Well Addicts, the regular season has come to an end in a ridiculous fashion. Nevermind the touchdown that the Green Bay Packers scrored on a 4th and 9 with 40 seconds left to claw their way back into the playoffs. Let’s not mention the very Tony Romoish interception former Chiefs quarterback Kyle Orton threw to give the Philadelphia Eagles a division title last night. And let’s especially not talk about the Pittsburgh Steelers getting completely screwed out of a playoff berth by — perhaps — two of the biggest botched calls in the NFL all season.
Let’s talk about how I’m going to admit that I was wrong. That’s one for the record books. Because I’m never wrong.
Yesterday in my Five Keys to Victory post, I berated Chiefs head coach Andy Reid for sitting his starters and allowing the San Diego Chargers to get into the playoffs. In fact, this is what I had to say yesterday:
"Key #1: PLAY YOUR DAMN STARTERS AND PUNCH THE CHARGERS IN THE MOUTH AND KEEP THEM OUT OF THE PLAYOFFSIs that clear enough for you? Pound for pound, player for player, I think that this Chiefs team is better than this Chargers team. Yes, the Chargers beat the Chiefs once this season, and I can give you a million reasons why that happened. But at the end of the day, the Chiefs are better. Their line is blocking better, they have a better running back and they have a better defense when everyone is healthy. If the Chiefs face the Chargers, toe to toe, the Chiefs win, the Chargers go home with their tail between their legs and KC goes into next week with a little momentum behind them."
That was before I saw the Chiefs “B” team or Junior Varsity or whatever you want to call them play. The offense, led by fourth year quarterback Chase Daniel was electric. After driving down the field on the first series and allowing rookie running back Knile Davis to get some of his mojo back by taking it in from 17 yards out to score the first of his two touchdowns on the day.
I was wrong in that quote above. This game wasn’t about beating the Chargers — though the Chiefs should have won on multiple fronts — it was about a bunch of guys who may or may not ever get a start in the NFL again having a chance to play their hearts out for a full 60 minutes in a regular season game. And that’s what they did. Had the Chiefs starters played, this game wouldn’t have been nearly what it was. Though Jamaal Charles, Alex Smith and the rest of the Chiefs “A” team are professionals and damn good football players, I just don’t think they would have played with the kind of heart and drive that these “scrubs” (an AA poster’s description of these players, not mine) showed on the field yesterday.
If you take all this with the fact that the Chiefs played a great football game and nearly beat a good Chargers team in the process, I call this a moral victory, and I don’t award those — ever.
If you ask me, the Chiefs have nothing to hang their head about. These “B” teamers showed they can run with the big boys and stay in it. In fact, a missed field goal and two monumental bad calls aside, they nearly won.
As far as I’m concerned, nevermind what I said yesterady. This is what I should have written:
Key #1: Play Hard and With Heart
If that was the key, than today I would put:
Key #1: ACHIEVED