Top 10 seasons in Kansas City Chiefs history

9. Kansas City Chiefs, 1968, The Prelude

The first of four teams from the ’60s to make an appearance on the list, the 1968 Kansas Chiefs were also the first in what would become a long line of strong regular season turns only to result in heartbreaking playoff performances.

The ’68 squad ran through the regular season, finishing first in the West Division with a 12-2 record under veteran head coach Hank Stram. At this time, the team was just two years removed from appearing in the first-ever Super Bowl, and it seemed like an inevitability that this season would be their second appearance.

Len Dawson made the Pro Bowl this season despite his pedestrian 17-9 touchdown-to-interception ratio. The leading rusher on the team was fullback Robert Holmes who averaged 5.0 yards per carry, and Mike Garrett received basically the same number of carries (10 fewer) despite having only a 3.4 average per carry. On the receiving front, no pass catcher had more than 655 yards, and constant Hall of Fame snub Otis Taylor earned only 420 yards all year. Offensively, the team just was not very good.

But, like the ’95 team, the defense led the way for this squad. The Chiefs only surrendered 18 touchdowns all year long. This squad was stacked with talent. We’ll talk about some of this more in depth later, but consider this: six Pro Bowlers and four All Pro’s started for this defense. Five of these men went on to be Pro Football Hall of Famers. This was simply an incredible collection of talent.

Unfortunately and surprisingly, the defense collapsed in the playoffs, and gave up 41 points to the Oakland Raiders in a losing effort. The Chiefs were 1-2 against the Raiders that season, and saw their two highest opponent scoring games from Oakland, after giving up 38 points to them in November. The Chiefs defense was as good as advertised, but so was the Raiders offense. Coach Hank Stram got out-coached when it mattered most, and the Chiefs season ended.