Made to Rule Part 2: Kansas City Chiefs (2013-17)

The year is 2013. The NFL Draft is about to commence, and the Kansas City Chiefs are on the clock. The Chiefs have just completed their worst season in the organization’s history, and in the wake of this true nightmare horror show there are serious questions in the balance. The Chiefs have reached rock bottom, and now comes the long painful climb back up.

Respectability.

That is all the Chiefs can hope for at this time. A small market NFL team, with one of the cheapest ownership groups in sports and no whatsoever organizational direction. Coming off a horrid season where the 2-14 record was somehow nowhere near being the worst thing to happen to the organization that year.

In that time the Chiefs were truly stuck, and in a division where the Peyton Manning-led Broncos were just getting started in running the division the Chiefs seemed to be resigned to doormat status.

Something had to change. And when the Chiefs took Offensive Tackle Eric Fisher with the #1 draft pick, the first piece of the Chiefs rebuild had been put into place. It was going to be a wild ride.

Meet the New Boss

Of course, in between the 2012 and 2013 seasons there was a very significant personnel shakeup for the Chiefs involving their coaching staff. Romeo Crennel was gone, and in the wake of his departure the Chiefs managed to convince a head coach by the name of Andy Reid to give KC a chance.

Reid had coached for more than a decade in Philadelphia, and had been very successful in building a winning team that went deep in the playoffs for many years. The Eagles reached the NFC Championship four straight years, and played in Super Bowl XXXIX where they lost to the Patriots. The Eagles had enjoyed success, but as the years went on and the Lombardi Trophy remained elusive restlessness began increasing in the city of brotherly love.

Ultimately the pressure became too much and Reid was let go at the end of the 2012 season. How he got from Philadelphia to Kansas City in such a short time is really wild and has turned out to be a consequential move that changed the NFL forever. Here is a quick recap of how the NFL’s most consequential coaching hire ever came to be.

- The Eagles finished the 2012 season with a 4-12 record. Andy Reid’s contract is not renewed and he is let go on December 31st.

- Chiefs owner Clark Hunt calls Reid to inquire about his interest in taking the Kansas City job.

- Reid and Hunt meet on January 2 2013 at Philadelphia’s airport to discuss the opening.

- The meeting goes well, and by January 4 Reid is announced as the new Chiefs head coach

Pretty straightforward, right? Never mind the three teams that had chartered planes waiting for Andy Reid, it seemed like Kansas City was destined to be Reid’s next act.

But why? Why the Kansas City Chiefs of all teams?

The Chiefs had just come off probably the worst season in the organization’s history. They had endured a 2-14 season as well as severe dysfunction in the organization between the coaching staff and the front office. Lacking a clear chain of command, the Chiefs had no structure and no direction. This was reflected on the field, as the Chiefs roster was severely unbalanced even while somehow boasting 6 Pro Bowlers on their roster. As great as Jamal Charles, Tamba Hali, Justin Houston, Derrick Johnson, and Eric Berry were, the team was too much of a mess in every sense.

This mess manifested itself in the most horrible of ways in December of that year when linebacker Jovan Belcher killed himself in front of the team’s practice facility, in the presence of the head coach and general manager. Belcher had just killed his girlfriend and had driven to the practice facility located next to Arrowhead Stadium.

It’s important to point out that the Chiefs are in no way responsible for the actions of Belcher; after all, who could have foreseen something so grim and horrible unfolding the way it did? The Chiefs were impacted by this tragedy, and I do believe that this served as a crossroads for the organization. To lose so many games is one thing, but to witness a murder-suicide by one of your players is something else entirely. The year of 2012, and all the suffering that came with it, gave the Chiefs a massive chip on the shoulder at an organizational level.

So entering 2013, the key word for Kansas City was stability. There needed to be stability at an organizational level, to begin the recovery from that terrible 2012. Which coach on the market could best provide this organizational stability? Surely someone with more than a decade’s worth of coaching experience with a proven track record of success, and who had fostered a positive winning culture at an organizational level would do.

This is why Andy Reid was the slam dunk choice for Clark Hunt and the Chiefs. With no head coach and general manager the organization was essentially starting from scratch, and who better to hand the keys to the kingdom than Reid?

As for Andy Reid, he had endured his own personal tragedy in losing his eldest son in 2012. After enduring years of harsh criticism in Philadelphia, he sought job security and freedom to do his thing above all else. Full personnel control. The authority to mold the team in his image, a luxury so seldom granted to coaches in the NFL, was his. With John Dorsey(whom he had served with in the 90s as a coach in Green Bay) as his trusted general manager, Andy Reid was ready to do his thing.

The Opening Salvo

In February of that year, the Chiefs decided to settle the putrid Quarterback situation in Kansas City by trading for Alex Smith. Smith had been the #1 pick and had been with the 49ers for many years, but had been forced to watch on the sidelines with an injury as Colin Kaepernick(remember him?) led the 49ers to the Super Bowl. Smith was no longer needed in San Francisco, so Reid and Dorsey seized the opportunity and brought the veteran to Kansas City.

The Chiefs had a quarterback, and next on the calendar was the NFL Draft. As the worst team from 2012 the Chiefs were entitled to the #1 pick, which they used on Offensive Tackle Eric Fisher.

In today’s QB-heavy climate, it has become routine for teams with the #1 pick to go for the quarterback out of college, with hopes of landing the next big star quarterback that can save the franchise. This only underscores the team-building strategy that Reid and Dorsey were pursuing during those first months. Rather than go for flash, the priority was building a team with a structure and sound fundamentals. Players like Smith and Fisher will never win style points, but they help you win football games.

Of course, there were other guys taken that draft as well. One such guy from Cincinnati was taken in the third round, a Tight end by the name of Travis Kelce. He’s gone on to have a pretty good career.

With a head coach, general manager, and quarterback all in place and working together as a team, the Chiefs were already in a much better place compared to the previous year. In the NFL the chain of command involving these three positions is everything, and in one offseason the Chiefs had achieved the goal of bringing stability to the franchise. Add those six Pro-Bowlers still on the roster to the mix, and a massive turnaround was surely around the corner for the beleaguered Chiefs.

To call it a turnaround would be falling short. A season which saw the Chiefs start 9-0, play breathtaking football and send 10 players to the Pro Bowl represented a seismic shift for the Chiefs.

Sure, the team lost 5 of its last 7 games and saw the Broncos take the division at their expense.

Yes, the Chiefs blew a 28-point lead to the Colts in the playoffs in what was the 2nd biggest choke in NFL playoff history, extending what was then a record playoff losing streak to 8. You gotta find a way to pay homage to tradition over in Kansas City.

But regardless of how the season ended, the opening salvo had been fired, and the league was on notice. The Chiefs were no longer aimless. With Andy Reid at the helm, Alex Smith at quarterback, and a litany of star athletes on both sides of the ball, these Chiefs were not afraid of anyone.

Arrowhead Arriveth

If 2013 can be seen as a surprising success for the Chiefs, with the team going from 2-14 to 11-5 and returning to the playoffs, then one can very well judge 2014 to have been a disappointment. This year the team went 9-7 and missed the playoffs, and to this day it remains as the only season in the Andy Reid era in which the Chiefs have missed the playoffs altogether. Though it must not have been fun for the Chiefs to miss out on the playoffs, with the benefit of hindsight I think that this represented a sort of calm before the storm.

Just like the 2014 Warriors, 2015 Astros, and 2017 Bucks, I interpret the 2014 Chiefs as a team going through its last period of growing pains. The previous year they had probably overachieved, so 2014 represented a small step back for a team with a talented roster but still a ways to go from being a legitimate contender. Unlike other teams, the Chiefs didn’t panic and make any rash decisions. As had been agreed upon at the airport in Philly, Reid had job security and so the team remained calm and stayed the course.

For Chiefs fans by far the most memorable memory from this season came on a Monday Night Football game from late September at Arrowhead where the Chiefs received the Patriots. The Chiefs had not featured in many primetime games those years, so this was a special opportunity for the Chiefs Kingdom to announce itself in front of a nationwide audience.

And what an announcement it was. Absolutely record-breaking. They got loud. 142.2 decibel level loud. The kingdom left no doubt that it was the loudest, most passionate fanbase in the NFL, and this level of noise and passion served as a backdrop as the Chiefs beat the brakes of the Patriots and sent Tom Brady to the bench. So brutal was the 42-14 final score that for a fleeting moment it seemed that New England was about to be engulfed in a quarterback crisis involving the then 3-time champion. Jimmy G was just around the corner, ready to usurp Tom.

This game did not end up meaning much as far as the Super Bowl race that year was concerned. After all, the Patriots prevailed as champions and the Chiefs missed the playoffs entirely. But that game represented the Chiefs(and Arrowhead) entering the spotlight for good. The fanbase was fired up and ready to see their team compete with the very best. And the team, though still a work in progress, had shown everybody what it was capable of at its very best.

The Chiefs had shown everybody how hungry the team and fan base was for success. This was just getting started.

The Bridesmaid Era

The three seasons from 2015 to 2017 represent what I will call in this post as the bridesmaid era for the Kansas City Chiefs. During these three seasons the Chiefs established themselves without question as a winning program and a mainstay in the playoffs, yet in spite of this success were still stuck in the shadow of more successful teams. The Patriots and Steelers were at the top of the conference, along with Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos. The Broncos were the Chiefs obstacle in the division, and had dominated the division since the days of Tim Tebow.

The Chiefs had already choked the division title to the Broncos in 2013. The NFL’s competitive format places a great degree of importance on winning your division, so it was clear that if the Chiefs had any intentions of truly contending for the Super Bowl, they would first have to take the division from Denver. This would secure home field advantage and a likely 1st round bye.

During the 2015 season the Broncos boasted a stacked defense featuring stars like Von Miller, Aqib Talib, and Chris Harris Jr that led the much vaunted No Fly Zone. The Broncos had contended for many years but had fallen short repeatedly, and now had to deal with an unexpected quarterback crisis. Peyton Manning had entered the final act of his career, and he was totally washed.

So washed was he that Denver chose to send Peyton to the bench and bring in Brock Osweiler. The Chiefs, meanwhile, suffered their own turmoil as Jamal Charles went down with an injury in Week 5 amid a 1-5 start. I find this development to be surprisingly understated when looking at the journey of the Chiefs, as I would argue that up to this point the Chiefs had been a team known for its running backs. Since the days of the legendary Priest Holmes the Chiefs had been a team renowned for their running backs, always overshadowing the passing game. But with Charles out, the Chiefs no longer had a star running back.

You could say that to this day Jamal is the last true star running back to play for the Chiefs.

In the immediate context of 2015 the Chiefs had to rely even more on their defense, which by this point had reached elite status in the league. The defensive core was helped out by the emergence of Travis Kelce as a star at the Tight end position, which opened up a new world of possibilities for Andy Reid and Alex Smith.

The Chiefs ran the table after the 1-5 start, but the Broncos managed to get over the finish line to claim the division for a 5th straight year. The Chiefs headed into the playoffs on a 10-game winning streak and were poised to end their 22 year drought of no playoff victories. They faced the Texans in the Wild Card round and promptly put 30 points on them.

Even more stunningly, the Chiefs defense held the Texans to 0 points, which to this day stands as the most recent NFL playoff shutout. It was an overwhelming and cathartic demonstration for Chiefs fans, with the coaching staff and both sides of the ball showing off at Houston’s NRG Stadium. The Chiefs had seemingly vanquished their ghosts of the past, and performances such as that of Kelce(eight receptions, 123 yards) were only a sign of things to come in.

The Chiefs fell in the divisional round to the Patriots. The Patriots ended up losing to the Broncos, who prevailed in the Super Bowl and allowed Peyton to retire as a champion.

There was a clear pecking order in the AFC. The Chiefs were not at the top of the conference, but there was hope that this team full of stars could continue its climb to the top.

Unleash the Cheetah

The Broncos, coming off a Super Bowl title and 5 straight division titles as well as the retirement of Peyton Manning, promptly imploded the following season, and the Chiefs capitalized. The team put together an impressive 12-4 season that featured many memorable memories for the Kansas City faithful.

The Chiefs had to deal with a humbling loss to the Steelers in Week 4 in front of a national audience, but from there the team took off and took control of the division in decisive fashion. An overtime win in Denver on Sunday Night Football as well as primetime games against the Raiders and Broncos at Arrowhead highlighted the rise of the Chiefs.

The Chiefs enjoyed superstar seasons from 3 players. Eric Berry on defense played like the best defensive back in the league and earned 1st team All-Pro honors; as for Kelce, if 2015 was the year he appeared on the scene, 2016 was when he truly arrived as a bonafide superstar player with an argument as the best Tight end in the game. Kelce earned 1st team All-Pro honors as well for the first time in his career.

But as great as Kelce, Berry and the other Chiefs stars were, this magical season for the Chiefs would perhaps not have been as magical had it not been for an undersized overlooked speedster taken in the 5th Round of that year’s draft.

He started off the year returning punts as well as kicks. Basically he was a speed merchant who, like other players like him, was ultimately expendable. Especially considering his turbulent past in college, he was particularly vulnerable to being cut by his team.

But Tyreek Hill did not end up being cut. Instead, he set the league on fire.

If you love sports, and especially American Football, it is impossible to watch Tyreek Hill play football and not feel pure joy. It is wild to think that this guy almost never made it to the NFL because of some questionable choices made in college. We would have been robbed of this.

The Cheetah became a force of nature. Like Russell Westbrook in his MVP season, Tyreek’s mere presence shifted the way opponents approached the game. He tilted the field and gave the Chiefs the ultimate wild card to play. He literally ran around those Broncos and Raiders defenders in the December Arrowhead games. Seeing Tyreek put on a primetime show in freezing conditions, set to the tune of the deafening roar of the Arrowhead crowd, in front of a national audience was pure cinema.

The Chiefs had truly arrived. If the Patriots game from 2014 was the genesis, then this represented the arrival of Kansas City as a dominant force. Not only had the Chiefs clinched the division, they had surprisingly clinched a 1st round bye and a playoff game at Arrowhead.

But as the Chiefs prepared to play January football at Arrowhead, a bad feeling still lingered in the fanbase in spite of the stacked roster. The Chiefs had not won a playoff game at Arrowhead in decades, and the anxiety was palpable. The Chiefs had to play the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers in a cold gloomy night atmosphere that served almost as an omen of what was to come.

The Steelers did not score a single touchdown and still somehow won, as the Chiefs offense struggled to generate points. It was death by a thousand cuts, as field goal after field goal sailed through for Pittsburgh. The Chiefs finally managed to score a touchdown near the end of the game, but needed a 2-point conversion to tie it. KC successfully converted the conversion, but as luck would have it for the Chiefs, it was waived off because of a holding penalty on Eric Fisher. KC failed to score the conversion, and the Steelers never gave the ball back. Andy and the Chiefs had suffered another playoff heartbreak, and Travis went off on the refs after the game.

It was a bingo card of Chiefs playoff misery. The self-fulfilling prophecy for Chiefs fans had manifested itself in all its vindictive nature. The 2 point conversion that never was embodied a particularly brutal wound for Chiefs Kingdom. Sadly, it would not be the last time that Arrowhead would have to endure this type of agony.

Alex and the Kingdom

By now the Chiefs fan base was becoming increasingly frustrated with Alex Smith. A gifted roster with stars on both sides of the ball, with a legendary coach and the best home field atmosphere in the NFL, and yet the Chiefs had failed to go deep in the playoffs.

The playoff win over the Texans and the regular season success had been nice. Now it was time to go deep in January,

You could say that the Kingdom was being unfair towards Alex, showing extraordinary impatience with an athlete that had been anything but a consistent professional for the better part of a decade. But any hope of fans being patient went out the window in the 2017 draft once the gunslinger from Texas Tech put on a Chiefs hat.

Fans wanted the shiny new toy rolled out onto the field, but it was not yet his time, and Andy Reid knew that it was not yet his time. While his job was secure for 2017, it was clear that Alex was not destined to be the starter for much longer.

For a quarterback who was in risk of being seen as a lame duck, Alex Smith came out on fire and put the league on notice. Kicking off the season by ruining New England’s Super Bowl celebration, Alex Smith seemed to be finally elevating to that level that Kansas City had not seen from a quarterback in oh so long. The Chiefs were winning games, and talk grew of this finally being the year.

Of course, Alex Smith had help. The returning duo of Kelce and Hill were joined by Kareem Hunt, a running back from Toledo taken in the 3rd round. Like Travis and Tyreek, Kareem had been overlooked and underestimated, but announced his arrival to the NFL in the most decisive of ways by running all over the Patriots. Sure he fumbled the first time he touched the ball, but they say that how you respond to setbacks is what defines you.

Kareem’s response involved 148 rushing yards, 98 receiving yards, and 3 touchdowns. It was a historic performance.

So Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill, and Kareem Hunt formed what was surely the best offensive triad in the sport. Add Sammy Watkins to the mix, and you would think the Chiefs to be unstoppable.

The Chiefs had started 5-0, but then went on to lose 6 out of the next 7 as the wheels came off the Alex Smith-led offense. The team managed to win its division for a second straight season(first time in Chiefs history that they managed this) and had what appeared to be a can’t miss opportunity to finally win at Arrowhead for the first time in nearly a quarter-century.

The Wild Card game against the Titans represented a very real moment of reckoning for Alex Smith and his Chiefs tenure. He had fallen short again and again to the likes of Brady and Roethlisberger and Luck, but now he had Marcus Mariota and the Titans coming to Arrowhead for what was sure to be a layup. Tennessee managed to sneak into the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. Surely Alex and the Chiefs wouldn’t screw this up, would they?

The Chiefs sure seemed like they were up to the task for much of the game, jumping to a 21-3 lead and thoroughly dominating the game as expected. Alex was cooking that first half, throwing 2 touchdowns in the first half. One of those touchdown passes was caught by Travis Kelce for his first career playoff touchdown, who was playing like he was the best TE in the NFL.

Things began to unravel though, and it began with Kelce. The big man went out right before the half with a concussion after a big hit. Without the star Tight end the offense ground down and Alex Smith looked out of ideas. The lead was still significant though, and surely the defense would be able hold Tennessee off and get over the line.

That was until their quarterback threw a touchdown pass to himself.

Something that had not taken place in more than 20 years came back to bite the Chiefs in the weirdest and most painfully random manner possible. When I first saw the play live, I could not understand what had just happened, and all these years later I still don’t get it. The unthinkable had happened, and the Chiefs spiraled from there. Derrick Henry put the Titans on his back, and by the fourth quarter the Chiefs were down by 1 point.

Still, there was one more opportunity for Alex Smith and the Chiefs to salvage the game. KC got the ball back with 6 minutes left. All that they needed was a field goal for the win, perfectly manageable for a veteran quarterback like Smith. Harrison Butker surely would have made it, as he’s done so many times since, but the opportunity to kick that field goal never came. The drive fizzled out like every other drive in the half, and Alex finished with 33 yards on 5 of 10 passing in the second half.

The Chiefs had yet again let down their fans at Arrowhead again.

“If this was Alex Smith’s last stand with the Kansas City Chiefs, it will have ended with perhaps his most painful loss”. This is how the Kansas City Star described that night for Alex. It is sad, but the truth is that as soon as Alex Smith’s deep ball on fourth-and-9 missed Albert Wilson, the dye had been cast for KC’s veteran quarterback. The fandom couldn’t take anymore of it, the constant playoff heartbreak and persistent underachievement at the most important position in the sport.

About three weeks later after the loss, Alex Smith was traded to Washington. The Smith era, which had spanned the first 5 years of Andy Reid’s reign and had brought the Chiefs so much stability, had come to an end.

The Mahomes era had arrived.