Dynasty Over
The Kansas City Chiefs dynasty is over before it even started.
A lot of people were already anointing the Chiefs as the next dynasty in the NFL. A dynasty that could potentially replicate the Patriots dynasty from the last 20 years. Well, on Sunday night in Super Bowl LV that notion was put to bed when the Chiefs lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It is now more likely that the Chiefs have a run similar to the Pittsburgh Steelers from 2004-2010 than have a Patriots-like dynasty. Over those seven years the Steelers went to four AFC championship games, three Super Bowls and won two Super Bowl championships. The Chiefs have now been to three AFC championship games, two Super Bowls and won one championship. I expect them to be a playoff team in the coming years and get back to a Super Bowl at some point but to expect more than that is asking a lot in my opinion.
Coming back from Super Bowl losses is hard. If you take a look at the last 20 Super Bowl losers, half of them missed the playoffs the following season. Out of the ten that made the playoffs the year after, a couple ended up bottoming out within a couple years, the 2012 49ers and 2016 Falcons. Then you have the teams that maintained a playoff level but haven’t made it back to the Super Bowl since their loss, the 2009 Colts, 2010 Steelers, 2014 Seahawks and 2018 Rams. The only teams over the last 20 years to maintain a playoff level and return to a Super Bowl within a few years of their Super Bowl losses were the 2011 Patriots, 2013 Broncos, 2017 Patriots and the 2007 Patriots, who made it back four years later. The odds are undeniably against the Chiefs getting back to the Super Bowl in the next few years.
You also have to factor in the way they lost, how the game played out and why it happened. This didn’t feel like your regular run-of-the-mill Super Bowl loss. This felt worse, this felt like a franchise killer and the question is what the hell happened?
Did the Buccaneers defense figure out Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense, was the blueprint just created on how to beat the Chiefs? Some would argue including one of my fellow CSBS colleagues, that Mahomes got exposed on Sunday night and maybe he’s not as good as previously thought. How will Mahomes bounce back? A lot of QB’s are never the same after a devastating Super Bowl loss, see Matt Ryan, Jared Goff, Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick and even someone like Russell Wilson, who hasn’t been a bad player but has struggled in the playoffs since his loss in Super Bowl XLIX. The Chiefs offensive line is a mess, Kelce is a bitch and overrated, do they have any other receivers besides Hill, if they do they didn’t show up Sunday night. CEH was banged up and held to 71 yards rushing for the entire playoffs. All of a sudden the Chiefs offense feels very ordinary after Super Bowl LV.
How about their coaching? Was 2019 the aberration? Andy Reid has always been known for his questionable coaching especially in big games. He had the reputation in Philadelphia as being a poor clock management coach and he lost four out of five NFC Championship games he coaches in and we won’t even talk about his performance in Super Bowl XXXIX, the one year he actually made it past the conference championship game. Then he goes to Kansas City and loses four of his first five playoff games and three of those four losses were at home. In 2018 he finally made it past the divisional round in KC and hosted the Patriots in the AFC Championship game and you guessed it, lost. We know what happened the last two seasons, so I ask again, was 2019 the aberration? Sure seems like it.
While on coaching, did the clock strike midnight for Steve Spagnuolo? And was Eric “why doesn’t he have a head coaching job?” Bieniemy exposed as a fraud? Both are very possible. And should I even go down the road of Britt Reid? Andy Reid might have some serious issues with his coaches not only in the workplace but in his home life as well.
Every five years or so the media and fans will jump the gun and anoint someone the next dynasty instead of just letting it play out. Seattle was supposed to be a dynasty, Green Bay and New Orleans were supposed to be dynasties ten years ago. You even heard it a little bit with the Baltimore Ravens in 2012. News flash: it’s hard and not accomplished very often. There’s a reason why there has only been four true dynasties in NFL history, and the 90’s Cowboys are borderline. A lot has to go your way, most importantly you have to have the perfect mix of coaches and players coming together at the perfect time in their careers and almost everything has to go right. More often than not, a great football team will go five or six years of playoff runs and break through for a championship or maybe even two but that’s it. The Chiefs were this time around’s dynasty and it’s over before it even started. I can’t wait to see who the next “dynasty” will be in five years.