Kansas City Chiefs fans remember all too well that playoff life before the Patrick Mahomes era, as it was marred with some of the most disappointing losses fans will ever see.
One of the more crushing individual losses is what convinced Andy Reid that the Alex Smith era was done, as they fell at home to a Tennessee Titans team that was led by a struggling Marcus Mariota who barely squeaked into the playoffs. That 22-21 home upset defeat was a punch in the gut for Smith, Reid, and the fanbase.
That loss may actually look worse in retrospect, as Titans center Ben Jones revealed that he and Mariota were calling their own plays during the second half of that game. Jones also hinted that maligned offensive coordinator Terry Robiskie wouldn't call plays in a two-minute drill, telling Mariota to just "go play" in that scenario.
Kansas City would go into halftime of that game up 21-3, but the Titans would eventually piece together one of the best halves of football in franchise history and ended up with the victory on the road. Mariota was winging it alone in this game, making the defensive capitulation even worse.
Titans beat Chiefs in 2017 playoff game without offensive coordinator calling plays
Mariota finished the game going 19-31 with 251 total yards (205 passing) and two passing touchdowns, one of which he caught himself on a goofy play that will still cause Chiefs fans' eyes to twitch. Mariota was up-and-down in his Titans career, but he managed to lock in during that second half.
Even though the Chiefs didn't have the Mahomes X-factor in this game, they did have Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce as they were starting to entertheir respective primes. In terms of how easy of a victory this game should have been, this was likely the most painful loss of the Smith era.
Knowing that a team with Delanie Walker and Corey Davis as the top pass-catchers in their arsenal ws able to walk into Arrowhead Stadium and come out with an 18-point comeback win despite getting quite literally zero input from their overmatched offensive coordinator makes the loss even more bitter for fans.
Chiefs fans will be eternally grateful for Mahomes and Steve Spagnuolo coming to town, as any meaninfgul playoff game where Smith was the quarterback and Bob Sutton was in charge of the defense was inevitably going to end up with Kansas City on the losing end thanks to comically bad unlucky breaks.