Imagine for a second getting the opportunity to walk through the back-of-house at a Michelin-starred restaurant.
For just a few minutes, you're taken through a door very few outsiders ever get to see. Once through the portal, the mechanisms at work are instantly arresting with the deliberation and precision at work between everyone involved. It's the seamless choreography between chefs and runners, the rhythmic noise of pots clanging and knives chopping, the sparking workstations despite active meals being prepared for dozens if not hundreds.
In this (imaginary) exercise, you're given access to see just how meticulous the planning has been for years to see this vision through. Every chef involved has perfected recipes and honed techniques. Relationships are based on intimate communication, a deep knowledge of what everyone else in the restaurant is doing and why they're doing it. The shared vision (and movement) toward excellence drives the engine of this fascinating space in which everything and everyone is thriving.
Now imagine how silly it would sound to call the restaurant game rigged. Imagine saying that the local food board is in on it and that the health inspectors have rigged the game. Maybe they accuse other restaurants of purposefully hiring lesser chefs so this one establishment continues to have the best food. Perhaps even vendors refuse to sell finer products or fresh produce to other restaurants but this one.
That's how dumb some NFL fans sound these days.
The Kansas City Chiefs are a masterclass in organizational excellence. It required hitting rock bottom in 2012 (including a two-win season, fans paying for banners to "save our Chiefs" to fly overhead during games, and a murder-suicide) to shake everyone in Arrowhead Stadium up. From there, it seems like everything was on the table for discussion.
Then Andy Reid was hired. From there, the Chiefs would require another half-decade together to find the right pieces—big and small. Alex Smith was the ideal quarterback to take the reins of roster leadership, establish excellence on the field, and serve as a civic hero. John Dorsey and company loaded both sides with talented pillars to stem the tide of losing.
Even then, the Chiefs weren't done. Bob Sutton had to give way to Steve Spagnuolo. Dorsey gave way to Brett Veach. Many more minor pieces were put in place or replaced as the Chiefs learned how to sustain their success and then honestly assessed what it would require for the organization to take the leap forward that had eluded them for 50 years.
During this time, the team was cooking behind the scenes. Greater communication was established with each passing year of familiar leadership remaining in place. Unlike other NFL franchises, those tasked with their jobs were allowed to do them without meddlesome leadership. Because of low turnover, the Chiefs were slowly and steadily build a body of knowledge to move them forward.
Imagine a decade of common leadership able to try ideas, fail, and go back to the drawing board. Imagine a coaching staff and front office so in sync that few questions even need to be asked anymore. Everyone in the building knows exactly the ideal sort of roster asset the Chiefs would love to have in specific scenarios.
In this building, new ideas are encouraged. Leadership isn't threatened by experimentation. Players are allowed to express themselves and lean into their personalities. Yet when it comes down to it, everyone at Arrowhead is aware that only one thing matters.
The Chiefs now stand on the verge of making NFL history—NFL history. Not a single team has won three consecutive championships, but somehow the team has its best record yet heading toward that third title. It's six straight AFC Championships. It's 9 straight division titles. It's a smart financial plan that allows a team to both pay its pillars and yet lean on young talent.
Despite more than 10 years of pursuing excellence in this way, there are legions of NFL fans who want to claim the league is rigged. Somehow every other NFL owner is okay with only the Chiefs doing well. Somehow the refs rig games for the Chiefs despite every stat revealing the fact that K.C. is typically penalized more than most. Somehow even the NFL's commissioner wants the Chiefs to win agian in a league where parity has been emphasized again and again.
Listening to the troll factory formerly known as Twitter is to enter into a bizzaro world filled with Russian bots and uneducated fans ready to take credit for anything from the Chiefs. Conspiracy theorists abound elsewhere clinging to asinine takes that somehow make sense in their heads (yet sound so idiotic to anyone with common sense). Some people just cannot seem to give credit to someone if they dislike them—say that out loud again.
Fortunately NFL standings are not dependent on public opinion. Lombardi Trophies aren't give in a popular vote. And that's why the Chiefs are likely to claim yet another Super Bowl title despite a number of fans not wanting to give them the credit that they deserve.