Sports
Same as it never was: Kansas City Chiefs flip the script after 50 years
It is much easier to lose a game. It is easy to keel over and accept that you are not worthy. Nothing changes if you lose: You were not a champion before, you are not a champion after. 31 teams failed to capture the ultimate glory. Some of them dared to be great and came up short. Some of them accepted that mediocrity was the best possible outcome before the first ball could ricochet off their kicker’s foot. Only one team achieves the dream and stands above the rest as king for the day and legends for eternity.
Down ten points in the fourth quarter, I had settled for mediocrity. I had accepted the Chiefs were destined to be the first place loser. Being the champion was too ambitious for my mind. When a bad pass from Pat Mahomes bounced off the hands of Tyreek Hill into the hands of a San Francisco 49ers defender, I became resolute in my belief that the Chiefs were destined for failure.
But the Chiefs are tough. With their backs to the wall and the odds against them, they mounted a comeback for the ages. When they scored the first touchdown, I stopped moping long enough to feel a pang of joy. When they scored another touchdown, I was terrified. We’ve been up late in important games before, but to imagine that we’d still be up when the clock ticked to 0:00 was still out of the question. But when Damien Williams rumbled in for a final touchdown to put the game out of reach, I, like every fan of the Chiefs, was beyond euphoric. My dad has witnessed the birth of four of his children and been married. Yet he still ranked Sunday, Feb. 2nd, 2020 as the fourth happiest day of his life.
Pat Mahomes looked unstoppable in the last ten minutes. And it feels like he will look unstoppable for the next ten years. Andy Reid, one of the greatest coaches in NFL history, finally achieved the highest mark a signal caller can: a Super Bowl.
In the 50 years since the Chiefs last won a championship, the fans of Kansas City have been loyal throughout the not-quite-great-enough and the god awful. They have remained faithful through countless tough breaks. It was easy to feel cursed as a Chiefs fan, but the true believers in Kansas City have been rewarded with a championship.
The fans of Kansas City Chiefs are the most resilient in the world. It is fitting that their championship is the perfect embodiment of their grit. They survived the Texans. They outlasted the Titans. And now, after 19 games, they have no more obstacles left to surmount. They have etched their names into the history books and our hearts forever.
