The Kansas City Chiefs are headed to the Super Bowl and Chiefs Kingdom shouldn’t let anything keep them from enjoying every second of it.
The Kansas City Chiefs are going back to the Super Bowl. The Chiefs punched their ticket on Sunday with a dramatic 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. It took a Herculean effort from their defense and a last-second field goal from Harrison Butker to get it done, but the end result is that the Chiefs are headed to their third Super Bowl in the last four seasons and Chiefs fans should absolutely enjoy every second of it.
There may be a temptation by some to stew over how ugly the game was. Don’t do it. It doesn’t matter if it was pretty or not, advancing is all that matters. It doesn’t matter that the offense struggled throughout most of the game and didn’t take advantage of how great the defense set them up. For decades we as Chiefs fans dreamed of going to the Super Bowl and now we get to watch them play in it for the third time in four years. You simply can’t lose sight of that because the win wasn’t as pretty as it could have been.
The real challenge is going to come when social media is a never-ending barrage of bitter fans from other teams screaming that KC was given that game by the officials. Don’t let it take one single second of your enjoyment of this away from you. Were there some bad calls? Sure, but there are in every NFL game. Was the re-do a third-down play because it was “blown dead” despite the fact that they let it play out weirdly and highly questionable? Sure, but the Chiefs still had to punt so it didn’t drastically affect the game. Was the late hit on Patrick Mahomes that set up the game-winning field goal the right call? Yes, so why would you let a troll take away your Super Bowl joy?
NFL fans outside of the Chiefs Kingdom were already tired of the Mahomes era. They wanted nothing more than to see the Chiefs lose again. Of course, they won’t give them credit. Of course, they will try to make Chiefs fans feel like they don’t deserve it. What else do they have to do at this point? Tune them out or you are letting them win.
I think some Chiefs fans may also turn to immediate worry over all of KC’s injury issues. There will be time for that in the last couple of days leading up to the big game. That doesn’t matter right now either. The Chiefs have two weeks to get people healthy and they just proved against the Bengals that they can find a way to win against one of the NFL’s hottest teams even with all the injuries. So don’t let injury worries take away from this moment either.
I started watching the Chiefs during the Marty Schottenheimer years. It killed me that he and that Derrick Thomas-led defense never got to go to the Super Bowl. I vividly remember the Lin Elliott game. I remember the no-punt game and the no-defense teams that accompanied the Dick Vermeil teams with the amazing offense. I remember the darkness of the 2-14 season with “Save Our Chiefs” banners flying over the stadium, fans wearing bags over their heads in the stands, and just when it seemed like things couldn’t get any darker, the Jevon Belcher tragedy. Then Andy Reid arrived and while I thought it might be different we soon got the Andrew Luck comeback and Marcus Mariota throwing touchdown passes to himself. Was this team forever cursed?
Turns out they weren’t. Turns out that after years of quarterback purgatory, they would draft THE quarterback of this generation. Turns out they would finally bring the Lamar Hunt trophy to its rightful home. Turns out they would actually win the Super Bowl and now we get to watch them go for a second Super Bowl win in this era. Who cares about the Bengals game anymore? It means nothing now. A team winning a second Super Bowl puts you in elite company. Do you think people are jealous of us now? If they add another Super Bowl win and establish a legitimate dynasty era those bitter fans of other teams are going to lose their minds. Won’t it be great?
So enjoy these two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl Chiefs fans. Enjoy the fact that we get to watch the “Andy Reid Bowl” as he takes on his former team. Enjoy that we get to watch the “Kelce Bowl” as Travis Kelce takes on his older brother Jason’s Philadelphia Eagles. While you’re at it, enjoy Kelce’s amazing post-game quotes a couple more times. Enjoy the fact that all those other AFC West teams that spent all offseason building to beat us have to listen to two weeks of Chiefs hype as we play in another Super Bowl. Enjoy knowing that fans of the Bengals and the Buffalo Bills will be seething in anger as they listen to two weeks of the media fawning over Patrick Mahomes.
We are witnessing the greatest era of Chiefs football in the team’s storied history. We are watching the most talented young quarterback that the NFL has ever seen and he somehow plays for OUR TEAM. Don’t take it for granted. Don’t let anything ruin it for you. Soak in every minute of it. The Kansas City Chiefs are going to the Super Bowl. Isn’t it great?