Chiefs rant: Onto the Green Bay Packers

Sep 17, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid watches against the Denver Broncos in the first half at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

What’s up, Addicts? I hope your Wednesday is going swimmingly and you’re all on a fast road to recovery from last Thursday’s debacle. Watching Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos jog off the field smiling left some Kansas City Chiefs fans laying in bed for hours staring at the ceiling and rerunning the train wreck over and over in our heads.

I tried to tell myself “it’s just a game, this shouldn’t be robbing my sleep. I have work tomorrow.” But the pain prevailed. For me, it wasn’t just the way the loss was scripted with the self-destruction causing five turnovers and gift wrapping the game for the other team (although that was very bad), it was who we lost to. Fans outside of Kansas City lose perspective of how painful it is to be owned by another player or team for what seems like decades.

After six straight losses in the last three years to Manning and the only win over him being 11 years ago, the fan base was more hungry than ever for a win. The reasons for optimism were stacked high with Manning in a new offense, not playing well the week before, and having to play in Kansas City on a short week.

The game of football can be cruel to those fans that hold their teams close to their hearts. We all know Kansas City should have walked away with the win but they didn’t. The Buffalo Bills who like the Chiefs have been owned by a division opponent, faced the harsh reality on Sunday that even with a new coach and a good defense, some quarterbacks just have your number.

Manning is now 14-1 against the Chiefs and Tom Brady is now 24-3 against the Bills. So what gives? Is there some kind of commonality between the two struggling teams that can’t find a way to beat these opposing quarterbacks? Neither team that has struggled has had strong play at the quarterback position. Generally speaking mediocre quarterback play will not get you a win against a high-caliber quarterback like Manning or Brady on a consistent basis. This loss however wasn’t squarely on Alex Smith’s shoulders as he didn’t fumble the ball three times.

I completely agree the Chiefs gave this one away and Manning doesn’t look the same, but he is. He may not have the same arm but he does still have that brain. Although it took him a couple of quarters to figure it out, he found the Jamell Fleming match up and exploited that into a million pieces. Can we still go into Denver and win? Absolutely, and I hope we do but I think we blew our best chance at beating the Broncos this season.