Last Sunday, a momentous event took place at Arrowhead Stadium.
No, it wasn’t Tony Gonzalez and his amazing pursuit of tight end greatness that came oh so close to fruition. And no it wasn’t Herm Edwards deciding to take the chains off of Chan Gailey and allowing him to coach for a change. Those events obviously were huge, but they all finished a close second to this:
The Chiefs 12 game losing streak came to end, concluding the longest and most frustrating period in the franchise’s storied history.
While that event in and of itself may not lead to immediate long-term success, the Chiefs showed me something on Sunday. They came out and played smashmouth football for four quarters against a team that was unbeaten, a division rival and Super Bowl contender, even though no one with a pulse gave them a chance to do so. They took it upon themselves to show the fans of this team that they had not given up, that they were not going to go quietly in the night this season, and for that I commend them.
You see this game takes a toll on the men that play it, and no matter how often they say they don’t listen to the radio shows, read the newspapers, or pay attention to the blogs, the players do in fact notice when the fans become extremely negative in their approach towards the team. Individuals that play professionally in any sport will tell you that the fans can make or break a team’s spirit during the course of a game or match. They rely on us just as much as we rely on them, and when a crescendo of negativity rears it ugly head like it has in weeks past, the players feel compelled to take action to smash it as quickly as possible, to prevent a complete loss of respect.
I myself played a part in promoting that culture of negativity last week, by posting an article pushing the need for the immediate dismissal of coaches and players in the wake of the Chiefs lackluster performance in Atlanta in week three. I still stand firm in my belief that Gunther Cunnningham needs to go, and anyone who thinks that McSack is still deserving of a starting spot at right tackle needs to have their head checked, but I came away from the game last Sunday feeling much better about Herm Edwards’ continued coaching career in Kansas City.
Will he deliver us to the promised land in the next three to five years? That’s anyone’s best guess at this point, but the case can be made for Edwards to keep control over this rebuilding effort, despite his faults as a head coach.
The most important part of the Chiefs victory last Sunday was the amount of respect that they earned in the process of unshackling 11 months of disaster. The Chiefs had not won a game since October 21st, 2007. They were the epitome of an atrocious team, garnering comparisons to franchises with pitiful histories such as Detroit and Arizona.
The Denver Broncos on the other hand had thrown up a boatload of points on two pretty good teams in consecutive weeks against San Diego and New Orleans. and came into the game looking to easily roll over the Chiefs en route to a 4-0 start to their season. Many pundits had already penciled them in as a legitimate Super Bowl contender, overlooking multiple faults in their defense, and given the way the Chiefs had played in every facet of the game during the first three weeks of the season, it came as no surprise that few outside of Kansas City gave the Chiefs any shot of keeping the game close. let alone actually winning it by two touchdowns.
But instead of giving up before the opening coin flip even took place, the Chiefs decided that they were going to win this football game. No longer would they allow the specter of a 12 game losing streak to haunt them into more and more defeat. They knew that to win they would have to make the Broncos play the game on the terms set by the Chiefs instead of allowing Denver to dictate the flow. And they set out to do just that.
Two plays into the game, the Chiefs much-maligned offensive line blasted a hole the size of Missouri in the Broncos defense, and Larry Johnson took full advantage, smashing his way downfield for 65 yards. That set the tone of the game immediately, and sent a very clear signal to the Broncos that this game was not going to be the walk in the park that many in the media believed it would be.
And while the Chiefs struggled early on in the game to score more than three points at a time, they never let up, and forced the Broncos into mistake after mistake, intercepting Broncos QB Jay Cutler two times, and punching the ball loose on two other occasions as well. Eventually the Chiefs offense took advantage of those mistakes and pounded their way into the end zone en route to a 33-19 beatdown.
Obviously this was only one game in the standings. The Chiefs still have the youngest team in the league, and will inevitably make many more mistakes this season. It’s doubtful that we will see a major string of victories, or anything of the sort this season. They need time to continue to grow and develop as players, and that does not happen overnight of course. They will struggle at time and play well in others. The Chiefs now have to go on the road to play a very good Carolina Panthers team, that has a very capable offense and defense, and has shown already that they are a force to be reckoned with this year.
But that being said, the Chiefs gave us all a reason to believe that the future will be bright last Sunday against Denver. The long road to respectability has finally begun.
Chris Kolb is the owner and lead writer for KC Chiefs Fanatic.
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