The Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl champions AGAIN. The Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in Super Bowl LVIII to secure their third Super Bowl title in the last five years. As I type those words, I still can't fully believe them.
I've been writing for Arrowhead Addict since the Todd Haley/Matt Cassel era. For years I dreamed of getting to write about just one Super Bowl win, and now I'm trying to compose myself enough to write the following words: The Kansas City Chiefs have cemented themselves as one of the great dynasties in the history of the NFL.
I'm not here to take anything away from new Chiefs fans. I'm sure they were jumping up and down and screaming just like I was. In fact, I hope thousands of new young Chiefs fans will now be lifelong members of Chiefs Kingdom after what we've seen over these last five years. Maybe this season has even won over some "Swifties", but as much as they may have enjoyed this ride, it means a little bit more when you suffered through the hard times.
I remember the Monday Night Meltdown. I remember the disappointment caused by the kicker who shall not be named and the heartbreak of Marty Schottenheimer never getting to the top of the mountain. I remember the no punt game against Peyton Manning and how Dick Vermeil could never find enough defense to go with his offense. I remember the absolute rock bottom of the 2012 season. The embarrassing losses. The "Save Our Chiefs" banners. The Eric Winston rant. The Jovan Belcher tragedy.
I remember years and YEARS of hand-me-down quarterbacks who were good enough to get your hopes up, but never good enough to make the Chiefs a true Super Bowl threat. I remember wondering if K.C. would ever have their own great quarterback that they drafted. I wondered if after all the years of fandom, all the blog articles written, all the games watched, all the dreams crushed, would we fans ever see our team get to the top?
Fast forward to the present day and not only have we got to see our team reach the absolute top of the NFL mountain, they have set up camp there. They are now the team that causes fans of other teams to ask "Will we ever get to see our team get there?". Three Super Bowl wins in five years. Four Super Bowl appearances in the last five years. Six straight seasons of making it to the AFC Championship Game. It is undeniably one of the greatest stretches of any team in the history of the NFL and it's OUR TEAM this time!
This is not normal. This is not something anyone should take for granted or get used to. The fact that the New England Patriots dynasty was relatively recently may make this seem less unheard of, but if you pan out and look at the entire history of the NFL there are only a handful of teams to ever have a period of success like this.
I wrote a couple of weeks ago about what this win would mean for the legacies of this team, Andy Reid, and Patrick Mahomes. Well, this win now cements them all in the annals of NFL history. This team is a true dynasty and one of the greatest in NFL history. Andy Reid has secured his place on the Mount Rushmore of NFL head coaches and Patrick Mahomes after only six seasons as a starting quarterback has a claim to being one of the two or three most successful quarterbacks of all time.
The Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl champions. They have now gone back to back. They have gone to four of the last five Super Bowls and won three of them. This is not only the golden age of Kansas City Chiefs football, but one of the most amazing runs that any team has ever seen. This is better than any dream I ever had as a fan of this team. It would have felt selfish to dream this big. I will enjoy every second of this and if they don't win another Super Bowl in my lifetime I will be forever thankful that I got to witness this era of Chiefs football.
That having been said, if this team is already going above and beyond my wildest dreams... How awesome would the first NFL three-peat be?