How the Chiefs made Wild Card weekend much more enjoyable
The Chiefs made Wild Card weekend even more fun and they didn’t even participate.
Wild Card weekend is a great time to be a football fan. There are enthralling matchups, exciting games, the potential for big upsets, and everything to play for. The do-or-die nature of the playoffs means stakes are high and the pressure is immense. Every decision made by players, coaches and referees—especially the incorrect ones—are analyzed and picked apart over and over again (hello, Mike Vrabel).
Lately, I have been able to enjoy Wild Card weekend even more for one simple reason: the Kansas City Chiefs haven’t been in it.
In four of the last five seasons, the Chiefs have clinched one of the AFC’s top seeds and a first round bye, allowing them to bypass Wild Card weekend all together and skip the craziness that comes with it. It is a strange, fantastic sensation, watching playoff football and being detached from the stress—the nerves and rollercoaster of emotions it brings while still being in the playoffs. It’s a feeling I won’t take for granted.
The first round bye isn’t just a week off for the players and coaches, but a week of for the fans, too. It is the calm before the storm, one last chance to simply watch and enjoy football before nerves and apprehension kick back in. It was splendid to sit back, relax, and watch the Wild Card games last weekend without any of the anxiety, tension, or emotional investment that playoff football brings.
When Mike Vrabel and the Tennessee Titans chose to punt rather than go for it on 4th & 2 at Baltimore’s 40-yard line while trailing in the fourth quarter of a playoff game, I wasn’t irate or upset.
When the Indianapolis Colts were on their final drive trying to tie or even win the game, I wasn’t nervous. When in that same game on that same drive Zach Pascal was, debatably, ruled down by contact, I wasn’t infuriated.
When the Pittsburgh Steelers gave up the most points in the first quarter of a playoff game ever, I wasn’t left feeling despondent. And I wasn’t left bewildered as to how my team was unable to beat the L.A. Rams with a backup quarterback and an injured Jared Goff.
It was wonderful to watch all of this unfold and have no skin in the game, no attachment or investment in any of the results.
This year, the Chiefs added another element that made Wild Card weekend even more enjoyable, a sense that it doesn’t matter who their next opponent is, they will still be favorites to win. Watching the games last weekend I wasn’t stressing over results, hoping that a specific team would win or lose to create the most favorable matchup for K.C. in the next round. Why? Because I knew the Chiefs are the best team in football and they should beat anyone they come up against.
This feeling is different even from last year, when the Chiefs were the number two seed, or in 2019, when they were the number one seed. In both those years, it felt like there were teams Kansas City wanted to avoid: the Ravens last year, and the Patriots in 2019. This year, Kansas City is the team everyone else wants to avoid.
I’m not saying the Chiefs are a sure thing to win against the Cleveland Browns or to win the AFC Championship game, should they make it. Anything can happen in football, and the Chiefs have shown in the past that there are many, many ways to lose a playoff game. But this team is just so good that if they can play their best, they will win no matter who they face.
The nerves will undoubtedly kick back in next weekend when Kansas City takes the field. But thanks to their success this year and in recent seasons too, the Chiefs have allowed me to really enjoy Wild Card weekend—and they weren’t even participating in it.