A Chiefs Fan’s Post Super Bowl Ramblings

The NFL season is now officially over. The final game of the season is in the books as the New England Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 in one of the best Super Bowls that I can ever remember watching. Having a post due first thing Monday morning on a Chiefs blog is normally a blessing, but it feels a little weird to talk Chiefs the morning after the biggest football game on the planet (at least when KC isn’t playing in it). I thought about doing an all Super Bowl themed piece. I thought about doing an all Chiefs related post. Then I realized that the nice thing about having your own weekly feature is that you can write whatever is on your mind. So this week I’m going to cover a variety of topics. You can think of it simply as post Super Bowl ramblings or your own Arrowhead Addict version of Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback.

I’ll start with what is on everyone’s mind.

* How in the world could Seattle not run Marshawn Lynch in that situation at the end of the game? I mean seriously?!?! You are right on the goal line with the best power back in football and a timeout still in your pocket! That play call is going to haunt every player, coach, and fan of the Seahawks forever. I’d like to think that Andy Reid would have handed the ball to Jamaal Charles in the situation, but let’s just say I’m not 100% confident he would have.

* While the play call was terrible, you have to give New England credit, and not just for making the interception either. When Seattle went with three WRs for that play the Patriots didn’t flinch and stayed in their goal line defense, basically daring the Seahawks to throw. They did, and the rest is history.

* It is now pretty hard to argue against the statement that Tom Brady is the greatest QB of all time. He has four Super Bowl wins. He brought his team back from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter against the best defense in football to win the Super Bowl. He’s been to six Super Bowls. He is the all-time leader for passing yards and touchdowns in Super Bowls. He has three Super Bowl MVPs. He has one of the most prolific single seasons in the history of the NFL. The guy is amazing.

* While Tom Brady does have bragging rights as the best QB of all time, deflategate does still loom in the background. I, for one, hope that nothing major ever comes out in terms of evidence. Not because I’m a Patriots or Brady fan, but if I have to listen to months of talk this offseason about if this Super Bowl win should come with an asterisk because the Pats are found guilty of cheating, I’ll lose my mind. If you think the coverage was silly in the Super Bowl lead up, just imagine if the league were to find hard evidence the Pats had been doctoring footballs for some time. We’d never hear the end of it. Frankly, I’d rather not have to listen to all that noise.

* I thoroughly enjoy the fact that the Kansas City Chiefs gave the Super Bowl champions the worst beating (and it’s not even close) of any team this season. The Pats only lost four games all year. Their other three losses were by a combined 26 points. The Chiefs beat them by 27. The Chiefs may not have made the playoffs, but, with wins against both of the Super Bowl participants, they showed that they aren’t far from it and need to focus on stabilizing the roster and finding consistency. That’s pretty good considering that just two years ago they were coming off one of the worst seasons in the history of the franchise. Andy Reid and John Dorsey have laid a good foundation, now they just need to put the finishing touches on this roster.

* As nice as it would be to land a Pro Bowl-caliber, true number one WR in the draft, I think this Super Bowl proved that you don’t need “that guy” to be a Super Bowl-caliber offense. Both New England and Seattle had WRs make big plays and great catches, but both teams have more of a WR committee approach. Neither team has what is considered a number one WR, but several WRs that can fill roles and find ways to contribute plays when needed. The Chiefs would be wise to take note. Perhaps the smart approach would be to draft multiple mid-round players to provide KC’s WR corps with that kind of depth.

* The Super Bowl just reaffirmed my belief that KC MUST lock Justin Houston up long term. On New England’s two fourth quarter TD drives, as good as the Seattle defense is, they couldn’t get to Tom Brady and throw him off his rhythm. Having a special player like Houston that can take over a game is a rare thing and when you find one of those players, you don’t let them out the door. WHEN the Chiefs get to a Super Bowl, having Justin Houston attacking the opposing QB could be a difference maker.

* Speaking of Justin Houston, how in the wide, wide, world of sports could the NFL not even dignify the man with a nomination for defensive player of the year?!?! I get that JJ Watt is the best player in the NFL. I get that JJ Watt deserved to win defensive player of the year. Apparently they thought it would be “cute” at the awards show to stress that dominance by not even having any other nominees, but when a guy is one sack away from setting the single season sack record, he, at the very least, deserves a nomination. The lack of national exposure that Houston’s season received is staggering. Let’s hope that it leaves a chip on his shoulder and WHEN he re-signs with KC he comes back as hungry as ever.

* While we’re on the subject of the NFL awards show, how great is it that Will Shields is FINALLY getting into the Hall Of Fame? The guy’s resume is stacked, and it’s silly that he had to wait this long, but the bottom line is that Shields is getting the recognition that he deserves. I was really happy to see that when people were upset about players that didn’t get in (Orlando Pace, Marvin Harrison, Kurt Warner, Kevin Greene) it was never Shields name that I heard brought up as not being deserving. I’m glad that it appears that the average NFL fan understands that while Jerome Bettis may be the bigger “name”, when it comes to Hall Of Fame credentials Shields has him beat hands down.

A few more closing thoughts…..

* Dan Patrick, how can you not know that Gronk hadn’t won a Super Bowl before?

* If Seattle had won the game do you think Marshawn Lynch would have talked to the media?

* I appreciated how humble Malcolm Butler acted after his game winning interception. Imagine if it had been Richard Sherman?

* I’m 100% enjoying all the internet memes dogging Sherman.

* Katy Perry’s halftime show? Meh…..

* This year’s Super Bowl commercials? Meh…..

* No football games for about seven months? (a single tear runs down my cheek)

Next week it’s back to all Chiefs offseason talk. Until then…..

Thanks for reading and GO CHIEFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!