By far one of the most entertaining seasons of recent memory comes in a No. 2 among Andy Reid’s five seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Record wise, this is the best season for the Kansas City Chiefs under Andy Reid. Unfortunately the regular season record and playoff seeding didn’t lead to much playoff success.
As just mentioned, this was the best season record wise for the Chiefs under Reid since the days of Dick Vermeil and Trent Green back in 2003, when the Chiefs finished with 12+ wins and the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. And just like the Chiefs of 2016, the Chiefs of 2003 went one and done in the playoffs for yet another pos season disappointment.
But enough with all the sad disappointing stuff, since we’re talking about the 2nd best season the Chiefs have had under Reid. And if it weren’t for the postseason loss, this season could have easily ended up as one of the top Chiefs seasons of the last 40 years. I’ll tell you why, just in case you may have forgotten.
This season was FUN!
Man, was this the most fun I’d ever had watching the Chiefs throughout the season. From beginning to finish this year pretty much had it all. So lets start at the beginning…
The beginning
It’s September 11th, 2016, the start to a new year in Kansas City. The Chiefs were going up against divisional rival San Diego Chargers in a matchup that probably didn’t get the hype it deserved. There were a lot of questions as to what this Chiefs team would look like, and how could it improve after winning their first playoff game in over 20 years.
Boy, oh boy, did the hype machine reach full capacity after an absolute thriller of a matchup. The Chiefs fell to a 21 point deficit halfway through the 3rd quarter 24-3. When the dust had finally settled the Chiefs were victorious winning 33-27. THE largest comeback in Chiefs history had just been complete, and gave us one of my favorite Chiefs photographs of all time.
There were a couple of bumps on the road after that as the Chiefs suffered and absolute devastating 43-14 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 4 just before their bye. After that, the Chiefs went on a 10-2 run that included two of my favorite Chiefs games of all time.
The “Doink”
First was the week 12 matchup against the divisional rival Denver Broncos. It is no secret to anyone who knows me that this is my favorite Chiefs game I’ve ever witnessed. Justin Houstin in his 2nd game back went on an absolute tear with 3 sacks, one of which led to a safety.
The ensuing safety kick was returned 86 yards by rookie sensation Tyreek Hill, who was not even close to done that day, finishing the day as the 2nd rookie in NFL history to score 3 different ways (kickoff return, rush, reception).
The end of the game was not too different from how it began as it led to overtime. After each kicker exchanged field goals, McManus finally missed one. The clock neared 00:00 in overtime, and the game came down to Cairo Santos. A make would end the game with a win for the Chiefs, and a miss would mean a tie for both teams. The kick went up, and it was out? No wait! It went in! The ball hit the right upright and bounced in. The Kansas City Chiefs won the game! What an exciting end to an amazing game. A game now known in the NFL as “The doink heard around the world”.
Statistics
Okay, admittedly that last section was so much fun to write, and this section is probably not going to be as nearly as fun. However, there were certainly some interesting and cool things that happened statistics wise.
In 2016, rookie receiver Tyreek Hill had total touchdowns on rushes, receptions, and kickoff/punts. On all of those scores combined Hill totaled 530 yards or 44.16~ yards per score! That is absolutely insane! And if you continue tracking his touchdowns all the way through the end of 2017, Hill’s yards/score actually increases to 51.
Now that Hill will have a QB with a cannon for an arm it’s hard to see Hill’s YPS decreasing much going forward. I couldn’t find any reliable databases that keep track of this, but I assume Hill is currently on a historic pace.
Twenty eight. The Chiefs had just 28 sacks all season long in 2016 which is the lowest in the Andy Reid era. Which is kinda funny when you look into it, because it’s also the only season in the Reid era to have two defenders with 10+ sacks. After having 46+ sacks in each of Reid’s first 3 seasons in KC, the last two seasons have combined for just 59 sacks.
With Tamba Hali gone along with many others this may be the defensive stat to keep an eye on the most. Our defensive struggles in the playoffs have often come down to not being able to reach the quarterback when most needed. This stat needs to improve for the Chiefs playoff hopes in 2018.
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