with 100 yards or more- at least 100% correct (he showed up with a vengeance!)
Spoiler Alert! I think Playoff Trav shows up against Buffalo. Prediction: I predicted it wouldn’t be as cold as it was for the Miami game last year but it would too cold for the Texans. Result: It wasn’t as cold, but I’m not sure the weather impacted the Texans at all- 50% correct
Prediction: I said the well-rested Chiefs team would look fantastic on both sides of the ball. Plenty of touchdowns for the Offense, sacks & forced turnovers for the Defense, and at least one big Special Teams play. Result: The Chiefs won but the Offense didn’t look fantastic. The Defense looked great and racked up 8 sacks, one of which was a 4th down stop (turnover on downs!). There was also the required one big special teams play- 85% correct because the Offense was decent not fantastic
Prediction: I predicted the Chiefs would win and the score would be 37-13 Result: The final score was 23-14 and it should have been 23-12, so I got really close for the Texans side of the score. The Chiefs Offense didn’t go off as expected, but a win is a win- 85% correct because I was pretty close.
Bonus Prediction: After predicting lots of sacks for the Defense, I put a GIF of our guy Furious George at the bottom of the column. Was I trying to tell you something? Result: 100% I was! He had 3 sacks and looked just as Furious as his namesake! That has to count as extra credit or something.
Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!
This week’s prediction is for the result and score only:
I think that the Chiefs will beat the Bills, in a blowout (I’m going for the gusto, baby!) and the final score will be:
38-21 for the Chiefs.
The Chiefs will move on to their third straight Super Bowl to try and complete the Three-Peat.
That’s all I’ve got for now. I hit my second or possibly third-wind about an hour ago, but it’s looping around to hit me back. As my dad always said when I was a little kid, “It’s bedtime for Bonzo.”
(BTW, as I mentioned the movie Bedtime For Bonzo I could clearly hear Dr. Emmett Brown yelling:
“Ronald Reagan? The actor? Then who's vice president? Jerry Lewis? I suppose Jane Wyman is the First Lady! And Jack Benny is secretary of the treasury!”)
After I sign off for now, there’s just one more hype video to watch (if you’re interested). It’s over the top but it always gives me chills.
I hope we all get to enjoy a great game in about 10 hours, but don’t forget that it’s…
THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME IN KANSAS CITY CHIEFS HISTORY!!!
Until I see you again, I just want to say so long with my usual…
Good luck today Gary! And regarding Andy Reid…you’re welcome 😉