Kansas City Chiefs: All in on 2015!
Confession: Earlier this season when the Kansas City Chiefs lost their fifth consecutive game and dropped to 1-5 my spirits were officially broken. I wrote a piece that honestly asked the question if it was in KC fans best interest to root for the Chiefs to lose for the rest of the season. I had absolutely no hope that things could turn around in 2015.
I was wrong.
As the Chiefs dominated the division leading Broncos on Sunday so severely that Denver had to bench their Hall of Fame quarterback, something happened to me. My Kansas City Chiefs fanatic pilot light which had remained snuffed out since their 1-5 start was reignited. There had been sparks the past couple of weeks, but I refused to let them catch fire at that point. Last week I asked the question if KC was capable of winning seven games in a row to make the playoffs. In that scenario I had already conceded the Denver game as a loss.
Thankfully, the Chiefs weren’t conceding anything on Sunday.
As I watched the Chiefs impassioned defense pummel Peyton Manning and intercept him four times, as I watched Denver bench him and the cameras repeatedly show his sad pouting face on the sideline there was no keeping the flames at bay any longer. The anger, disappointment, and cynicism have been banished and the red and gold fanatic has returned.
I’m all in on this 2015 Kansas City Chiefs team…..and you should be too.
Look, I get it, we’ve been let down so many times before that it’s easy to be pessimistic and to not want to get your hopes up. It’s easier and less painful to just not care. I’ve been there, but this team absolutely has a shot to make the playoffs this season and there simply is no good reason for you to not buy in and come along for the ride.
It’s clear at this point that the Chiefs are NOT one of the worst teams in the NFL. There are currently ten teams with worse records and the Chiefs have one of, if not THE easiest schedules in the NFL the rest of the way. This team isn’t going to be drafting in the top ten picks this season. What’s more, Clark Hunt has already gone on record as saying he’s 100% behind Andy Reid and John Dorsey and that they will definitely be back next season regardless of what happens. So if they Chiefs aren’t drafting the next great rookie QB in the top ten picks and aren’t changing coaches or GMs this offseason the only way this team is becoming a championship caliber team is by improving and learning how to win as currently constructed.
You do that by winning and that’s just what the Chiefs are poised to do the rest of the way.
So you can grumble about Alex Smith not being good enough. You can criticize Andy Reid’s play calling. You can say some of the same things I was saying just a few weeks back like “all winning is going to do is delay them making meaningful changes”……but you’d be wrong. I see that now, partially because of the fight that I’ve seen from this Chiefs team over the past few games, but in large part because of another Kansas City sports team….
The Kansas City Royals
For years the same defeatist attitude that many Chiefs fans are suffering from (and as I admittedly was until Sunday) defined most of the Royals fanbase. Yes the fans DESPERATELY wanted the team to win, but until that dramatic come from behind win against the Oakland As in the 2014 “play in” game I don’t know if fans ever truly let themselves believe it could happen. Royals fans HATED David Glass, were skeptical of Dayton Moore, and flat out mocked Ned Yost. That same trio that fans at one point would have gladly jettisoned out of Kansas City got to stand on stage at Union Station in front of what felt like the entire city of Kansas City and celebrate what was once deemed impossible, a Kansas City Royals World Series victory.
That team, from the front office to the coaching staff to the players never stopped believing, even when the fans weren’t all in with them. They kept believing and fighting until they learned how to win.
That’s exactly what needs to happen now right across the parking lot at the Truman Sports Complex. I can’t sit here and promise you that the trio of Clark Hunt, John Dorsey, and Andy Reid will deliver this city a Super Bowl win, but I don’t think the odds of it happening are any worse than the odds of the Royals doing what they did just a few short years ago. They stayed the corse, they kept winning, and they developed into a championship caliber team.
You can’t do that by losing.
So get on board KC fans, all of you. This team is 100% in the playoff hunt. They have a favorable schedule ahead of them including games against teams like the Raiders and Bills that they will be directly competing for playoff spots with. This isn’t a championship caliber team yet, but if they get on a run down the stretch, get into the playoffs via the Wild Card, maybe get that elusive first playoff victory….who knows what next year could bring then?
My fire has been reignited. I’m all in on the 2015 Kansas City Chiefs.
You should be too.
As always, thanks for reading and GO CHIEFS!!!!