Matt Derrick - At Last!: The Kansas City Chiefs Unforgettable 2019 Championship Season

Chiefs players douse head coach Andy Reid with gatorade as the clock runs down in the fourth quarter.

Contents

Foreword by Kevin Harlan

There are so many ways to view the Kansas City Chiefs winning their first Super Bowl title in 50 years.

Through the eyes of the players who some old, some new perhaps learned a lot from last seasons gut-wrenching finish.

Through the eyes of head coach Andy Reid who has built a winner again, as he had previously in Philadelphia, making it back to a Super Bowl, as he did with the Eagles, but this timing finally claiming the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Most poignantly, through the eyes of the Hunt family. Founder Lamar Hunts son, Clark, now runs the team and accepted the AFC Championship trophy bearing his fathers name. The late Lamar Hunts wife Norma, holding, then kissing the trophy in maybe the most poignant moment of all.

How do you describe the kind of elation and pure joy of being at Arrowhead when the Chiefs captured the AFC Championship? In the stands as the clock wound down and it was apparent the Chiefs would indeed win, the crowd almost didnt know how to react. This was new territory. The Chiefs had been so close last season and it was grabbed away at the last moment by a Hall of Fame quarterback and coach of the most successful NFL team of the last two decades, who knew how to close the deal. The Patriots had been there. They knew the course well. They knew how.

For the Chiefs, and their fans, well, they hadnt been down that road. So again, disappointment. Crushing disappointment. Thats the road they knew. They had been there. That was a course they knew well.

Finally, zeros on the clock. It was finished. As the benches emptied and the game ended, I took my binoculars and looked down from our high broadcast position at Arrowhead, not to look at the players on the field celebrating, but rather I looked to the stands below. And there I saw grown men and women crying and hugging anyone within reach.

Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes are all smiles during their post-game interview in Miami.

Winning the Super Bowl takes those emotions to a whole different level. I mean it had been 50 years, a lifetime, since the Chiefs had been to a Super Bowl. And to be so close a year ago and lose the way they did, man, that was a tough one to process. For the team and fans.

Watching the Chiefs seal the win in Super Bowl LIV was especially unique for fans who were lucky enough to be around for Super Bowl IV, the last time the Chiefs were crowned champions. Of course, every Chiefs fan was ecstatic after the Super Bowl LIV win, but these veteran fans had been through a lot in 50 years. Its like seeing a long-lost friend, college or high school buddy, or relative you hadnt seen in forever. Someone who had been such an important part of your life, a lifetime ago, who you hadnt seen in decades. That kind of reunion, that kind of emotional sequence, is extremely hard to describe. The emotions that come out of that reunion are very raw and real. You cant disguise that feeling.

So thats why, because it was so unrehearsed and genuine, so organic to the moment, it was fascinating to watch. No pretense. No macho. No hiding emotion. There was nothing to hide behind or cover your true feelings. So revealing. Very impactful. There was nothing to say, really. It spoke for itself with thousands and thousands of Chiefs fans sharing a very unique moment. That is what I will remember. Strangers. Family. Chiefs fans. Pure joy.

For most Chiefs fans that have waited season after season and known the heartbreak of losing, or coming close, or not even being a factor over the last 50 seasons, I wonder if their joy would be as full if they hadnt endured all that had happened. All those seasons of hope. All those losing seasons. And everything in between. They probably have more appreciation for this trip to the Super Bowl than most NFL fans. The only fans that could relate are fans of teams that have never been there. But 50 years? Come on. Thats a lifetime.

In life, they say the journey is the reward. Well, Chiefs fans have been rewarded for their incredible patience and loyalty on a journey few fan bases have had to endure. Yet, they still came to Arrowhead. Still bought tickets. Tailgated. Cheered. What loyalty! And that I think makes them the best fans in the NFL.

Introduction

When the Kansas City Chiefs became world champions of football with the upset triumph over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV, it seemed the beginning of a new era rather than the ending of another.

The 1969 season marked the end of 10-year run of the American Football League, the upstart brainchild of Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt. The Chiefs franchise dominated the decade, winning three AFL championships and playing in Super Bowl I before winning the final AFL-NFL title game before the two leagues merged. The Chiefs were a model franchise poised for the future with 10 future members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame within the organization.

The only things that followed, however, were disappointments and sadness. For 50 years the Chiefs wandered the NFL desert searching for an oasis. The painful losses started on Christmas Day 1971, when the Chiefs fell 27-24 to the Miami Dolphins in double overtime, the longest game in NFL history.

The Chiefs would only make the playoffs twice in the next 19 seasons and it would be a full 20 years before they won a playoff game. For 50 seasons Chiefs fans would continue to support the kingdom despite countless disappointments and heartbreaks.

The 2019 season started with more optimism than any campaign in Chiefs history. Coming four inches short of the Super Bowl, as Andy Reid preached all offseason, left this team hungry but also expectant. Another trip to the AFC Championship game wasnt the goal but a step along the way.

But nothing worth having comes without sacrifice and challenges. The 2019 Chiefs faced their share of stops and starts, with times where a Super Bowl didnt seem in the cards this season.

There was no lower point for the Chiefs than the sight of quarterback Patrick Mahomes down on the field in Denver. There wasnt a Chiefs fan who didnt feel sick to their stomach seeing the MVP on the turf with a team physician repositioning his dislocated right kneecap back into place.

The near miraculous return of Mahomes to the field ushered in a resurgence of the Chiefs Super Bowl hopes, but it took more than that to return a franchise to a glory it hadnt experienced for five decades.

Last March Chiefs general manager Brett Veach went on the free agent market looking for a new defensive leader. The team already had in Mahomes a leader on offense. Now the team need a quarterback on defense.

From the moment Tyrann Mathieu arrived in Kansas City, he preached the need for championship swagger. Veach also added defensive end Frank Clark via a trade with Seattle, bringing Mathieu a partner in crime in reinvigorating a dormant defense.