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The best Kansas City Chiefs to ever wear the uniform: No. 8

By Matt Conner

24 Sep 1989: Kicker Nick Lowery of the Kansas City Chiefs looks on during a game against the San Diego Chargers at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California. The Chargers won the game, 21-6.
24 Sep 1989: Kicker Nick Lowery of the Kansas City Chiefs looks on during a game against the San Diego Chargers at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego, California. The Chargers won the game, 21-6. /
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In this special offseason series, we analyze the best players in Kansas City Chiefs history to wear every single uniform number. Here’s No. 8.

Quick, name the oddest stat line for a quarterback in Kansas City Chiefs history.

If you said “Billie Joe Tolliver,” you are a trivia hound. You also likely need to go outside and make some friends. Either way, I’m super impressed.

In case you don’t know, Tolliver, who wore No. 8 for the Chiefs for a very brief three-game stretch in ’97, is the likely owner of such an honor. It’s because his career Chiefs stats read like this:

  • 1 pass attempt
  • 1 completion
  • Negative-8 yards

Somehow that single pass and negative completion is good enough for a 79.2 passer rating, which is 12 points better than his career rating. Who knew?

So we know it’s NOT Tolliver who was the best to wear the No. 8. Let’s take a look at others more deserving.

The Others

There was a brief moment in Chiefs history that a man named Kyle Orton was viewed as a savior. The Chiefs were miserable in 2011, starting the likes of Tyler Palko and Matt Cassel to predictably miserable results. Orton started the season as the Denver Broncos quarterback but decided to bench him and ultimately release him for the sake of starting Tim Tebow. Yep.

The Chiefs claimed Orton and installed him for a three-game stretch near season’s end. The stats aren’t exactly Pro Bowl numbers, but he went 2-1 as a starter including a season-ending defeat of his former employer. Heading into the offseason, it looked like the Chiefs might actually have someone with reasonable talent under center.

Then came the unpredictable spurn. Instead of staying in K.C. with a legitimate chance at a starting role, Orton took nice money to be a back-up in Dallas. Just as quickly as the hero arrived, he vanished into the sunset heading toward Jerry Jones’s fancy ranch.

The Runner-up: Morten Andersen

The Chiefs are one of those “other teams” for Morten Andersen, along with the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants. It’s easy to have a few of those lying around when you’ve played for 25 years.

The primary teams who would lay claim to Andersen (and they should) would be the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons, two franchises who enjoyed the bulk of Andersen’s Hall of Fame kicking career. From the age of 22 in 1982 to the age of 47 in 2007, Andersen was as much of a fixture as anyone else, playing or not, in the NFL for more than a generation.

His tenure with the Chiefs is a brief mention on his overall resume, but it was a memorable two-year stretch for Chiefs fans. Andersen made 38 of 46 field goals overall back in 2002-03 and he led the league in extra points both years in K.C. His field goal percentage of 82.6% was the highest of his any stop in his career.

For two years of a Hall of Fame career, Andersen deserves the nod over other potential players.

The Winner: Nick Lowery

It’s amazing to think that no one ever wore the No. 8 for the Kansas City Chiefs before the 1980 season. Isn’t that weird? Dozens of other numbers were recycled over and over and yet No. 8 just sat there like it was inherently cursed for reasons only known to those who worked at 1 Arrowhead Drive.

Then came Nick Lowery. (Really why isn’t he Kick Lowery?) From 1980 to 1993, no one else would wear the uniform because Lowery was too busy kicking field goals and taking names. Thirteen years of kicking dominance that would have been a bit more celebrated if the Chiefs hadn’t already enjoyed the years of Jan Stenerud.

That’s okay. We remember, Nick.

Lowery made three Pro Bowls with the Chiefs, his first at the age of 25 and the last when he was 36. Those are memorable pillars in a career that spanned an incredible 18 years in the NFL, as Lowery also kicked for the New England Patriots and New York Jets. He sits at No. 12 all time in career field goals made and he’s the Chiefs all-time leader in that very category with 329 (50 more than Stenerud).

It’s also super cool that he’s so focused on giving back to those in need these days.

Next: The Best to Wear It: No. 7

Congratulations to Nick Lowery for being the greatest Chiefs player to ever wear the No. 8 on his uniform!

Previous Uniform Winners

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