The NFL playoffs are officially underway, and for the first time in over a decade, the Kansas City Chiefs are not taking part. But surprisingly, in a postseason that doesn’t even include them, the Chiefs’ recent playoff legacy has already received a huge boost after Wild Card Weekend thanks to an old friend – the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Chiefs have just finished one of the greatest stretches in NFL history – winning three Lombardi Trophies in five years including back-to-back Super Bowls, making three consecutive Super Bowl appearances and seven straight AFC Championship games. It can be easy to take all that success for granted, to overlook the greatness of what Kansas City was achieving because the team was literally able to do it over and over and over again.
The Chiefs made it all look so easy, but Sunday’s Wild Card game between the Eagles and the San Francisco 49ers put their success into context and just how difficult it is to achieve even a fraction of what Kansas City has accomplished. Philadelphia is the reigning Super Bowl champion, but its title defense is over one week into the playoffs after the Eagles suffered a surprising defeat at home to the 49ers – a result that is good news for Kansas City’s legacy.
That result means that the Chiefs will remain as the only team in the last two decades that has been able to win back-to-back Super Bowls and one of only eight teams to have ever done it in NFL history.
Thanks, Philadelphia, for reminding everyone just how difficult winning two Super bowls in a row really is. It’s made the Chiefs look a whole lot more impressive.
There were other crumbs of context sprinkled throughout wildcard weekend too that had a similar effect too. The Eagles’ elimination means they won’t be able to match KC’s NFL record of hosting five consecutive conference title games at home either.
In fact, KC’s run of seven straight title games is more conference championship appearances than six teams from this year’s playoff field have in their entire history. Their three Super Bowl wins in the last six years alone are more than 22 franchises have won ever.
The Chiefs had made the AFC title game every season since the Carolina Panthers last made the playoffs altogether back in 2017.
The Houston Texans have made the playoffs for three seasons in a row for the first time in team history, while the Chiefs just ended a streak of reaching three straight Super Bowls. Houston has also never made it past the divisional round of the playoffs before.
The Chiefs won nine playoff games in the previous three years, more playoff wins than the Jacksonville Jaguars (eight) and Texans (six) have ever won.
And Saturday was the first time the Chicago Bears had won a home playoff game since 2010 – the Chiefs, meanwhile, have won 12 home playoff games since 2018.
It can be easy to overlook Kansas City’s postseason accomplishments and regard their success as something normal, something that any team could go out and achieve. But one weekend of playoff football in a postseason that doesn’t even feature the Chiefs has already highlighted just how impressive their KC’s achievements really are.