Recounting the 2019 Kansas City Chiefs historic run to a Super Bowl Championship
The Kansas City Chiefs run to Super Bowl LIV was one for the history books. Let’s look back at this group of champions and reminisce on some of the greatest moments down the stretch.
"This is why we’re here, dog! You remember that stretch we had in September and October? We knew what team we was, dog! All we had to do was believe in each other and play for each other! I watched a lot of y’all drop y’all pride this year, dog! I watched a lot of people step up, big time players. That’s what we need today, we need energy, we need oneness. We need to be remembered! Let’s go! – Tyrann Mathieu‘s (Super Bowl pregame speech)"
Immortality. The ability to live forever, even after you have physically passed on from this life. It’s a philosophical prospect in life, finding its place in discussions mostly carried on by those of religious presuppositions.
The other place it is often discussed is in sports, often at the end of a season when a player’s or team’s exploits are compared with those from past years and generations now long gone. To obtain a seat at this table of discussion, you must first do something special. You must be a champion. Every member of the 2019 Kansas City Chiefs has just achieved that very requirement.
With 11 minutes and 57 seconds left to go, it didn’t seem this ending was probable. The Chiefs offense had fought valiantly, but their normally precise general had made some uncharacteristic mistakes. Some weren’t surprised. After all, the 49ers defense was one of the best in the league and arguably the best the Chiefs had faced all season. Down the same number of points they had scored in the prior 48 minutes and 3 seconds, the incredible 2019 season seemed on the doorstep of defeat.
Yet the once maligned Chiefs defense stared in the face of competitive death and determined itself unwilling to be overcome. Frank Clark would later recall how angry it had made him seeing the 49ers players celebrating on the sideline, prematurely. With 11 minutes and 57 seconds left, the Niners defense would make what appeared a game sealing interception. The sideline’s jubilation was apparent; they thought they had won the game.
With an undying belief of destiny that had formed amongst the Chiefs locker room early in the team’s late-season winning streak, now spilling over the threshold of the player’s minds in the team’s darkest moments, Clark let the 49ers offense know what he thought. They’d be going home disappointed.
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"The Chiefs, with 10 minutes and 20 seconds and counting. This is a critical drive for them right now, obviously they have to make a stop. They have to make a stop right now! – Troy Aikman"
The 49ers, a vaunted offense in their own right, would never score again. A Chiefs defense that was an embarrassment a year prior, retooled in every way imaginable, would do everything Chiefs Kingdom could have asked for and more. A league MVP, subdued for three and a half quarters but his iron will still resolute, along with his cohort of talented skill players would unleash one of the greatest scoring onslaughts in Super Bowl history.
As the final seconds ticked away and the red and gold confetti began to rain on the field at Hard Rock Stadium, it was finally clear how special this 2019 Chiefs team is, was and forever will be regarded. Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Clark Hunt, and a host of other Chiefs would raise the Lombardi Trophy thanks to legendary feats throughout the year and playoffs.
Obviously, the Chiefs late season push for their first Super Bowl victory in 50 years makes this the most memorable season in decades. That goes without saying. However, there are a handful of reasons why this particular run is so memorable aside from the championship.