Chiefs’ victory was greatest I’ve ever seen

It was the largest deficit any Chiefs team had ever overcome

In the annals of franchise history, no Chiefs team had ever rallied, down 21 points, to win a game — in 56 years. If that weren’t mind-boggling enough, they did it without three of their regular starters and a fourth, Tamba Hali, playing just 42 snaps.

A weakened team made history at One Arrowhead Drive on Sunday. It’s incredibly rare to overcome a deficit of 20 or more points. In 2014, just four teams across the NFL dug out of such a hole.

It’s even more surprising when you consider the fact that this team isn’t typically thought of as one that can play from behind. In years past, most of the national talking heads would’ve written Kansas City off for a deficit half as big.

Mind you, this isn’t Dick Vermeil’s Air Coryell offenses of the early 00’s. That offensive group often scored at will. The 2016 team is predicated on an often plodding, dink-and-dunk West Coast system. Rewatch the first half of Sunday’s game and tell me otherwise.

The Chiefs overcame the deficit without the benefit of turnovers

If just pulling off the comeback was improbable, imagine how much more unrealistic it becomes without forcing turnovers. The Chiefs climbed the mountain the long way. Only San Diego’s missed field goal even comes close to what we classically consider a turnover, and even then, it was merely a turnover on downs.

I’m sure you won’t want to, but remember the Colts’ ridiculous rally in the 2014 playoffs? Part of what made that comeback so impressive is that Indy overcame an even larger deficit with one Kansas City turnover to do it with (a fumble).

Turnovers are what made the 2015 team so special. Last year, Kansas City had a +14 turnover ratio. The Chiefs also made this historic comeback without doing much to rattle Rivers’ cage. He was certainly pressured on occasion, but was sacked just once all day — albeit, at a crucial point in the game — by Dee Ford.

Don’t forget they didn’t exactly get any big-play help from their special teams group, either. Santos did have two field goals on Sunday, but only one of them was critical to the Chiefs surge (a late fourth-quarter kick that narrowed San Diego’s lead to just one possession). Kansas City clawed back on Sunday in the toughest way imaginable.

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