KC Chiefs are setting historic playoff marks at Arrowhead Stadium

As fans enter the gates at Arrowhead on Sunday before the Kansas City Chiefs face the Cincinnati Bengals, they will be experiencing something no NFL fanbase has gotten to do. Ever.

What comes to mind when you think about Arrowhead Stadium? Words like “loud,” “crazy,” and “bananas” likely come to mind. It’s an experience like none other, and it bleeds into the way the game is played. Just ask John Elway.

Home field advantage: It’s commonly worth about three points in an NFL game if you’re betting in Vegas. If you’re reading this, then it’s likely you’re a Chiefs fan, so then it’s quite possible you have witnessed home-field advantage first-hand in the NFL’s rowdiest, most raucous venue: Arrowhead Stadium.

Kingdom culture at Arrowhead is like none other. Fans know their role in the game and do not take it lightly. And not only that, they understand the game well enough to know when it’s time to get loud.

This past weekend against the Bills, the Chiefs set a new standard for home-field advantage.

Until this season, only two franchises in NFL history had ever hosted six playoff games in a three-year span (Can you guess who those two teams are? You’re probably wrong). When the Chiefs hosted Buffalo in the divisional round, they joined the 2002-2004 Eagles (also coached by Andy Reid) and the 1982-1984 Dolphins as the only teams to ever do that.

Hold up, you say. Do you mean to tell me the Donovan McNabb-led Eagles and the Dan Marino-led Dolphins are the only two teams ever to host that many playoff games? And I hesitantly answer yes. But with a caveat: Neither of those teams won all their games as the Chiefs have in their current three-year run. The Eagles went 4-2 in their six home games during that span, and the Dolphins were 5-1.

Meaning, the Chiefs’ win over the Bills established Arrowhead Stadium with the most dominant stretch of home-field advantage when it matters most—the playoffs—that the league has ever seen:

Six home playoff victories in three seasons, and a shot at a seventh this weekend against the Bengals.

So, if there is anyone who has attended all seven of these incredible games (when the Chiefs hosted the Texans and Titans in January 2020, the Browns and the Bills in January 2021, and the Steelers, Bills, and Bengals in January 2022), just know that you are literally making history as you enter the gate. No fan has ever gotten to watch their team host seven playoff games in three years, because it’s literally never happened.

A big part of the Arrowhead experience is the sheer volume. 76,416 voices clamor relentlessly as opposing offenses try to huddle. Visiting teams have actually asked referees to quiet the crowd in the past. Check out this 1990 clip, when Elway couldn’t even snap the ball.

Or this time in 1992 against Todd Marinovich and the Raiders. Officials asked twice for the crowd to pipe down. Arrowhead responded by going full potato.

On September 29, 2014, Guinness gauged the Arrowhead crowd as the world’s all-time loudest, measuring an ear-splitting 142.2 decibels.

Obviously, the crowd can’t win the games alone. The Chiefs must achieve on-field dominance. Glancing back through generations of the National Football League, several franchises have had their moments in the spotlight, but few have been able to maintain continued dominance for more than a year or two. When you get into the discussion of dynasties, there are a handful of teams one might list as the greatest.

What about those other juggernauts that have gotten to play this many playoff games at home in the past? Only those early ’80s Dolphins, along with the 2010s Patriots and early-’90s Cowboys can say they even won five home playoff games in a three-year span.

The mid-’90s Packers had four home playoff wins in a three-year frame. The 1970s Steelers never won more than three. The 1980s 49ers never did, either.

Chiefs fans have experienced six—with a shot at seven this Sunday.