Over 50 players, a coaching staff, and a GM woke up on February 2, 2020 as people pursuing a dream. By the end of the day, they all achieved that dream and became champions. They brought immeasurable joy to millions of Chiefs fans who had never experienced this before. As much as sports journalists like to boil a team down to one player, it took a true team effort from all of them to accomplish this goal. I wanted to take a moment and give honor and thanks to some of the people that made this possible.
Andy Reid
I'm old enough to remember when Reid coached the Eagles and people criticized him for not running the ball enough. This was a real thing. Turns out, Reid was operating ahead of the advanced stats era.
He inherited a team at the lowest point in the franchise. And immediately took them to the playoffs. Every years since then, the Chiefs have had a winning record. Because Andy Reid is a winner.
Reid is rightfully beloved in this city. He's embraced Kansas City and its barbecue. Kansas City has embraced him. One of the coolest things is that Andy Reid is ours now. This is where he'll be remembered as succeeding. His long tenure in Philadelphia becomes a stepping stone to his greatness with the Chiefs. One day he will be inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the lead highlight will be him holding the Lombardi Trophy in Chiefs red.
If the Chiefs had won with Joe Montana, it would have been cool, but Montana would still have been a 49er first and foremost. Same for Marcus Allen and Dick Vermeil. They made their bones elsewhere. But for Reid and basically everyone on the roster except Suggs, this is their breakthrough as Champions.
He's 6th in regular season wins.
In his KC tenure, Reid is averaging 12.8 wins a season. With 5 seasons of Mahomes, he will pass Landry and Lambeau. He'll be on the Mount Rushmore of most wins. Reid and Belichick become the top two of the 21st Century. One offense, one defense.
He's also 6th in playoff wins.
With Mahomes, Reid has gone from 11 playoff wins to 15 in two years. Entirely realistic that he passes Noll, Gibbs, Shula, and Landry. Belichick is the GOAT. But second all-time? That's a pretty good place to be.
Juan Thornhill
I feel bad for a lot of Chiefs. There are legends like Tony Gonzalez and Jamaal Charles who gave so much to this franchise and never even got to enjoy one playoff win here. Then there's players like Justin Houston and Eric Berry who were on the 2018 roster. They got to play alongside Mahomes and get so close to a Super Bowl without actually getting there. All four of those guys I just mentioned deserved glory more than guys like Reggie Ragland or Anthony Hitchens. But deserving is not how it works. It sucks for Houston who played so well for so long, to get cut right before the Chiefs make the jump.
Juan Thornhill is another one I feel bad for. He came in as a rookie and was an instant impact player. He was the best rookie safety in the league. By one metric he was the second best safety in the AFC. And then he tore his ACL in Week 17.
To be a part of something and have to watch from the sidelines as your teammates lift the trophy, it's just not fair. He'll get his ring and I hope he knows that he was a key part of this championship.
Alex Smith
Alex is another one that I feel for. He came in with Andy and brought this team back to life. Before Smith, the Chiefs had losing seasons in 5 out of 6 years. Brodie Croyle. Tyler Thigpen. Damon Huard. Matt Cassel. Tyler Palko. Kyle Orton. Brady Quinn. All of these players started games for the Chiefs. Fans paid good money to watch them play. Smith came in and reeled off 5 winning seasons in a row. 4 double digit win seasons. The Chiefs worst year with Smith was a 9-7 season finishing 2nd in the division.
He brought stability and winning culture to this team. When you have stability at QB, you can draft Eric Fisher, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, Tyreek Hill, Demarcus Robinson and more because you're not spending picks on QB. When you finish 12-4 in 2016, you have the luxury of saying, "let's go all in and trade up to get Pat Mahomes." It sucks to see your team do that when you're the QB thinking, if we get a little more pass rush or a honey badger, we could make the Super Bowl. But Smith came out in 2017 and mentored Mahomes.
The situation that Mahomes inherited was perfect not just because of Andy and not just because of the speedy receivers. Alex Smith was part of what it made it perfect.
Smith brought me the first Chiefs playoff win I ever saw and it was awesome. It's not his fault, he's not Mahomes. No one else is. So I'm forever grateful for what Smith was and what he did to create a Super Bowl winning team.
Eric Fisher
Fisher was the #1 draft pick in the 2013 draft. The Chiefs had the pick because they were the worst team in the league. I mocked the pick.
The year before, the Colts had the #1 pick and selected a franchise QB sure to anchor their roster for the next 15-20 years. And here the Chiefs are selecting a tackle that might be good to protect Alex Smith.
Throughout his first 5 years, he seemed mostly solid. Good enough to keep, but not exactly what you want out of the #1 pick in the league. He made the Pro Bowl for the first time in 2018. And then in 2019 when he was injured, he made the fans realize just how good he is. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Especially when your absence is threatening the health of our franchise QB and his recently located kneecap.
Now it’s 2020. Andrew Luck is out of the league. You look back at the 2013 NFL Draft and there’s no obvious stars that the Chiefs should have taken. They got a tackle that’s protecting Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl from Nick Bosa. And yes, Eric Fisher is holding…the Lombardi.
Mitchell Schwartz
Fisher is the bookend on the left. Schwartz the bookend on the right.
Schwartz was drafted by Cleveland in the second round and was awesome for the Browns on bad teams. The Chiefs signed him as a free agent in 2016 and now he's made a case as the best tackle in football. He didn't allow a single sack this entire season.
And then in the playoffs, he took his game to a higher level. Robert Mays said "Mahomes is the best football player in the world. In the playoffs, Schwartz was the best football player on the Chiefs." That sounds crazy, but here's some evidence to support it.
Also, he's Jewish. If you're looking for the best Jewish NFL player of all time, you might give the nod to Edelman, with three rings and a SB MVP. But Edelman has never been named the best of his position (All-Pro). Also he has a cooking blog called Mitch in the Kitch, so I think he takes this one.
Mecole Hardman
The 2019 Chiefs draft was clouded by the uncertainty of the Tyreek Hill situation. At the time it looked like Hill was going to get cut. I wanted the Chiefs to draft DK Metcalf. They drafted Mecole Hardman.
In the preseason vs the Bengals, Hardman won me over with a sweep run for a TD where he looked twice as fast as any other player. Mark told me preseason is meaningless. I agreed. But said you can’t teach speed.
In the regular season he scored 6 touchdowns, mostly of the long and very fast variety. He makes fast people look slow.
He played in the 2018 National Championship for Georgia, where they lost in overtime in the Tua breakout game. So he’s no stranger to big moments. And when the Chiefs couldn’t catch a single punt or pass in the Wild Card Round, Hardman’s big return was the spark the Chiefs needed. One season. One Super Bowl ring.
Tyrann Mathieu
I've been a fan of Mathieu since his LSU days. He's small but always plays big. He'd kinda defined what it means to be a playmaker. He can hit, read the play for picks, return punts, wrap up guys right before the first down marker, play in any position, whatever you need.
When I found out the Chiefs got him, he made my top 5 favorite players on the team before even seeing a snap. What I didn't know was he would be a transformative presence as a leader.
His signature chirp after making a play was "Too Smart", as in you can't run plays for success against him because he's too smart. That spread to other people on the defense and that's why Sorensen is pointing to his own helmet after making the tackle of his life.
Another signature phrase of his that spread throughout the team was Championship Swagger. He's been saying since an Arizona Cardinal, he said it with Houston. And as it turns out, the Chiefs were missing it in 2018. More on that in a minute.
Just like with Andy Reid, I love that Mathieu is ours now. He spent 5 seasons as a Cardinal. But when he retires, his highlight reel is talking about how he won a Super Bowl with the Chiefs.
He picked Rivers in the end zone in Week 17 with the bye on the line. When the Texans were still clinging to a 24-21 lead, Mathieu covered Hopkins and broke it up, forcing a punt. A playmaker and a leader. Everything you want in a Chief.
Oh, nothing. Just a play where Tyrann Mathieu fakes a blitz, drops to cover Deshaun Watson's first read, then covers his second read, then forces the scramble out of bounds.— Sam Mellinger (@mellinger) January 15, 2020
Doesn't get credit for any stat here but holy crap. pic.twitter.com/qSeL4FWtfI
Frank Clark
The Chiefs gave up a lot and paid a lot to employ Frank Clark instead of Dee Ford. And for the first half of the season, it didn't seem like it was paying off. Clark wasn't getting to the quarterback.
But the second half of the season, he came on. Not all the time. Just in the biggest moments. Just in the 4th quarter when the Chiefs needed someone to seal the game. In fact, he sealed every playoff win with a sack.
Here's one of the best sacks I've ever seen where it took Clark's 3rd attempt to bring down Deshaun Watson.
When I mentioned that Mathieu brought Championship Swagger to the Chiefs, Frank Clark is where you can see it. When Derrick Henry had just ran the Patriots and Ravens out of the playoffs, Frank Clark was not afraid.
That's the kind of quote that gets you on Old Takes Exposed guaranteed. When I saw it, I got scared. But Clark's not scared. He believed in his team and carried in the confidence that his defense was going to shut Henry down. They backed it up. He delivered what the Chiefs never had with Bob Sutton's 2018 defense. Championship Swagger.
Matt Moore
I made a big deal of it at the time and it turned out to be even bigger than I imagined. Matt Moore wasn’t on the Chiefs roster in August. Chad Henne was the backup and that’s what the Chiefs were rolling with. Well, Henne got an ankle injury before they were cool. So the Chiefs signed Matt Moore, just in case. Well, just in case came in Week 7. Matt Moore came in and held on to the win. He almost outdueled Aaron Rodgers. And then in Week 9, Matt Moore was slinging dimes and beat the Vikings. That’s a win over a playoff team. A lot of teams lost to the Vikings this year with their starting QB. The Chiefs win that game and get to 12-4. If they’re 11-5, everything is different. The Titans can’t knock out Baltimore and New England. The Chiefs showed they were good enough to win the Super Bowl but they could have easily lost at Baltimore. Matt Moore doesn’t just get a ring. He earned a ring.
Damien Williams
More than any other position, running back has been the one area where throughout my lifetime the Chiefs have not only had success, they've been able to continually find new stars. TE has been a strength with 12 years of Gonzalez and 7 of Kelce, but that's just two people. Christian Okoye. Priest Holmes. Larry Johnson. Jamaal Charles. Kareem Hunt. Chiefs fans have been spoiled at RB.
At the start of 2018, Kareem Hunt was the starter and Spencer Ware was the backup. Hunt was the starter through Week 11, until he was cut from the team. Ware became the starter, Williams the backup.
By Week 15, Ware was banged up and Williams got the nod. Weird game where a player named Williams scored 6 of the 8 touchdowns in the game.
In 2019, the Chiefs brought in LeSean McCoy and were set to roll with a two-headed rushing attack along with Williams. Well in Week 2, Williams got hurt. So McCoy is out there scoring on the Ravens and lateraling vs the Lions.
Williams topped 100 yards for the first time all year vs the Vikings, thanks to a 91-yard run. Then he got a rib injury and missed another three games.
Coming into Week 17, Damien Williams had 374 rushing yards this year. But in Week 17, with the bye on the line, he turned in two incredible rushing touchdowns. Both times it looked like he was about to go down, but he stayed up and turned them into game-winning points.
He entered the playoffs with fresh legs and it showed. He came up big in the playoffs and some thought he should have been Super Bowl MVP.
So now he's the most crowned RB since Mike Garrett and the 65 Toss Power Trap of Super Bowl IV.
All for the guy who is currently...42nd on the list of Chiefs all-time rushing leaders.
When it was 24-20 the Chiefs took over on the SF 42-yard line. Damien Williams got all 42 of those two yards to clinch the Super Bowl.
So many running backs have ran for more yards for this team. But no running back has run for more important yards. I guess it's true. 42 is the answer to the universe.
P.S. Here's a fun little nugget.
Harrison Butker
Butker was the 6th most accurate field goal kicker this year. He made the most in the NFL this year. In the playoffs, the Chiefs got back to almost exclusively scoring touchdowns so they didn’t really lean on him. But he came through every time, not missing once in the playoffs. Some teams (Bears) know what it’s like to have a kicker you can’t depend on. Chiefs can’t relate.
Dustin Colquitt
For Eric Fisher, Travis Kelce and Anthony Sherman, this was their 7th year with the Chiefs. They’re all tied for 2nd place for longest current tenure on this team. Dustin Colquitt is in 1st place. This was his 15th year.
He was drafted in 2005. He shared a locker room with Priest Holmes, Tony Gonzalez, Dante Hall. He was there before the Chiefs drafted Tamba Hali. Hali played for 12 years with the Chiefs. Colquitt was there when Hali retired. Seven times Colquitt went to the playoffs and lost. He was there for the worst season in franchise history and the best. Dustin Colquitt crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.
Dustin’s dad was an NFL punter and won 2 Super Bowl rings. Dustin’s younger brother is a punter and won a Super Bowl ring with the Broncos. And now Dustin will get to show up at Thanksgiving with a Chiefs Super Bowl ring.
Sammy Watkins
He had the biggest salary cap hit on the team in 2019 and it’s not close. For that reason, many fans have been annoyed with his mediocre production in his time with the Chiefs. Hill and Kelce are the top two targets. Watkins is on the same tier with Hardman and Robinson. But then something funny happened. In the playoffs, Sammy Watkins balled out. 288 yards in three games.
He had the 38-yard catch where he beat Sherman one-on-one in the Super Bowl that set up the go-ahead touchdown. And he had the play I’ll always remember him for. The 60-yard touchdown that clinched the AFC Championship.
Just getting to the Super Bowl was such a breakthrough—something I had dreamed of but felt so out of reach. Hearing Jim Nantz shout “SAMMY WATKINS” will never get old.
Chris Jones
This man entered the league by going balls out at the combine. In his third year, he went second-team All-Pro. For some reason, the Chiefs didn't want to secure him to a second deal. I know you can't sign everyone, but Jones has been a star. He saw the Chiefs pay big money to Frank Clark while not giving him anything more than a rookie contract. He could have held out and missed time, ruining the chemistry in the locker room. Instead he focused on winning a Super Bowl. Clark and Chris weren't 100% for much of the season together. But that extra week before the Super Bowl helped. Jones came up huge, swatting down three passes in the 4th quarter. One of which, Kittle was wide open and changes the entire ending. Jones was a huge part of a Championship D.
Tyreek Hill
Hill's off-the-field actions make rooting for him a complicated issue. In April 2019, it seemed like he was about to be cut from the team. The NFL investigated and decided not to suspend him.
Quite simply, he makes plays that no one in the league can make. And when the Super Bowl is on the line, Mahomes calls Wasp. And the only reason it works is because Hill has the speed and the route running and the hands. People have called him a lot of names. Now they can call him Champion.
Demarcus Robinson
When Tyreek Hill was injured in the first part of the season, it could have derailed the offense. Week 3 was a game vs the Ravens that mattered quite a bit. Without Tyreek, Robinson stepped up and delivered a signature highlight.
Dan Sorensen
For the last few years, fans had been calling for Sorensen to be cut from the team. At the start of the year, he essentially got replaced. Juan Thornhill came in as a rookie and got over 84% of defensive snaps, often 100%. Sorensen didn't crack 30% of defensive snaps in the first six games. He worked his way back into the lineup and for the Chargers game in Mexico, he and Thornhill both played the whole game. Dirty Dan made the game-winning interception. When Thornhill got injured in Week 17, myself and others were concerned about the effect it would have on the defense. Sorensen made the stop on the fake punt and then 30 seconds later forced a fumble, completely shifting the momentum.
If the Texans' fake punt works, there's an entirely realistic scenario that the Texans go down and score and take a 31-14 lead into the half. With the momentum, Watson makes a few more plays and the Texans hold off the Chiefs comeback attempt. Mahomes becomes 1-2 as a playoff starter. Reid becomes 2-6 in the playoffs as Chiefs head coach. Questions start swirling if Reid/Chiefs are going to waste Mahomes' prime. The 49ers beat the Titans in the Super Bowl. Shanahan finds Super Bowl redemption. The story becomes how SF built the best team from the trenches out and every team is focused on replicated their strength. But the Texans' fake punt didn't work. Dan Sorensen made the tackle of his life and became a champion forever.
Travis Kelce
All those speed demons and Travis Kelce is the 2019 Chiefs leading receiver. And he's not even a receiver.
Down 24-7 in the divisional round, Kelce caught three touchdowns in a quarter and the Chiefs never trailed again.
When he first entered the league he was a hot head, famed for throwing towels at refs and doing other things at refs. This year he's telling Norma Hunt, "Look how many people are happy because of Lamar."
By the way, the all-time stats for tight ends, yards per game. 1 is Gronk with 68. 2 is Kelce with 67. 3 is Kittle with 65. With Mahomes, Kelce is averaging 80. He can break quite a few of Gronk's records at this rate.
Kelce has been in KC with Reid since coach got here. It's been awesome to watch him develop and grow. From a hot-head to a Champion.
Steve Spagnuolo
On January 20, 2019, the Chiefs came up four inches short of the Super Bowl. By January 24th, Steve Spagnuolo was now in charge of the defense.
It's a high-pressure situation. On the one hand, you inherit the third-best offense the league has ever seen. On the other hand, this team has Super Bowl or bust expectations. Oh and Veach is about to overhaul your roster too. So you better hit the ground running. When the Chiefs lost two in a row to the Colts and Texans, it seemed like the defense had fatal flaws. The run defense in particular looked horrible. Imagine facing someone like Derrick Henry in the playoffs when everything gets more physical with that run defense.
Something changed. Maybe it was that the defense had to step up to respond to Mahomes knee injury. Maybe Frank Clark's nerve damage was holding him back in the first 6 weeks and once he got healthy he improved. Maybe it took a bit of time for the roster to gel together. Or maybe it just takes a few games for Spagnuolo's system to take effect.
When I first wrote about Spags, I was hoping he could get them from the 24th defense to 16th. That would be enough. The defense went from 24th to 7th. And down the stretch, they were top-5.
Spagnuolo was the DC that beat the 18-0 Patriots in the Super Bowl.
And now he's the DC that changed the narratives for Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and an entire city.
Brett Veach
Veach was a scout that followed Reid from Philadelphia to Kansas City. On Draft Night in Philadelphia, the Chiefs traded up to get their guy. Lots of people will want to claim that they were in on Mahomes from the beginning. Veach is the one who can prove it.
The icing on the cake with getting Patrick Mahomes is how the Chiefs got him. He wasn't the slam dunk #1 pick like Andrew Luck, that any team would have taken. He wasn't someone that was an afterthought like Tom Brady, who was the 7th player drafted by the Patriots in 2000. Everyone had the tape and combine on Mahomes and Brett Veach was the one who entered the Draft and said Patrick Mahomes No Matter What. The Chiefs had the 27th pick. Veach has said they knew they couldn't move up to the top 5, they didn't have the draft capital. They moved up as far as they could, #10. At #12, the Texans selected a very good QB. If the Chiefs don't get to 10, who knows what happens.
Veach convinces Reid and then GM Dorsey to get Pat. And then in June, Dorsey is out. Veach is in as GM.
While drafting Mahomes is the biggest transaction in Chiefs history, do we have proof that he can be a GM and not just a scout? His 2018 draft was kind of a letdown. And after the 2018 season, with Bob Sutton and a defense that couldn't get Mahomes the ball, something had to be done.
Veach was not complacent. He turned the entire defense over. He cut popular players who still had something in the tank. He made tough calls, risky calls. Here's a cheat sheet to what Veach did this year. Spoiler alert: they all worked.
It's hard to stay a popular GM for a long time. A few draft busts or bad signings and fans will call for your head. But Veach has earned some leash for *quite* a while.
Patrick Mahomes
Andy Reid resurrected the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes took them to the promised land.
There are so many things that seem impossible.
Before Mahomes, I'd never seen the Chiefs in the AFC Championship. He's never not been there.
Before Mahomes, the Chiefs had never had a MVP. He did it his first year.
The debate used to be Brady vs Manning. Now the conversation is going to be Brady vs Mahomes.
It shouldn't be this simple. We're used to stories of Elway finally making it at the end of his career. We're used to the idea that Favre and Brees and Rodgers win one Super Bowl and it is a crowning achievement. (We'd be more used to it if it weren't for Brady, king of outliers.) We're not used to seeing someone come in and be the best player in the league right away.
Winning in the playoffs is hard. I mean first you have to get there. But even once you do, I saw the Chiefs lose 8 in a row.
Having a winning record in the playoffs is almost impossible. 11 out of 12 teams are guaranteed a loss every year. Mahomes has the best playoff winning percentage among active QBs.
(With a minimum of 3 games, the only QB with a better all-time playoff record than Mahomes is Dilfer who went 5-1.)
The reason he was overlooked coming out of college was people thought he was just a big arm in a Big 12 system. He's shown he can make throws no one else can make. He also makes less mistakes. He also knows the game. Mahomes was the one who asked to run Wasp on the biggest play of the Super Bowl.
Mahomes was the first time I've seen the Chiefs draft a QB in the first round. I was optimistic from the beginning.
His first NFL touchdown is a throw that should be talked about more because I don't think I've ever seen anyone make a throw that fast at that angle that quickly after the snap with a defender in your face.
Within two weeks, he was in the top two sports things ever for me.
Mark tried to get me to pump the brakes. It's been two games. Yep.
I called him an All-Pro before he became the starter. And he got there in one year.
He's the face of Madden and the face of the NFL. No one's overlooking him now.
Kansas City has always been a Chiefs town and now we have a hero to call our own.
My whole life I've imagined what it would feel like to see a team that I love win a championship. I imagined it as jubilation. I pictured myself running out of the house, through the streets, screaming, jumping and hugging strangers. But it wasn't like that.
I hugged my oldest son and screamed and we rolled on the floor for a moment in shock. But mostly, it's been...a relief. A sense of peace. No longer would I have to worry about each loss or each moment that this could cost me witnessing history. No longer would I have to be jealous of other fans. No longer would I have to wonder what sports is like for them or wonder what they're feeling. No longer will a playoff loss mean the collapse of a dream. Because no one or nothing can take this away.
There's a great joke that has been recycled too many times already: A Cleveland man passed away and requested Browns players to be the pallbearers, so the Browns can let him down one final time.
This was an actual request in 2013 and it's funny because it's true. Some fans get to see ten championship parades in their city in one decade. And fans of certain teams in certain cities die without ever seeing one. You don't get to pick where you're born. I was born in Kansas City and up until Damien Williams got the edge there was a chance I'd die without seeing the Chiefs lift the Lombardi Trophy. Before the Chiefs drafted Mahomes, that chance seemed ominously large.
And now I don't have to ever wonder or worry or think about that ever again.
For so long, I just wanted one. Just let me have one championship. And I worried what would happen if it did. Because neither of the two options seemed great. Either, I'd be content with that one and lose interest in the Chiefs, something that's been a big part of my life. Or I wouldn't be content with one and become like the arrogant Patriots fans that I hate.
But after taking over two weeks to reflect and absorb it, here's where I'm at. I'm content with one. But I haven't lost interest in the Chiefs. I'm simply playing with house money forever. I'm in a casino and all the money I brought with me is safely in my pocket and it's not going back on the table. No loss can put me in debt. No fumble to a rival in the final minute can take everything I own. That trophy is ours. And for the rest of my life, I can root for them and hope they win another without it defining me as a sports fan. There will come a time in my life when the Chiefs go 3-13 again. And all I'll have to do is watch Super Bowl highlights, put on a Championship shirt, read Hoagie Central, or simply close my eyes and remember the moment that everything changed.
So many running backs have ran for more yards for this team. But no running back has run for more important yards. I guess it's true. 42 is the answer to the universe.
P.S. Here's a fun little nugget.
A very innocent looking inactives list. It just happens to have two future Super Bowl Champions inactive for the game. They wouldn't be active in this game, but they would be active in Super Bowl LIV in Miami just two seasons later.
Harrison Butker
Butker was the 6th most accurate field goal kicker this year. He made the most in the NFL this year. In the playoffs, the Chiefs got back to almost exclusively scoring touchdowns so they didn’t really lean on him. But he came through every time, not missing once in the playoffs. Some teams (Bears) know what it’s like to have a kicker you can’t depend on. Chiefs can’t relate.
Dustin Colquitt
For Eric Fisher, Travis Kelce and Anthony Sherman, this was their 7th year with the Chiefs. They’re all tied for 2nd place for longest current tenure on this team. Dustin Colquitt is in 1st place. This was his 15th year.
He was drafted in 2005. He shared a locker room with Priest Holmes, Tony Gonzalez, Dante Hall. He was there before the Chiefs drafted Tamba Hali. Hali played for 12 years with the Chiefs. Colquitt was there when Hali retired. Seven times Colquitt went to the playoffs and lost. He was there for the worst season in franchise history and the best. Dustin Colquitt crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.
Dustin’s dad was an NFL punter and won 2 Super Bowl rings. Dustin’s younger brother is a punter and won a Super Bowl ring with the Broncos. And now Dustin will get to show up at Thanksgiving with a Chiefs Super Bowl ring.
Sammy Watkins
He had the biggest salary cap hit on the team in 2019 and it’s not close. For that reason, many fans have been annoyed with his mediocre production in his time with the Chiefs. Hill and Kelce are the top two targets. Watkins is on the same tier with Hardman and Robinson. But then something funny happened. In the playoffs, Sammy Watkins balled out. 288 yards in three games.
He had the 38-yard catch where he beat Sherman one-on-one in the Super Bowl that set up the go-ahead touchdown. And he had the play I’ll always remember him for. The 60-yard touchdown that clinched the AFC Championship.
Just getting to the Super Bowl was such a breakthrough—something I had dreamed of but felt so out of reach. Hearing Jim Nantz shout “SAMMY WATKINS” will never get old.
Chris Jones
This man entered the league by going balls out at the combine. In his third year, he went second-team All-Pro. For some reason, the Chiefs didn't want to secure him to a second deal. I know you can't sign everyone, but Jones has been a star. He saw the Chiefs pay big money to Frank Clark while not giving him anything more than a rookie contract. He could have held out and missed time, ruining the chemistry in the locker room. Instead he focused on winning a Super Bowl. Clark and Chris weren't 100% for much of the season together. But that extra week before the Super Bowl helped. Jones came up huge, swatting down three passes in the 4th quarter. One of which, Kittle was wide open and changes the entire ending. Jones was a huge part of a Championship D.
Tyreek Hill
Hill's off-the-field actions make rooting for him a complicated issue. In April 2019, it seemed like he was about to be cut from the team. The NFL investigated and decided not to suspend him.
Quite simply, he makes plays that no one in the league can make. And when the Super Bowl is on the line, Mahomes calls Wasp. And the only reason it works is because Hill has the speed and the route running and the hands. People have called him a lot of names. Now they can call him Champion.
Demarcus Robinson
When Tyreek Hill was injured in the first part of the season, it could have derailed the offense. Week 3 was a game vs the Ravens that mattered quite a bit. Without Tyreek, Robinson stepped up and delivered a signature highlight.
Dan Sorensen
For the last few years, fans had been calling for Sorensen to be cut from the team. At the start of the year, he essentially got replaced. Juan Thornhill came in as a rookie and got over 84% of defensive snaps, often 100%. Sorensen didn't crack 30% of defensive snaps in the first six games. He worked his way back into the lineup and for the Chargers game in Mexico, he and Thornhill both played the whole game. Dirty Dan made the game-winning interception. When Thornhill got injured in Week 17, myself and others were concerned about the effect it would have on the defense. Sorensen made the stop on the fake punt and then 30 seconds later forced a fumble, completely shifting the momentum.
If the Texans' fake punt works, there's an entirely realistic scenario that the Texans go down and score and take a 31-14 lead into the half. With the momentum, Watson makes a few more plays and the Texans hold off the Chiefs comeback attempt. Mahomes becomes 1-2 as a playoff starter. Reid becomes 2-6 in the playoffs as Chiefs head coach. Questions start swirling if Reid/Chiefs are going to waste Mahomes' prime. The 49ers beat the Titans in the Super Bowl. Shanahan finds Super Bowl redemption. The story becomes how SF built the best team from the trenches out and every team is focused on replicated their strength. But the Texans' fake punt didn't work. Dan Sorensen made the tackle of his life and became a champion forever.
Travis Kelce
All those speed demons and Travis Kelce is the 2019 Chiefs leading receiver. And he's not even a receiver.
Down 24-7 in the divisional round, Kelce caught three touchdowns in a quarter and the Chiefs never trailed again.
When he first entered the league he was a hot head, famed for throwing towels at refs and doing other things at refs. This year he's telling Norma Hunt, "Look how many people are happy because of Lamar."
By the way, the all-time stats for tight ends, yards per game. 1 is Gronk with 68. 2 is Kelce with 67. 3 is Kittle with 65. With Mahomes, Kelce is averaging 80. He can break quite a few of Gronk's records at this rate.
Kelce has been in KC with Reid since coach got here. It's been awesome to watch him develop and grow. From a hot-head to a Champion.
Steve Spagnuolo
On January 20, 2019, the Chiefs came up four inches short of the Super Bowl. By January 24th, Steve Spagnuolo was now in charge of the defense.
It's a high-pressure situation. On the one hand, you inherit the third-best offense the league has ever seen. On the other hand, this team has Super Bowl or bust expectations. Oh and Veach is about to overhaul your roster too. So you better hit the ground running. When the Chiefs lost two in a row to the Colts and Texans, it seemed like the defense had fatal flaws. The run defense in particular looked horrible. Imagine facing someone like Derrick Henry in the playoffs when everything gets more physical with that run defense.
Something changed. Maybe it was that the defense had to step up to respond to Mahomes knee injury. Maybe Frank Clark's nerve damage was holding him back in the first 6 weeks and once he got healthy he improved. Maybe it took a bit of time for the roster to gel together. Or maybe it just takes a few games for Spagnuolo's system to take effect.
When I first wrote about Spags, I was hoping he could get them from the 24th defense to 16th. That would be enough. The defense went from 24th to 7th. And down the stretch, they were top-5.
Spagnuolo was the DC that beat the 18-0 Patriots in the Super Bowl.
And now he's the DC that changed the narratives for Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and an entire city.
Brett Veach
Veach was a scout that followed Reid from Philadelphia to Kansas City. On Draft Night in Philadelphia, the Chiefs traded up to get their guy. Lots of people will want to claim that they were in on Mahomes from the beginning. Veach is the one who can prove it.
The icing on the cake with getting Patrick Mahomes is how the Chiefs got him. He wasn't the slam dunk #1 pick like Andrew Luck, that any team would have taken. He wasn't someone that was an afterthought like Tom Brady, who was the 7th player drafted by the Patriots in 2000. Everyone had the tape and combine on Mahomes and Brett Veach was the one who entered the Draft and said Patrick Mahomes No Matter What. The Chiefs had the 27th pick. Veach has said they knew they couldn't move up to the top 5, they didn't have the draft capital. They moved up as far as they could, #10. At #12, the Texans selected a very good QB. If the Chiefs don't get to 10, who knows what happens.
Veach convinces Reid and then GM Dorsey to get Pat. And then in June, Dorsey is out. Veach is in as GM.
While drafting Mahomes is the biggest transaction in Chiefs history, do we have proof that he can be a GM and not just a scout? His 2018 draft was kind of a letdown. And after the 2018 season, with Bob Sutton and a defense that couldn't get Mahomes the ball, something had to be done.
Veach was not complacent. He turned the entire defense over. He cut popular players who still had something in the tank. He made tough calls, risky calls. Here's a cheat sheet to what Veach did this year. Spoiler alert: they all worked.
It's hard to stay a popular GM for a long time. A few draft busts or bad signings and fans will call for your head. But Veach has earned some leash for *quite* a while.
Patrick Mahomes
Andy Reid resurrected the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes took them to the promised land.
There are so many things that seem impossible.
Before Mahomes, I'd never seen the Chiefs in the AFC Championship. He's never not been there.
Before Mahomes, the Chiefs had never had a MVP. He did it his first year.
The debate used to be Brady vs Manning. Now the conversation is going to be Brady vs Mahomes.
It shouldn't be this simple. We're used to stories of Elway finally making it at the end of his career. We're used to the idea that Favre and Brees and Rodgers win one Super Bowl and it is a crowning achievement. (We'd be more used to it if it weren't for Brady, king of outliers.) We're not used to seeing someone come in and be the best player in the league right away.
Winning in the playoffs is hard. I mean first you have to get there. But even once you do, I saw the Chiefs lose 8 in a row.
Having a winning record in the playoffs is almost impossible. 11 out of 12 teams are guaranteed a loss every year. Mahomes has the best playoff winning percentage among active QBs.
(With a minimum of 3 games, the only QB with a better all-time playoff record than Mahomes is Dilfer who went 5-1.)
The reason he was overlooked coming out of college was people thought he was just a big arm in a Big 12 system. He's shown he can make throws no one else can make. He also makes less mistakes. He also knows the game. Mahomes was the one who asked to run Wasp on the biggest play of the Super Bowl.
Mahomes was the first time I've seen the Chiefs draft a QB in the first round. I was optimistic from the beginning.
His first NFL touchdown is a throw that should be talked about more because I don't think I've ever seen anyone make a throw that fast at that angle that quickly after the snap with a defender in your face.
Within two weeks, he was in the top two sports things ever for me.
Mark tried to get me to pump the brakes. It's been two games. Yep.
I called him an All-Pro before he became the starter. And he got there in one year.
He's the face of Madden and the face of the NFL. No one's overlooking him now.
Kansas City has always been a Chiefs town and now we have a hero to call our own.
My whole life I've imagined what it would feel like to see a team that I love win a championship. I imagined it as jubilation. I pictured myself running out of the house, through the streets, screaming, jumping and hugging strangers. But it wasn't like that.
I hugged my oldest son and screamed and we rolled on the floor for a moment in shock. But mostly, it's been...a relief. A sense of peace. No longer would I have to worry about each loss or each moment that this could cost me witnessing history. No longer would I have to be jealous of other fans. No longer would I have to wonder what sports is like for them or wonder what they're feeling. No longer will a playoff loss mean the collapse of a dream. Because no one or nothing can take this away.
There's a great joke that has been recycled too many times already: A Cleveland man passed away and requested Browns players to be the pallbearers, so the Browns can let him down one final time.
This was an actual request in 2013 and it's funny because it's true. Some fans get to see ten championship parades in their city in one decade. And fans of certain teams in certain cities die without ever seeing one. You don't get to pick where you're born. I was born in Kansas City and up until Damien Williams got the edge there was a chance I'd die without seeing the Chiefs lift the Lombardi Trophy. Before the Chiefs drafted Mahomes, that chance seemed ominously large.
And now I don't have to ever wonder or worry or think about that ever again.
For so long, I just wanted one. Just let me have one championship. And I worried what would happen if it did. Because neither of the two options seemed great. Either, I'd be content with that one and lose interest in the Chiefs, something that's been a big part of my life. Or I wouldn't be content with one and become like the arrogant Patriots fans that I hate.
But after taking over two weeks to reflect and absorb it, here's where I'm at. I'm content with one. But I haven't lost interest in the Chiefs. I'm simply playing with house money forever. I'm in a casino and all the money I brought with me is safely in my pocket and it's not going back on the table. No loss can put me in debt. No fumble to a rival in the final minute can take everything I own. That trophy is ours. And for the rest of my life, I can root for them and hope they win another without it defining me as a sports fan. There will come a time in my life when the Chiefs go 3-13 again. And all I'll have to do is watch Super Bowl highlights, put on a Championship shirt, read Hoagie Central, or simply close my eyes and remember the moment that everything changed.
A couple easter eggs for this post.
ReplyDeleteThis Chiefs era started with Reid and was completed by Mahomes, so I started the post with Reid and ended with Mahomes.
I posted it at 10:15. A hat tip to the jersey numbers that converted 3rd and 15.
Also, this was the "one more post" that I teased back on February 7th. So no more scheduled Super Bowl content.
ReplyDeleteAll time Hoagie Central post.
ReplyDelete"Recently located kneecap" is a great phrase