Chiefs always maintained a beating heart
In 1843, Edgar Allen Poe wrote the Tell-Tale Heart. It was a short story about a man who had killed and dismembered his victim, hiding him underneath the floorboards of his home. Throughout the work, the murderer was driven to insanity by the sound of a beating heart from underneath his feet.
More than 170 years later, the Kansas City Chiefs have become the living embodiment of that literature. This was a team dead and buried, left for dead and all but forgotten about by those on the outside. It was a finished work, with only the epilogue to write.
Then, quietly at first, the sound of a beating heart came to be. The Chiefs had been buried, they had been killed. Yet, they refused to die.
This team has been known for being long on hope and short on guts for years. Now, Kansas City is authoring its own epic, all because it has the most improbable thing of all for the team at One Arrowhead Drive. It possesses a heart that will not stop beating.
How this season will finish remains to be seen. We are three-quarters of the way through the regular season, and the Chiefs are sitting at 7-5 and as the fifth seed in the current AFC playoff picture. There is no guarantee Kansas City will even reach the playoffs, although its recent play combined with the easiest schedule in football suggests the postseason will be a reality.
In their current form, the Chiefs have ample flaws. The injuries are starting to mount and the offense is short on weapons. Andy Reid is a brilliant coach in many regards, but his time management and inability to call consistently wise plays are always ready to leap into the forefront. Still, the arrow is pointing straight up.
Regardless of how or when this season comes to a close for the Chiefs, this team deserves ample applause. For decades, we have watched Kansas City wilt and die at the first sign of adversity. This group has proven itself to be made of a different mettle. Over the last two weeks, the Chiefs have appeared lackluster and without purpose in the early going. By the end of the contests, they have roared to victories which would have been easy losses in the past.
It has been pleasurable to watch Kansas City over the past six weeks, something thought impossible after a miserable 1-5 start and the loss of Jamaal Charles. The Chiefs had every reason to stop breathing and let their heart go silent. Instead, they pumped new life into themselves and subsequently, their fans.
With four weeks remaining in the regular season, Kansas City is pouring it on. It is coming down the stretch like a runaway train, with nobody and nothing in its path to slow the speed. It is something to behold. It is magnificent.
Kansas City is an ever-growing presence in the AFC. It owns that beautiful heart, now starting to beat at deafening levels for all in its way.