2015 Season – Week 17
The 2015 Kansas City Chiefs season told two wildly different stories. A team that had barely missed the playoffs a year prior looked to build on some offseason momentum. That momentum ran into a brick wall in the first six weeks, the team finishing with only one win and five losses.
To literally add injury to insult, their best player and human highlight film Jamaal Charles experienced a contactless season-ending injury against the Chicago Bears. The future looked absolutely bleak, even for the most positive players and fans in Chiefs Kingdom.
The team that would play the next 12 weeks could not have been more different than the one that played the first six. Starting with a victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers in week seven, the Chiefs would win a franchise record 11-straight games en route to their first playoff victory in 22 years.
The only thing standing in their way of clinching a Wild Card berth was a scrappy 7-8 Oakland Raiders team. While “you are what your record says you are,” this Raiders team still had the ability to ruin the Chiefs streak and it’s chance for redemption.
The Chiefs got out to an early 14 point lead, but as tended to happen a number of times that year they struggled to score in the second half. The Raiders clawed their way back into the game, and with time running out had a chance to drive the field for the winning score.
As was quite common in the early days of the Andy Reid tenure, the defense came up big. With fans on the edge of their seats and time running short, the defense delivered a victory for the the team and the city. While the euphoria of the win-streak would come to an end in the divisional round of the playoffs, to the hated New England Patriots no less, this season proved the franchise was in good hands with Andy Reid.