Remembering The Kyle Orton Era In Kansas City: A Video Retrospective

Many plots unfolded during Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field—some comic, some tragic, and it’s not necessarily easy to tell which is which. The Chiefs broke their four-game losing streak and their string of approximately 417* consecutive offensive drives without a touchdown. Quarterback Tyler Palko got his first touchdown pass and his first win as an NFL starter, which officially makes him better than Brodie Croyle. Kansas City kept its slim playoff hopes alive. Todd Haley continued to dress like a middle-school gym teacher.

*Approximately.

And, for anyone who missed it (and if you looked away for even a moment, you might have), recently acquired quarterback Kyle Orton came in for the first play of the second quarter, his first play as a Kansas City Chief, which also turned out to be his last play—of the game, perhaps of the season, and therefore, since he is only signed for the rest of the year, possibly of his entire Chiefs career. Orton had been plucked off of waivers several days earlier to fill in for quarterback Matt Cassel, who is sidelined with a hand injury. So what does Orton do? He gets sidelined with a hand injury. See? Tragic and comic.

Orton may very well return in the weeks to come—he has recovered from just this type of dislocated-finger injury before—but some observers are speculating that the Chiefs may have just paid $2.5 million for one incomplete pass, making that flea flicker “quite possibly the most expensive single play in franchise history.”

And in case this is indeed the end, the only chance Chiefs fans and Kyle Orton will have to know each other, let’s not forget this time we’ve had together. True, we’ve had our ups and downs—or rather, Orton was up, and then he went down. But respect must be paid.

And I really must learn to use iMovie. Don’t worry…the following video is only twice as long as Orton’s total playing time for the Chiefs. So let us pause for just a moment or two (all we’ll need) to relive the Kyle Orton Era in Kansas City…