The secret recipe for a dynastic Kansas City Chiefs team

The secret recipe for a dynastic Kansas City Chiefs team

It has been stated that “adversity introduces a man to himself.” Now that the Kansas City Chiefs have won their third Super Bowl in five years, there have been plenty of crisis moments for the organization to deal with. In truth, Kansas City has been shaped by the fires of hardship. This all started five years ago, before the franchise could taxi its way to a championship runway. Fortunately, the new gold standard in the National Football League could have been just what this organization needed.

The most memorable moment in this team’s legendary trajectory was their stunning comeback against the Houston Texans in the 2020 Divisional Round. I’d say that the arc started the previous season. The Chiefs’ 2018 season ended in heartache when they lost the AFC Championship Game to a Tom Brady-led Patriots team in overtime. Sure, that team went 12-4 in the regular season and eventually hosted the conference championship game, but there were a few times when the stage proved too large for a young Chiefs squad.

Kansas City began the 2018 season by winning its first five games. They dominated all but one of their opponents, winning by an average of 9.2 points per game. The first setback of the season came on a Sunday night against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots had just returned from two consecutive Super Bowl appearances, Super Bowls LI and LII. The Chiefs were extremely inexperienced, and it showed in their Sunday night game. The game was deadlocked at 40 points each with three minutes left in regulation. Kansas City would lose in the final minutes of the game on a 28-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal.

After the Chiefs cemented their legacy as a dynasty, it’s worth reflecting on their journey to NFL immortality.

The Chiefs lost three of their final six games, all of which were nationally broadcast. After losing to New England, Kansas City went on a four-game winning streak to improve to 9-1 overall. They faced battle against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 11, which proved to be the ultimate slugfest between two powerful NFL offenses. They went on to lose the game late. In fact, their last two losses, to the Chargers and Seahawks in consecutive weeks, were also one-score games. That season, the Kansas City Chiefs suffered greatly in primetime.

All of this culminated in a second heartbreaking loss to the Patriots in the AFC Title Game. I will spare you the details, but we all know it concluded with a two-yard touchdown run by Rex Burkhead. At this point in their ascent, the Chiefs were simply unprepared to deal with crises. The playoff lights were too bright for Kansas City, and they lacked experience with high-stakes games. Those experiences, while unfortunate, would pay off the next season.

Let’s return to the 2020 Divisional Round matchup with the Texans, which I mentioned earlier in the article. A series of bad incidents resulted in a 24-point deficit to begin the contest. The Chiefs currently share the fifth-greatest postseason comeback in league history. Kansas City survived a seemingly impossible amount of adversity because they were accustomed to it. 2018 had been the difficult lesson that sparked a championship run. We’ve all seen NFL Films film of players remaining poised on the sidelines despite being down four scores. Kansas City would go on to destroy that lead, eventually winning by 20 points.

The next week, Kansas City would play the Titans in the AFC Championship Game, and two weeks later, they would face the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV. They trailed by multiple digits in each game on their way to the first of three NFL championships. They maintain an unimaginable level of coolness in the game’s most critical moments. They are simply unflappable in situations where other teams would falter.

In Super Bowl LVIII, their first nine offensive drives were as follows: punt, fumble, punt, field goal, interception, punt, field goal, punt. True, the Chiefs trailed by two scores for approximately four minutes of regulation, but they had been dominated in the trenches up until that moment. For some, it seemed like the start of the Super Bowl LV loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. There were just no offensive answers, and the defense had allowed three drives of 46 yards or more. The Chiefs trimmed the margin to one score and trailed by only seven points at halftime. The offensive troubles persisted on the other side of a lengthy halftime spectacle, but the team points in each of their last four drives.

Adversity has shaped Kansas City in such a way that it can remain poised when a game is about to slip away from them. Patrick Mahomes is 9-2 in postseason games when trailing by seven or more scores. Since 1950, every other quarterback in this scenario has had a sub-.500 record. This organization has been here before, and experience is a valuable commodity in the NFL. They’ve etched themselves into history, and the terrifying part for the rest of the league is that they may not be finished yet.

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