BY JOSE FAUS
The game has been over a few days, or so, and I’m still trying to deal with the aftermath. Following the 19-17 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, the Kansa City Chiefs sit at 11-1 with the inside lane to the coveted number 1 seed. So why do I feel a little blah over it?
It could have something to do with the fact they played two of the worst teams in recent memory on consecutive weeks and still managed to take it to the last minute both times before pulling out a victory. You could say this team lives on the margins, though I would qualify it to say this team lives on a tightrope.
Us fans live underneath that tightrope. With bated breath, we pine for that miraculous game where they hit every mark necessary to show they are a team of destiny as opposed to a team of density, like a density of problems and issues. We can masquerade all this as the drudge of a long season where every team tries to prove their mettle by beating you. Add to it the poison that is every opposing fan sending out the bad Juju that will break the spell the Chiefs have over the officials and the NFL, which continuously keeps them front and center.
But that is not enough for the woeful anti fan that espouses the canard this is the most fraudulent 11-1 team in NFL history, which at any moment will be exposed for the true mediocrity they are, hopefully by their team. I’m so over fans that watch so much football and still feel that the refs are out to get every other team except the Chiefs. I got news for you. The refs are equal opportunity bad. I say to you fan with head buried in sand, as a public service please quit watching the game and go hide under a rock, preferably one that weighs tons so that you don’t creep out every weekend and pontificate on what you know absolutely nothing about.
But I guess that is the price one pays for being so consistently good, ok not so consistently good, but such consistent winners. Winning is everything until it becomes whining, and I don’t see this team doing that. They own up their mistakes and deal with them. I don’t see the dissent that has driven so many teams off their game. I see a team that tries to get better day after day and you know what? Winning 11 games is not that easy even against mediocrities like some of the most rabid fans condemn the Chiefs for beating.
Some fans say other teams have it worse than Kansa City injury wise so stop complaining about how depleted you are. I don’t hear the Chiefs saying that at all, instead they go out and try to address the issues. (By the way, Deandre Hopkins is a joy to watch.) The Chiefs are indeed a flawed team. You want proof of that? Imagine if they had capitalized on their opportunities against the Raiders. The end of the first quarter should have seen the Chiefs ahead 14-0 instead 3-0. They should’ve scored over 34 points, but for that dreaded funk that hangs around this team like the cloud of dust over every Peanuts panel in which Pig Pen appears.
Nuts is what I say. After watching more football then I’m willing to admit this past week, all I can say is including the Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles, Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals or any other team still breathing in week 13 of the season, the Chiefs are not so bad if you ask me.
This past weekend, near the end of the third quarter, the Chiefs’ defense held the Raiders in check. It was the offense that had a few less-than-stellar moments, such as bad protection, a disinterested running game, bad penalties, terrible blocking technique, bad cleats, and anything else I may have missed. But folk ask, “What is wrong with the Chiefs’ defense?”
You can’t win when all these things happen at once, yet here we are with the Chiefs atop the home-field-advantage sweepstakes. How long can this continue? I can tell most fans are praying the Chargers short-circuit the Chiefs at home with the dreaded Jim Harbaugh at the controls. Forgive me if I’ve heard this before. Yes, this team is exasperating as hell. Look around though and tell me what coach has done more than Andy Reid, and don’t tell me Sean Payton for the way he has managed the Broncos into relevance. Reid has maintained an even keel.
And this is not mentioning that the cruelest aspect of this is yet to come. Kansa City will play three games in ten days. If they end up winners in all those games, then people need to step aside and give plaudits where plaudits are due. You may not like the Chiefs but there is nothing fraudulent about them. They are as flawed as any team in the league except the Cowboys who are in their own tier of haplessness.
The Chiefs are who they are - number one in my heart and until otherwise noted number one in your program.
