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History is against the Kansas City Chiefs building a dynasty

By Lyle Graversen

MIAMI, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 02: Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates after defeating San Francisco 49ers by 31 - 20 in Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium on February 02, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 02: Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs celebrates after defeating San Francisco 49ers by 31 - 20 in Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium on February 02, 2020 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts, flanked by head coach Tony Dungy, is interviewed after winning the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears match-up in Super Bowl XLI in Miami, Florida on February 4, 2007. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts, flanked by head coach Tony Dungy, is interviewed after winning the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears match-up in Super Bowl XLI in Miami, Florida on February 4, 2007. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

The Indianapolis Colts and Peyton Manning

Peyton Manning is widely viewed as one of the best quarterbacks of all time. His tenure with the Indianapolis Colts lasted 14 years (the last of which he was out with an injury). During the 13 seasons he played in Indianapolis, they made the playoffs 11 times. While Manning was seen as one of the best in the NFL for almost that entire time they ultimately only won one Super Bowl together. They made one other with Manning, but his tenure was largely plagued by underachieving in the playoffs. In 8 of his 11 playoff seasons the Colts failed to make it out of the divisional round.

Manning’s prolific production during that time is unquestioned. For the 13 seasons he played in Indianapolis he averaged over 4,200 yards passing and 30 touchdowns per season. It just didn’t equate to multiple Super Bowl wins. I reached out to Ryan Stano of FanSided’s Colts site Horseshoe Heroes for his opinion on why Manning’s Colts teams came up short in the playoffs so many times. He responded with the following:

"A poor defense was the main culprit. They couldn’t stop the run for many years. Sitting their starters at the end of the season hurt, too, because it made them rusty for the playoff games. That was especially true in ’05, which was their best team."

In my opinion, the Colts did a pretty good job of keeping Manning surrounded with talented players on offense, but as Stano points out, the defense simply wasn’t good enough come playoff time most seasons. Whether we look at the 2018 team or even the Vermeil-era team that lost to the Colts in the “no punt game”, Chiefs fans can relate to watching an amazing offensive team come up short because their defense simply wasn’t good enough. So while the Chiefs will likely be competitive as long as Mahomes is their quarterback, I think the lesson from Manning’s Colts tenure is that they have to keep the defense well-stocked as well.

There’s another prolific passer that is still playing that has had a similar track record to Manning.

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