March 1, 2025 • 42 mins
Voice of the Chiefs, Mitch Holthus and senior team reporter, Matt McMullen are back to preview the NFL offseason, discussing moves to be made in Kansas City ahead of the 2025 season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The National Football League always moves on. You can win
Super Bowl Championships. The Chiefs have done it four times
in their history, three times since twenty nineteen. You have parades,
you have celebrations, you get rings, but you must move on.
You can also lose Super Bowls. The Chiefs have lost three,
but in a similar manner, you must move on. In
(00:21):
any case, you always do an audit of your assets
to get ready for the next season. That's what we're
doing on this edition of Defending the Kingdom, brought to
you by Ticketmaster.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Keeps it on an RPO. At the five, it's a
lead plug.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
He goes into the hands on.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
His side, touch down Chunesa City. Hi everyone, I'm Mitchelta's
voice of the Chiefs along with senior team reporter Matt McMullen.
And this episode is going to be called auditing the assets.
Just like when you have your own books audited or
your business. That's what we're gonna do with the Kansas
City Chiefs because you must move on. Start this way.
(01:01):
When the Chiefs won Super Bowl fifty eight, the day
after the parade, I got a photo from Brettveach and
it was his staff working you know, grinding away on
getting ready for the combine and the draft. I thought,
all right, man, he's right on it. All the rest
of us are still partying. He's right there. I got
(01:22):
the same photo from him the day after we got
back from the Super Bowl for Super Bowl fifty nine,
because even though we lost the game and everybody feels
they have a shot put in their stomach, he was
in there grinding away with the staff getting ready for
the combine and the draft for twenty twenty five. It
actually lifted me up, and I said, that's why we win,
because those guys grind, but you move on.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Yeah, it's all you really can do and listen. I mean,
it was disappointing. Obviously, it's not what we expected or
were hoping for, and it takes a while to get
over it. I think for like a week I just
didn't consume like any sports media, just kind of tried
to turn my brain off for a little bit. But
doesn't mean that you don't process it. And really, the
one emotion I think I kept feeling after the fact,
(02:06):
even more so than just being bummed out, was just
being grateful because we were in that moment and it
didn't end the way that we wanted it to. But
how cool is it that we've been in that moment
so many times and more often than not, we've won,
and we know what it feels like to win, but
when you lose, it gives you even more perspective on
how awesome it is to win. And I just kept
(02:28):
thinking about that, like I've seen the Chiefs in my
life and in my time working here, won the Super
Bowl three times and playing it five times. I mean,
that's just absolutely incredible. And yeah, it stinks to lose.
We went there to win, didn't want to lose that game.
But you lose it and you think it's so cool
that we've won before. I want to feel that feeling again.
(02:48):
And that's what we're doing, and with getting back on
our podcast, you know, that's what fans are doing, trying
to follow the draft and see how this team can
get better. And that's what Brett Veach and Coach Reader
are doing. The day after things in it's like, all right,
how do we fix the problems and get back to
the super Bowl and win it? And I agree with you,
and that's the beauty of this team. It's moving forward,
not worrying about what happened.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, before we get to your around the world. I've
only worn the twenty twenty AFC Championship ring once and
it was to the Chiefs Kingdom show the day after
we got back from the Super Bowl this year. And
I did because and I was told by someone in
the organization, you don't wear that ring. That's a loser's ring.
You don't you know, it's runner up, your miscongeniality or whatever.
(03:29):
And I said, no, not that ring, because that represented COVID. Yeah,
getting up at five point thirty, going to the trailer
house and getting a swab up your nose, and you're
every night you're taking your temperature. Don't get my homesick,
don't get Kelsey sick, don't get coach sick. You and
I are doing camp from the fence up on the hill,
living in perpetual stress. Can't sleep, you can't sleep. And
(03:51):
so I thought, now that ring represents that. The twenty
twenty four team will also be a team that will
represent something to me that's very special. Because they had
the pressure of trying to become the first team ever
in NFL history to three peat. They did remarkable things.
They were asked to play on every day of the
week that there was a game. They had to play
the toughest schedule. Again, they had to do it on
(04:13):
the shortest post season ever, short offseason ever, i should say,
And yet this team persevered, fought through it. Three games
in eleven days. Four other teams had to three other
teams had to do it. Got it, I got it.
None of those other three teams were trying to become
a three p champion, and they had to win the
games that they won in those three days, in eleven
three games eleven days. Because Buffalo, give them credit, was
(04:36):
breathing down our neck. You lose one of those games,
you're going to lose the one seed. So this team
was able to do it. They did it with blockoff
field goals, stink field goals made, did it with the defense,
did it with the offense, walk off plays on offense,
did it in overtime. They talked about the nine consecutive
one possession wins and like that was a weakness. No,
it was a strength. So the twenty four team will
(04:57):
not be a loser team to me at all. They
will be set as as a remarkable group of human
beings that did something that has never been done in
the NFL, and that is to win back to back
Super Bowls and get back to the Super Bowl for
a chance for a.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Three p Patrick Mahomes played in nineteen games in twenty
twenty four and the Chiefs won seventeen of them. One
of the games that we lost was to Buffalo, and
then Mahomes beat Buffalo when it counted. The only other
loss was unfortunately the Super Bowl. And that's just the
way it goes with sports sometimes. I mean, really, we're
not going to spend too much time on this because
(05:30):
everyone's talked about the game. Don't want to talk about
the game anymore. And there are things in the game
that you could look at and say, hey, the game
turned here, or if this was better, maybe we would
have won.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
It was not our day. That's really what it boils
down to.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
And give Philly, Yeah they were great, they were awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
That's a really good team.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I'm not sure who beats Philly in that game on
that day.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
I just Philly won and it wasn't our day, and
you move forward from it. And again, we've had these
moments before. Now we haven't had them in a while.
We went more than a thousand days without losing a
playoff game. It's just crazy. But we're going to talk
about over the course of the podcast, how did the
team respond to these kinds of moments before, And the
(06:10):
good news is they responded tremendously well, actually better than
they were going into the bad moment. So, yeah, we
have the infrastructure here, we have the foundation here. Where
the funny thing is, I think outside of Chiefs Kingdom,
a lot of people are celebrating saying, hey, the Chiefs
are done well. Patrick Mahomes is twenty nine years old.
(06:30):
Coatrid isn't going anywhere. This team isn't going anywhere, and
this thing is going to keep on rolling. And to
win the AFC three straight years, to make the playoffs
ten years in a row, when the division nine years
in a row, going for a tenth straight AFC West
title this year, I'm fired up. I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
We had a couple of days where we're disappointed and sad,
and then really one day I woke up and I
was like, I have fired up to get after this
because I believe in this team, and I believe what
this team is built around and the foundation that we
have here, and that isn't just me, or isn't just Mitch.
It's the entire organization is excited like wins training camp,
you know, and you don't always have that with the
team that loses the Super Bowl. So anyway, I'm fired out,
(07:10):
let's get after it.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
We're going to get into detail here of why we're
fired up because there's instead of us just like waving
our hands and going, hey, we're ready to go, there's
reason and it's based on data and it's based on experience.
But before we do that, let's go around the world
in our twenty twenty five version, get Let's get ready
for the season.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Your space capsule.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Just three today, because we have a lot of stuff
to talk about.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
So for the three points that Denver didn't get when
Leo Chanell blocked.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
The field goal, I'd love us do that for that.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I think that.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Sometimes it's the points you get, sometimes it's the points
you prevent. And Leo Chanell had an incredible year. We're
going to talk about him in this podcast.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Book.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Fire Away always reminds me of my father in law
that was actually listening to you on the radio during
that game, because father in law za Broncos fan. You know,
it's kind of a weird dynamic. He was out pheasant
hunting in Western Kansas and it was in like the
range the Chiefs Radio network and not the Bronco network
whatever it's called. So he was listening to you and
you're called the block off, he said. He screamed in
(08:12):
agony and the spieled in Western Kansas, and like it's
people like my father in law and like I had
friends from college that aren't ches fans, you know, all
the like, hey, I'm so sorry, man, hey man, And
I'm like, nobody should feel sorry for me or for us,
and we're going to keep winning. So anyway, I digress.
I met Gary out in New Orleans earlier in the week.
(08:32):
He came up and introduced himself. He was a left
tackle on Brett Beach's high school football team at Mount Carmel.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
How cool is that?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
And they're a power.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
The Red Tornado is a power in Eastern PA. That's
saying something to be the tackle on that team. But yeah,
and Brett was really good.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Yeah, he was like the Pennsylvania State Player of the
Year or something. He was running back, corner, all kinds
of stuff. I thought that was funny when we posted
on social a little while ago Matt n Aggie hitting
Brett at Delaware, and then a bunch of fans were like,
I didn't know Brett Beach played football.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, he's really good at it. Toolls a more video we.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Can find YEP, kind of a similar deal. I met
Grace and Ward at the team hotel during Super Bowl Week.
Ward was a friend of Coach Reid's in high school.
So listen, we think about Coach Read and Brett Veach
like they're these institutions, like they live at the stadium,
like they've just been doing this for a thousand years.
I think it's so cool that they remember their high
(09:28):
school friends and bring them to the Super Bowl. Yeah,
it just so it was like the human aspect of
all this.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It's so cool.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
The John Marshall Barristers and just and we talk about
how Brett was really really good in high school and college.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
So was Coach Read. Yeah, that dude was. He was.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
He was stud and like you think about one of
the best players in Los Angeles is saying something and
if he wouldn't have know, he messed up a knee.
So that took him off the track of going to
USC where he was headed and he had to go
to Glendale Community College and then he ends up going
to BYU. But he could play, and you know, they
played some high level teams man at Leo Leonardo Dicapria.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
So Alma Mater grew up watching Mike Garrett.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yes, yeah, he loved the choir huddle.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Lastly, met Terrell at the Zoo the other day. I
was there supporting Ellie because she works at the zoo,
and there was like a zoo event going on on
Valentine's Day actually, and I was getting some food at
the concession stand and Terrell was working there and said
he likes DTK, So shout out to you, Terrell, thanks
for watching.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
What was the weather like on the on Valentine's Day?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
It was cool, but it was an indoor event.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Oh yeah, it was cool though because they had like
a it was kind of like they had like a
stage show where they had like an improv group do
some funny stuff. But they before that, they had some
live animal interaction. So they had like a some kind
of bird, like an eagle or something, and like a monkey,
and yeah, it was good.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
They do the penguin Walk.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Not during that now, but the Penguin Walk is great.
We're getting to the point where it's getting too warm
for the penguin walk. But the penguins will come out
on Saturday mornings. This is the Shameless Zoo and Aquarium plug.
And then let's walk around. And if you just walk
over to the Hellsburg Penguin Plaza, you see the penguin's
walking around, walking around.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
You want to walk on to them, Hey, penguin, what's up?
What's up?
Speaker 1 (11:07):
So they love the minus nine oh yes, real temperature
and minus twenty wind chills.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
The horses, they're like, yes, there's like this, like husky
across the street from me, Like my neighbors have a husky.
And on those polar vortex days, the husky was just
outside just smiling, loving it.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
It's a beautiful day.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
I hate to tell them there's going to be a
ninety five degree one degree.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Humidity day coming.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Well, we're going to jump into auditing assets.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
What are the assets the chiefs have?
Speaker 1 (11:39):
As we look at them and put them under a microscope,
that gives you the chance that let the naysayers and
the haters say this is over covered in coal dust.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
You can copy and.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Paste the twenty twenty two version Winner after the loss
in the AFC Championship game that year.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
But it starts with infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
And you have to have infrastructure to win at the
collegiate level, at the high school level, and for sure
at the NFL level and all of the professional sports.
And I think what we overlook is the infrastructure of
the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Now, we need to.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Tell you the winningest team of all of the major
sports leagues over a ten year span seventy five percent
winning percentage. The next closest the Celtics in the NBA
at six forty six. The next of the Warriors in
the NBA at six twenty seven. It tells you the
winning that has been done over a ten to twelve
year period. All right, but it starts with the Hunt family.
(12:38):
We can take the Hunt family and Clark conn as
chairman and CEO of this team because they are competitive,
they are committed, and it takes cash. It takes cash
whether you're going to invest in coaches or to handle
the salary cap. And you have big time players like
a Patrick Mahomes or a Travis Kelson. See that it
(13:01):
takes cash infusion many times to make it work under
the cap. With the rules, the way they are, But
we don't.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
See that.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
A lot, I would say often in most franchises and
professional sports.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
So we're going to start there.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
A big part of the infrastructure is the Hunt family
and Clark Hunt's commitment to continue to win at a
high level.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Yeah, Clark puts the entire organization in a position to succeed.
And we see that across the NFL and across sports
that that's not always a given. But Clark, I mean,
it's just incredible how he knows how to run this
thing and knows how to put people in a position
to find success. And we'll talk about Coach Read here
in a minute, but letting Coach Read do his job,
(13:45):
letting Brettveach do his job, letting the scouting staff do
their jobs, and we've seen the benefits of that over
the last several years. I mean, really, you cannot have
success in the NFL if you don't have someone at
the very top who knows what it takes to win
and knows how to put people in a position to
find success to win. And that's what we have with Clark.
(14:06):
We're very fortunate, yep.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
And it's over really very very underrated or people just
kind of gloss over it. Take it for granted. We
are not on this episode. Second is coach read when
you look at the fourth winning as coach in NFL history,
second in playoff history, and man, he is zooming in
to take over that top spot in that category. But
you look at what he is, and we're going to
get into where I think he's brilliant. He's most brilliant,
(14:30):
and that will be in the second segment of this podcast.
But this podcast is the infrastructure. So let's start with
coach Red Hunt, Hunt family, Clark Hunts chairman and CEO.
Second is Andy Reid and the fact that he has
won one consistently in a span of twenty six years
as a head.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Coach, and think about his time in Kansas City. Okay,
twelve straight winning seasons. I'm going to get into all
the liberally exciting stuff like division titles and conference titles
and Super Bowls and all that. But if I went
back to twenty twelve and I told you or me,
or just about any Chiefs fan you're going to have
three consecutive winning seasons, I think you'd be over the
(15:08):
moon about that. Twelve winning seasons a winning season. I
get at this point like, hey, we want to talk
about super Bowls, but in order to put yourself in
a position to win a super Bowl, you got to
have a winning season. And there are so many teams
like the forty nine ers come to mind, that have
had a lot of success lately, but they have like
one just bad clunker season in there where they just
(15:28):
won six games, And at stanks right, the Chiefs every
single year have put themselves in a position to maybe
go win the whole thing. So twelve straight winning seasons,
ten straight playoff bersts, that's crazy. Ten consecutive trips to
the playoffs for a decade, the Chiefs have done nothing
to go to the playoffs. There are kids who can
read and write and talk and have personalities who know
(15:48):
nothing other than the Chiefs going to the playoffs. So incredible,
and a lot of us in Chiefs Kingdom before this
stretch know that was not the norm and is not
the norm. Nine straight division titles again, are going for
a tenth straight division title this year. Mitch and I, I
wish everyone could have heard this. Mitch and I the
day after the Super Bowl loss, We're on the bus
(16:10):
just waiting to go to the airport and him and
I kind of had just like a group therapy session
where we just talked for like two hours as him
and I on the back of this bus before we left,
about everything, kind of unpacking it all. And I think
the thing that got us most fired up and kind
of turned our moods around was we're going for a
decade of winning the AFC West and it won't be easy.
(16:30):
We know the AFC West is going to be good
this year, but that's what we're going for this season.
Seven straight trips to the AFC Championship Game. I mean,
it's almost just like a norm now. I remember how
cool it was in twenty eighteen, Like we're hosting the
AFC title game, and we've just done that every single
year seven for seven years, and one of them was
(16:51):
in Baltimore, but we won that one whatever. I mean,
it's just amazing. So and of course three straight AFC titles,
defending that again this year and trying to get back
to the Super So I want to talk about the
combination with Coach Reid and Patrick Mahomes as well, But yeah,
coach reads amazing because even before Patrick Mahomes got here,
all he has done is win every year and no
(17:11):
matter the circumstances and things have happened, we win.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
That is the baseline. We'll have a winning season. And
you cannot take that for granted.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
You're returning a quarterback who's not yet thirty, he'll be
thirty in September, who has one hundred and six wins
and twenty seven losses. Let that just soak in for
a second. And the fact that he's seventeen and four
in the playoffs, and let that soak in. So the
fact that everything's going to go away, and the detractors, haters, whatever.
(17:45):
You're bringing back a head coach who will be not
even the first ballot Hall of Famer, he'll shatter the voting.
And then with Patrick Mahomes, and then you put in
the fact that this is the most successful NFL team
ever over a three year span. The forty nine wins
and twelve losses, including the playoffs is the most successful
(18:07):
run in a three year span for any NFL team ever.
And that is coming back. So again, it's perspective, but
understanding that you have this incredible quarterback had one of
his worst games, he admits it, and a coach that
(18:27):
he'll look at that game and go I'll fix it.
I'll fix it. We're gonna get to that in a second.
But I see his face telling me we're going to
fix it. But the fact that Mahomes is coming back,
he's not yet thirty. You alluded to this earlier, But
what he's done already, does anybody think he's going to
go three and fourteen all of a sudden.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
I will have none of the Patrick Mahomes slander. I
just want to have it, and I get But have you.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Seen the comments, like Chris Harris Junior. Yeah, the dB
for the Broncos is going, are you guys stupid? Like
he's not going anywhere. He's had defenders, they're not playing anymore.
But he said, defenders from opponents that are going, you
guys are crazy. If you think he's slid back or
done or going two in fifteen.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
People that really watch it, and yeah, the guys that
have played against him, the guys that really know, they
know that he's not going anywhere and that he I
still think he's the greatest quarterback to ever play.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
I'll just say it. I think he is.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Well, the numbers are there, yeah, and I think he's
going to continue that trajectory. For the rest of his
career and build on that.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
People. There's a jealousy.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Factor there are The Chiefs have ended a lot of
seasons and ended a lot of fans hopes surround the NFL,
and they want to see the Chiefs lose.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
They want to see Mahomes struggle.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
I get it, but he's not going anywhere and we
can't be prisoners of the moment of one game. Because
I have some fun numbers for you. So, the Chiefs
have the most total wins for any team in a
seven year span in NFL history since Mahomes took over.
The next best team in that span is Buffalo in
this particular span where Mahomes has been playing, and the
Chiefs have twenty three more wins than Buffalo. That's the
(19:57):
same gap between the Bills and the fourteenth ranked team
in that time. More context, the Chiefs winning percentage and
that time is seven to eighty one.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
All right.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
The two thousand and one to two thousand and seven
Patriots was seven to seventy five.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
We think about that.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Team like they were just unbeatable because they were, well,
the Chiefs have been better. The eighty three to eighty
nine forty nine Ers of Joe Montana seven forty, the
ninety one to ninety six Cowboys seven thirty nine, and
this is my favorite one. And this is why I
think what happened in the Super Bowl was the most
surprising outcome of anything. I mean, if you told me
(20:32):
the Chiefs are going to lose by double digits in
the Super Bowl, I wouldn't believe you because it doesn't happen.
Because Mahomes is lost by more than one score just
six times in one hundred and thirty three career games.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Can you guess them? Do you know what they are?
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Like?
Speaker 1 (20:45):
I said, I've had time, I'd go through these Tennessee yep,
on the Road twenty four to three, Super Bowl fifty five,
and Super Bowl fifty nine verse three. He did not
play in the game against the Steelers in sixteen, which
is the only to blow up that I can think of.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Right up the hand, I can tell.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Bill's Bill's home game, the rain game we had the
Royals in the booth. Yep, there's four. I got two more.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
One this year and one last year.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Won this year.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Oh well, technically span it's not OK because we lost
by nine points.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Yeah, but then last year Denver that weird game in
Denver when he was sick all night so he threw
up all six times the Mahomes is lost by more
than one score. So Josh Allen has lost eleven games
by more than one score and nine fewer career games
than Mahomes. Joe Burrow has lost ten and half of
the career games of Mahomes. Joe and Hurts has lost
(21:40):
fifteen games by more than one score in his career,
and through their first one hundred and thirty games, Tom
Brady lost by more than one score sixteen times, Joe
Montana eighteen times, and Peyton Manning twenty five times. Again,
Mahomes has lost by more than one score just six
times and one hundred and thirty three career games. Does
it stink that just happened in the Super Bowl? Yeah,
(22:01):
But the point is this doesn't happen very often. Almost
every single time that Patrick Mahomes takes the field, Almost
every single time you are in the game at the end,
you might not win. You probably will though, and it'll
be close and you'll have a chance. And I'm sorry
that guy isn't going anywhere because he has an entire
body of work that shows that he's going to be
in just about every single game he plays. And I'll
(22:22):
tell you what, even when the Chiefs were done twenty
four to nothing, I thought we were gonna win just
because of what I've seen over the course of his career.
So it didn't work out in Super Bowl fifty nine.
It stinks, but we've seen for almost a decade that
Patrick Mahomes, when coach read is here and Brett Veach
is greeting the roster, they're in almost every single game.
No other team can say that really in NFL history.
(22:44):
It's what I'm trying to say, and that's why I
feel good about our chances next year, no matter what.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
He's been down twenty four to nothing before and won
the game. That's what you're thinking of. I guess Houston
in the divisional playoff game in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So we're talking here on this podcast about auditing assets,
and we've given you infrastructure the second one. And we'll
try to go a little quicker here, but this is
handling flashpoints. This to me is Andy Reid's greatest characteristic
of so many. We know how innovative v is offensively,
(23:18):
we know he's wicked smart, He likes to play the
you know, bumble rooskie, take my French fries and take
my chicken nuggets and stuff. But the guy is brilliant.
He's un He could be CEO of any company in
the Chiefs Kingdom or in the country. He's brilliant. But
he handles flashpoints. This is a flashpoint for the Kansas
(23:39):
City Chiefs to get beat forty to twenty two and
to get late scores to make it even that close
against the team that's really good, but the team he
used to coach, and the team he beat in Super
Bowl fifty seven. But to put everything into the trying
to get the three peat and then losing that game
and getting hand in that game. Let's be honest. He
(24:01):
is a flashpoint. But we can go through. We'll go
through these really quickly. Every year Andy Reid has been
the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, there have
been major flashpoints. You have forgotten and coach and I
can think of about four times, four or five times
that we've been in this realm and he'll look at
me right in the eyes and he'll go, I'll fix it.
(24:23):
That's all I mean. He'll go, I'll fix it. And
I'll go okay, and he does.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
So let's start twenty thirteen, the loss to the Colts.
It was a debacle in that playoff game, and you're thinking, well,
nice year ago nine to zero on the start, but
now what because that's a flashpoint. Then to come back
and have a winning year every year since his one.
I know you're gonna have the even number years. I
got the odd number years. But just listen to this
because this is the stuff you have forgotten.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
We'll never figured.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
After that Colts loss in twenty thirteen, I just was
so distraught and my dad looked at me. He's like,
he's got to get a grip, and I was like,
I just want to see the teams win a playoff game.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
And he lost his laptop.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
He did, yeah, and the Chiefs have figured it out
in the time since twenty fourteen. I remember this just
a fan. I drove and met my friend. I went
to Missoo, my buddy went to KU. We met in
the middle in Kansas City and went to that first
game in twenty fourteen against the Titans and Titans were
not good and uh we went to two Mike DeVito
and Derry Johnson both poor their Achilles. We weren't good
(25:25):
in that game we lost, We were one of their
two wins. It wasn't fun. We started zero to two
and we had the Peyton manning Broncos in the division.
Wasn't looking great, but still found a way to be
in a position i'd to have a chance at the postseason.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Didn't make it.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
But it's funny we look back on twenty fourteen as
being like this, Ah, that's the year that we weren't
very good.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Well, still finished nine and seven.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
I mean, that's the worst mark for Coach read here
in Kansas City and overcome a lot of adversity to
get that nine and seven records, So still an impressive record,
I'd say, looking back at.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
It, Alex Smith lacerated spleen against the Steelers and yet
still went record twenty fifteen That year started one and five,
one in five, Well, doesn't look like it's going to
work in Kansas City. I remember seeing Coach drive his
pickup by me. I just happened to be in the car,
kind of staring at the steering wheel like I do
a lot, and his pickup drives by me, and I'm
(26:15):
like all right, and on long after that we're getting
ready to go to London to play the Allions. He goes,
I'll fix it, I'll fix this. Well, we had just
beaten the Steelers. That's when he drove by so out
to two and five, win ten straight games into first
playoff victory in twenty one seasons, that's what happened. He
fixed it. Twenty sixteen. Got to look a little harder
(26:36):
in this one, but it's still there.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
I'm glad you say that though, And earlier you mentioned
how we've kind of forgotten about a lot of these flashpoints.
There's big ones that are obvious. But I think we
look at twenty sixteen and we're like, oh, yeah, I
won the division. Just we're really good all season, no problem.
Well we started two and two and got clobbered by
the Steelers, just absolutely clobbered. We finished ten and two
the rest of the way. We won that big game
(26:59):
on third to night Football against the Raiders. People forget
the Raiders are really good. Then we're twelve and four,
like Derek Carr was like an MVP candidate that year,
and we won that game.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Derek Johnson got hurt in that game. That was a bummer.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
But another flashpoint and find a way to win the division.
And we've done nothing but win the division since.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
You got to start.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
If you have a division title streak, it's got to
start sometime, and it started in twenty sixteen. And if
I told you that in Week four, didn't always look
that way. So that was an impressive year.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
People, we would just all forget it. Twenty seventeen a
one in six stretch, one in six stretch, and that's
when Marcus Peters has taken off his shoes and socks
in New York. Right, that was a rough stretch. Coach
looks at me and goes, I'll fix it. We won
the last four games of the year, win back to
back division titles, which you remember, Oh my gosh, we
(27:48):
just won the AFC West back to back. It's a
huge deal, huge deal. We beat Miami on a cold
Christmas eve Dale and he fixes it.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
I'll fix it. He fixed it. Twenty eighteen.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Twenty eighteen had some struggles on defense, so we lost
games in which we scored fifty one points, forty points,
thirty one points, and twenty eight points. Still came within
a play of going to the Super Bowl. You know,
I looked back at that twenty eighteen championship game against
the Patriots. There's been so many playoff games in the
time since, and frankly so much success that I've kind
(28:19):
of just forgotten about the nitty gritty of it. Besides
like the obvious stuff. Crazy game like we scored twenty
four points in the fourth quarter, like pat caught the
ball back of thirty nine seconds left and tied it.
I mean, just crazy, crazy game. To have the struggles
we did defensively that year and to still find a
way to be that close is cool, and it shows
(28:39):
how we built on it after that year. It wasn't like, ah,
that was our chance. It's like now, that was just
kind of announcing the new Chiefs to the league. But
again adversity. I mean, you lose a game that you
score fifty one points in, you don't feel great about it.
But the Chiefs were still that close to getting back
to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And ooh, the Colts. The Colts in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
You can't be ever, ooh yeah, Colts thirty eight to
third twenty nineteen, twenty nineteen, the glorious Super Bowl fifty
four championship, losing three of four in October. I can
see it as if it was yesterday. Pat gets hurt,
dislocated kneecamp in Denver. Matt Moore's got to play. I'll
fix it, Coach says, I'll fix it. We fix it.
(29:18):
We win against the Chargers in Mexico City and never
lose again and win the first Super Bowl in fifty years.
It's time and time again. Coach fixes it. And in
twenty twenty, his leadership was tested with COVID, and twenty
twenty had its own challenges.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
I mean tons of challenges. Looking back with the COVID season,
that's incredible. The league got through that the way that
they did. You talked about it earlier. I mean we
were like living in like lockdown. I was going through
my desk the other day looking at some old stuff
and found my Tier one badge, Like don't lose your
Tier one badge, you know, and got to like do
your health check every day before you go in. Just crazy.
(29:54):
And the things the players got through. We lost Mitchell
Schwartz in Week six, colecci as simile Week five. Still
want sixteen and three beat a Bills team that year
that have won eight straight and won seven of them
by double digits and again, there's so many parallels between
the twenty twenty season and the twenty twenty four season,
and that twenty twenty team was one of the best
(30:16):
in team history despite all the circumstances, and it's a
bummer we don't really remember them because it ended the
way that it did. And it's kind of similar to
Super Bowl fifty nine. Just wasn't our night. In super
Bowl fifty five, it was the Bucks Night, and I'm
not sure anybody would have beaten the Bucks in that game.
But still, now that we have all this hindsight looking
back at that year, incredible ability to overcome adversity by
(30:40):
the Chiefs throughout that entire season, and.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
In twenty one it was like, oh, they're not gonna
be any good. Like it's all they just got blown
out in the Super Bowl and whoop. And after a
one and two start. People forget that we started one
and two and three and four and three and four.
Then twenty twenty one people like that was just roses
and candy canes all the way to the AFC Championship Game.
It was not i'll coach, I'll fix it, I'll fix it.
(31:02):
We go on a run, we get all the way
to the AFC Championship Game again, to do it four
years in a row unthinkable, to use your analogy of
going back in twenty twelve and saying would that be
the case, and so to recover from that, to get
all the way to the AFC Championship Game only to
lose an overtime and after being up twenty one to ten,
could have been up twenty four to ten. That could
have been very different. So twenty two, the world's gonna end,
(31:26):
Tyreek Hill's gone, Oh my gosh, the Chiefs are done.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
They're going to go one in sixteen.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
I can't forget about the numerous people around the league
publicly saying like, oh, yeah, they're done, Chiefs are done.
That's why when there's that conversation right now. I went
back and watched our DTK in March of I guess
twenty twenty two after the twenty twenty one AFC Championship Game,
and yeah, there were a lot of people saying like,
Chiefs are done.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Chiefs are done. Well not quite.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Patrick Mahomes when's the MVP that year and sets the
NFL record for total offense by a single player, and
the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
You know, when the Super Bowl so pretty good.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, and lose to the Colts, Like, oh wow, lost
to the Coles the Bills. Bess was, oh my gosh,
it's all over.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
But then, I mean, listen, if I'm ranking my non
Super Bowl favorite Chiefs memories, the AFC Championship went over
the Bengals in twenty twenty two is like the very
top of the list for so many reasons, Like, I mean.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
I've told Ellie this before. I'm like, Ellie, that was
like one of the best days of my life. And
she's like, just don't don't tell me that. I'm like,
I'm sorry, it was so great.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Your wedding day.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Yeah, she's beating the Bengals that title game.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
And that was the bust out of the doubt, dislike disrespect, just.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Kick Kels on stage talking about the mayor stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Oh my gosh, twenty twenty three. This is a recent memory,
so you're gonna remember these. But the six losses that year,
the loss on Christmas Day kind of felt like the
Super Bowl fifty nine game. Aidan O'Connell's quarterback and does
not complete a pass for three quarters and the Chiefs
lose that game. A relentless pass rush by the Raiders
Malcolm Koons of course Max Crosby Chiefs lose. Looks like
(33:03):
it's all over covered in cole dust. Wait a minute,
back to back Super Bowl champions for the first time
in six nine and forty four days. And then this year,
we lose track of this year and how much this
team had to overcome.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
All the injuries.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
I mean, losing Hollywood on the first play of the preseason.
Hollywood was going to have a huge year, gets hurt
first play of the preseason, losing Marashie in week four
or she was on pace for like two thousand yards,
I mean, just the go to guy in the offense
and gets hurt in week four and it stinks. Lose
Pacheco after week two and Patrick Mahomes again still went
seventeen and one with this team until the Super Bowl,
(33:40):
and the only team he lost to he beat when
it counted in Buffalo. His team still made history. He
found a way to get back to the Super Bowl
for a third straight year, becoming the first team in
league history to win back to back Super Bowls and
even get back to the Super Bowl for a chance
to do a three peat. I mean, truly, it's a bummer,
because when you lose in the context of history, it's
(34:01):
easy to forget this. But this run is one of
the greatest, if not the greatest, of all time, and
again we're right in the middle of it. Going through
all these games is to show, or all these seasons
is to show that there's always been some kind of adversity.
There's always been something, There's always been someone saying, hey,
the Chiefs are done. In every single year this team
(34:22):
has found a way to say, no, we're not. And
we'll keep talking about like rebounding after bad Super Bowl losses.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
I have some more stuff for you about that.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
But still, again, you just cannot understate how this team
has shown a resolve over the years that hey, no
matter what's going on, no matter the circumstances, we're actually
excited about the challenge. Like that stinks what happened, but
we're excited to prove you wrong. And once again, I
think that's going to be the case this time around.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
I just wish all of you that are either viewing
or watching or watching or listening to this episode could
see Andy Reid's face the times I've seen it where
he's just looked at me and said I'll fix it.
And we have just given you every year that Andy
Reid has been here that he has fixed it, so
we have every bit of confidence that he will fix
(35:09):
it going into twenty twenty five. Now we'll close on
this one just because, and we're going to save our
other asset for a later episode, the ones that we
like the most of what they're kind of tricky and
a little bit off the normal thinking of fans. But
we are going to give you this one as we close,
and that is, Oh, you get blown out of the
(35:31):
Super Bowl, that means.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Your life is over.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
The top five super Bowl blowouts went back and looked
at those five. Three of those five won their division
the following year after getting blown out the nineteen eighty
six Pats who had to play the eighty five Bears
and got wiped out. Steve Grogan from Ottawa, Kansas, Case
Stater got wiped out by the eighty five Bears, whoops.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Came back and won the division.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
In nineteen eighty six, the ninety three Bills lost the
Super Bowl, came back and won their division. The AFC
East got all the way back to the Super Bowl,
beat the Chiefs in the AFC championship game, they went
twelve and four. Oh, Denver got blown out, they got destroyed.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Whoops.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Came back and won the division in twenty fourteen with
a twelve and four record, and then won the Super
Bowl the following year in Peyton Manning's.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Final year in Denver.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
So even Bronco fans, you've got your own lesson here that, oh,
super Bowl blowouts mean the end of the earth.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Not so fast.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Maybe it means that you just read if you've got
the infrastructure and ways to fix it. We just said,
you line up to maybe win the division the following year,
and if the Chiefs do it next year, it will
be ten straight years.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
But a Super Bowl blowout.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Doesn't mean necessarily that your franchise ends and you shut
the door.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
Definitely not. And I have kind of an adjacent thought process.
I looked back at the three playoff losses for the
Chiefs prior to this one, and it's in a similar
sense to what we've been talking about, but really kind
of examining the seasons after those losses. So twenty eighteen,
the defense, like I was talking about earlier, struggled. I mean,
we were allowing over four hundred yards per game. Well,
(37:09):
how did the Chiefs respond after losing the AFC Championship
game to the Patriots, where just one more stop You're
going to the Super Bowl, couldn't get it done?
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Well?
Speaker 4 (37:16):
How did Brett veach Head to coach Read respond? Well,
we hire Steve Spagnolo to run the defense. Traded for
Frank Clark, signed Tyron Matthew, signed by Shot Brielant, drafted
three defensive players. We saw this defense transform, and really
the roots of that decision making process, that transformative defense
is what propelled the Chiefs to a Super Bowl championship
(37:38):
the following year, got them back to the Super Bowl
in twenty twenty in Spags, of course, being the defensive
coordinator all this time. We don't won the Super Bowl
in twenty two and twenty three without SPACs telling you
that right now. So anyway, we saw this team transform
after a very disappointing loss in twenty eighteen. Similar deal
in twenty twenty. We all know this one needed to
(37:58):
rebuild the offensive line. Trick Mahomes running for his life
in Super Bowl fifty five. Well, what do we do
in the offseason? Signed Joe Toney, draft Creed Humphrey, draft
Trey Smith signed Kyle Long. People forget about that too.
Forget about Kyle Long was going to be a good
player on this team. But it shows kind of the
commitment to rebuilding the offensive line. Even though Kyle didn't
play a whole lot for US. Kyle Long was brought
(38:19):
in here to play guard and then he traded for
Orlando Brown Junior. So Bretvich wasn't messing around. He said, Okay,
I saw what happened in this game, saw what happened
toward the end of the season. We're going to fix
this and we're going to be better because of it.
We saw this team transform to be even better after
the fact twenty twenty one almost got back to the
Super Bowl, then of course won it in twenty twenty
two to twenty three, and got back in twenty four,
(38:41):
and then twenty twenty one, we're talking about losing to
the Bengals in that AFC Championship game. After that one,
it was kind of kind of a look in the
mirror kind of moment. Needed to kind of remake ourselves offensively.
I think because we saw how teams were playing, US
couldn't quite do this explosive downfield passing attack anymore because
of the two high safety shell coverages and also.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
Kind of needed to undergo a bit of a youth movement.
I think, well, what's Brettviach do?
Speaker 4 (39:06):
Trades Tyreek kill to Miami, and Man, if you go
back and look at the rhetoric back then, I mean
people just saying doing eulogies for the Chiefs, saying like, hey,
it was a great run by the Chiefs, we'll never
make it back.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
Well, what do you know?
Speaker 4 (39:21):
The Chiefs end up having the number one scoring offense
in the NFL in twenty twenty two and use the
draft picks that they got in exchange for Tyreek to
create the nucleus that's got us to these super Bowls
in the time since.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
So I say all this to ask what will it
be this time?
Speaker 4 (39:37):
So we've had a playoff loss, a devastating playoff loss, Well,
what's going to happen? History shows us that this team
will transform and that this team will attack it and
find a way to be better because of this loss.
And it could be remaking the offensive line, could be
some schematic changes offensively, maybe you get more explosive on offense,
and could be getting younger in some spots, but Brett
(39:59):
Veach has show us time and time again he is
not comfortable with the status quo, certainly after a tough
loss in the playoffs. And he knows that we have
the greatest quarterback of all time on our team. Let's
give him a chance every single year to win the
Super Bowl. And these tough losses are bummers. But man,
I look back at it. If we don't lose that
game in twenty eighteen, do we win three Super Bowls
(40:22):
in five years?
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Maybe?
Speaker 4 (40:23):
I don't know, maybe, But I'm just saying sometimes these
losses you can use them as a positive moving forward.
You never want to lose, but when you do, how
do you get better because of it? And Bred has
shown us over the years he's going to do that
every single time.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
So as we go into twenty twenty five, and we're
going to jump in here the combines this week as
you as we post it, and then that leads into
the free agency, which gets wild, and then to the
draft and then to OTAs and then to mini camps
and then their training camp and going into the twenty
twenty five season, well, many others will say that the
(40:57):
Chiefs are done, that this is over. We give you
empirical data here because of infrastructure, starting with the ownership
family and the chairman and CEO Clark Hunt to a
Hall of fame head coach to a Hall of fame quarterback,
to handling flash points because a lot of teams lose
their year or go disappear for a while because they
(41:20):
do not handle flashpoints. And sometimes even success can be
a flashpoint. You can't stay there either way, win or lose.
And then oh super Bowl blowouts, Well wait a minute.
Three of the worst blowouts produced a division winner the
following year, including a team that went back to the
super Bowl. So we're just taking a look at things
(41:42):
and what we're doing is auditing assets and we move
forward with a lot of enthusiasm.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
M
The National Football League always moves on. You can win
Super Bowl Championships. The Chiefs have done it four times
in their history, three times since twenty nineteen. You have parades,
you have celebrations, you get rings, but you must move on.
You can also lose Super Bowls. The Chiefs have lost three,
but in a similar manner, you must move on. In
(00:21):
any case, you always do an audit of your assets
to get ready for the next season. That's what we're
doing on this edition of Defending the Kingdom, brought to
you by Ticketmaster.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Keeps it on an RPO. At the five, it's a
lead plug.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
He goes into the hands on.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
His side, touch down Chunesa City. Hi everyone, I'm Mitchelta's
voice of the Chiefs along with senior team reporter Matt McMullen.
And this episode is going to be called auditing the assets.
Just like when you have your own books audited or
your business. That's what we're gonna do with the Kansas
City Chiefs because you must move on. Start this way.
(01:01):
When the Chiefs won Super Bowl fifty eight, the day
after the parade, I got a photo from Brettveach and
it was his staff working you know, grinding away on
getting ready for the combine and the draft. I thought,
all right, man, he's right on it. All the rest
of us are still partying. He's right there. I got
(01:22):
the same photo from him the day after we got
back from the Super Bowl for Super Bowl fifty nine,
because even though we lost the game and everybody feels
they have a shot put in their stomach, he was
in there grinding away with the staff getting ready for
the combine and the draft for twenty twenty five. It
actually lifted me up, and I said, that's why we win,
because those guys grind, but you move on.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Yeah, it's all you really can do and listen. I mean,
it was disappointing. Obviously, it's not what we expected or
were hoping for, and it takes a while to get
over it. I think for like a week I just
didn't consume like any sports media, just kind of tried
to turn my brain off for a little bit. But
doesn't mean that you don't process it. And really, the
one emotion I think I kept feeling after the fact,
(02:06):
even more so than just being bummed out, was just
being grateful because we were in that moment and it
didn't end the way that we wanted it to. But
how cool is it that we've been in that moment
so many times and more often than not, we've won,
and we know what it feels like to win, but
when you lose, it gives you even more perspective on
how awesome it is to win. And I just kept
(02:28):
thinking about that, like I've seen the Chiefs in my
life and in my time working here, won the Super
Bowl three times and playing it five times. I mean,
that's just absolutely incredible. And yeah, it stinks to lose.
We went there to win, didn't want to lose that game.
But you lose it and you think it's so cool
that we've won before. I want to feel that feeling again.
(02:48):
And that's what we're doing, and with getting back on
our podcast, you know, that's what fans are doing, trying
to follow the draft and see how this team can
get better. And that's what Brett Veach and Coach Reader
are doing. The day after things in it's like, all right,
how do we fix the problems and get back to
the super Bowl and win it? And I agree with you,
and that's the beauty of this team. It's moving forward,
not worrying about what happened.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, before we get to your around the world. I've
only worn the twenty twenty AFC Championship ring once and
it was to the Chiefs Kingdom show the day after
we got back from the Super Bowl this year. And
I did because and I was told by someone in
the organization, you don't wear that ring. That's a loser's ring.
You don't you know, it's runner up, your miscongeniality or whatever.
(03:29):
And I said, no, not that ring, because that represented COVID. Yeah,
getting up at five point thirty, going to the trailer
house and getting a swab up your nose, and you're
every night you're taking your temperature. Don't get my homesick,
don't get Kelsey sick, don't get coach sick. You and
I are doing camp from the fence up on the hill,
living in perpetual stress. Can't sleep, you can't sleep. And
(03:51):
so I thought, now that ring represents that. The twenty
twenty four team will also be a team that will
represent something to me that's very special. Because they had
the pressure of trying to become the first team ever
in NFL history to three peat. They did remarkable things.
They were asked to play on every day of the
week that there was a game. They had to play
the toughest schedule. Again, they had to do it on
(04:13):
the shortest post season ever, short offseason ever, i should say,
And yet this team persevered, fought through it. Three games
in eleven days. Four other teams had to three other
teams had to do it. Got it, I got it.
None of those other three teams were trying to become
a three p champion, and they had to win the
games that they won in those three days, in eleven
three games eleven days. Because Buffalo, give them credit, was
(04:36):
breathing down our neck. You lose one of those games,
you're going to lose the one seed. So this team
was able to do it. They did it with blockoff
field goals, stink field goals made, did it with the defense,
did it with the offense, walk off plays on offense,
did it in overtime. They talked about the nine consecutive
one possession wins and like that was a weakness. No,
it was a strength. So the twenty four team will
(04:57):
not be a loser team to me at all. They
will be set as as a remarkable group of human
beings that did something that has never been done in
the NFL, and that is to win back to back
Super Bowls and get back to the Super Bowl for
a chance for a.
Speaker 4 (05:09):
Three p Patrick Mahomes played in nineteen games in twenty
twenty four and the Chiefs won seventeen of them. One
of the games that we lost was to Buffalo, and
then Mahomes beat Buffalo when it counted. The only other
loss was unfortunately the Super Bowl. And that's just the
way it goes with sports sometimes. I mean, really, we're
not going to spend too much time on this because
(05:30):
everyone's talked about the game. Don't want to talk about
the game anymore. And there are things in the game
that you could look at and say, hey, the game
turned here, or if this was better, maybe we would
have won.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
It was not our day. That's really what it boils
down to.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
And give Philly, Yeah they were great, they were awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
That's a really good team.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I'm not sure who beats Philly in that game on
that day.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
I just Philly won and it wasn't our day, and
you move forward from it. And again, we've had these
moments before. Now we haven't had them in a while.
We went more than a thousand days without losing a
playoff game. It's just crazy. But we're going to talk
about over the course of the podcast, how did the
team respond to these kinds of moments before, And the
(06:10):
good news is they responded tremendously well, actually better than
they were going into the bad moment. So, yeah, we
have the infrastructure here, we have the foundation here. Where
the funny thing is, I think outside of Chiefs Kingdom,
a lot of people are celebrating saying, hey, the Chiefs
are done well. Patrick Mahomes is twenty nine years old.
(06:30):
Coatrid isn't going anywhere. This team isn't going anywhere, and
this thing is going to keep on rolling. And to
win the AFC three straight years, to make the playoffs
ten years in a row, when the division nine years
in a row, going for a tenth straight AFC West
title this year, I'm fired up. I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You know.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
We had a couple of days where we're disappointed and sad,
and then really one day I woke up and I
was like, I have fired up to get after this
because I believe in this team, and I believe what
this team is built around and the foundation that we
have here, and that isn't just me, or isn't just Mitch.
It's the entire organization is excited like wins training camp,
you know, and you don't always have that with the
team that loses the Super Bowl. So anyway, I'm fired out,
(07:10):
let's get after it.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
We're going to get into detail here of why we're
fired up because there's instead of us just like waving
our hands and going, hey, we're ready to go, there's
reason and it's based on data and it's based on experience.
But before we do that, let's go around the world
in our twenty twenty five version, get Let's get ready
for the season.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Your space capsule.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Just three today, because we have a lot of stuff
to talk about.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
So for the three points that Denver didn't get when
Leo Chanell blocked.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
The field goal, I'd love us do that for that.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
I think that.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Sometimes it's the points you get, sometimes it's the points
you prevent. And Leo Chanell had an incredible year. We're
going to talk about him in this podcast.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Book.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Fire Away always reminds me of my father in law
that was actually listening to you on the radio during
that game, because father in law za Broncos fan. You know,
it's kind of a weird dynamic. He was out pheasant
hunting in Western Kansas and it was in like the
range the Chiefs Radio network and not the Bronco network
whatever it's called. So he was listening to you and
you're called the block off, he said. He screamed in
(08:12):
agony and the spieled in Western Kansas, and like it's
people like my father in law and like I had
friends from college that aren't ches fans, you know, all
the like, hey, I'm so sorry, man, hey man, And
I'm like, nobody should feel sorry for me or for us,
and we're going to keep winning. So anyway, I digress.
I met Gary out in New Orleans earlier in the week.
(08:32):
He came up and introduced himself. He was a left
tackle on Brett Beach's high school football team at Mount Carmel.
Speaker 3 (08:38):
How cool is that?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
And they're a power.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
The Red Tornado is a power in Eastern PA. That's
saying something to be the tackle on that team. But yeah,
and Brett was really good.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
Yeah, he was like the Pennsylvania State Player of the
Year or something. He was running back, corner, all kinds
of stuff. I thought that was funny when we posted
on social a little while ago Matt n Aggie hitting
Brett at Delaware, and then a bunch of fans were like,
I didn't know Brett Beach played football.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
Yeah, he's really good at it. Toolls a more video we.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Can find YEP, kind of a similar deal. I met
Grace and Ward at the team hotel during Super Bowl Week.
Ward was a friend of Coach Reid's in high school.
So listen, we think about Coach Read and Brett Veach
like they're these institutions, like they live at the stadium,
like they've just been doing this for a thousand years.
I think it's so cool that they remember their high
(09:28):
school friends and bring them to the Super Bowl. Yeah,
it just so it was like the human aspect of
all this.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It's so cool.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
The John Marshall Barristers and just and we talk about
how Brett was really really good in high school and college.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
So was Coach Read. Yeah, that dude was. He was.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
He was stud and like you think about one of
the best players in Los Angeles is saying something and
if he wouldn't have know, he messed up a knee.
So that took him off the track of going to
USC where he was headed and he had to go
to Glendale Community College and then he ends up going
to BYU. But he could play, and you know, they
played some high level teams man at Leo Leonardo Dicapria.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
So Alma Mater grew up watching Mike Garrett.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yes, yeah, he loved the choir huddle.
Speaker 4 (10:09):
Lastly, met Terrell at the Zoo the other day. I
was there supporting Ellie because she works at the zoo,
and there was like a zoo event going on on
Valentine's Day actually, and I was getting some food at
the concession stand and Terrell was working there and said
he likes DTK, So shout out to you, Terrell, thanks
for watching.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
What was the weather like on the on Valentine's Day?
Speaker 3 (10:27):
It was cool, but it was an indoor event.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Oh yeah, it was cool though because they had like
a it was kind of like they had like a
stage show where they had like an improv group do
some funny stuff. But they before that, they had some
live animal interaction. So they had like a some kind
of bird, like an eagle or something, and like a monkey,
and yeah, it was good.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
They do the penguin Walk.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Not during that now, but the Penguin Walk is great.
We're getting to the point where it's getting too warm
for the penguin walk. But the penguins will come out
on Saturday mornings. This is the Shameless Zoo and Aquarium plug.
And then let's walk around. And if you just walk
over to the Hellsburg Penguin Plaza, you see the penguin's
walking around, walking around.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
You want to walk on to them, Hey, penguin, what's up?
What's up?
Speaker 1 (11:07):
So they love the minus nine oh yes, real temperature
and minus twenty wind chills.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
The horses, they're like, yes, there's like this, like husky
across the street from me, Like my neighbors have a husky.
And on those polar vortex days, the husky was just
outside just smiling, loving it.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
It's a beautiful day.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
I hate to tell them there's going to be a
ninety five degree one degree.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Humidity day coming.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Well, we're going to jump into auditing assets.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
What are the assets the chiefs have?
Speaker 1 (11:39):
As we look at them and put them under a microscope,
that gives you the chance that let the naysayers and
the haters say this is over covered in coal dust.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
You can copy and.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Paste the twenty twenty two version Winner after the loss
in the AFC Championship game that year.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
But it starts with infrastructure.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
And you have to have infrastructure to win at the
collegiate level, at the high school level, and for sure
at the NFL level and all of the professional sports.
And I think what we overlook is the infrastructure of
the Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Now, we need to.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Tell you the winningest team of all of the major
sports leagues over a ten year span seventy five percent
winning percentage. The next closest the Celtics in the NBA
at six forty six. The next of the Warriors in
the NBA at six twenty seven. It tells you the
winning that has been done over a ten to twelve
year period. All right, but it starts with the Hunt family.
(12:38):
We can take the Hunt family and Clark conn as
chairman and CEO of this team because they are competitive,
they are committed, and it takes cash. It takes cash
whether you're going to invest in coaches or to handle
the salary cap. And you have big time players like
a Patrick Mahomes or a Travis Kelson. See that it
(13:01):
takes cash infusion many times to make it work under
the cap. With the rules, the way they are, But
we don't.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
See that.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
A lot, I would say often in most franchises and
professional sports.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
So we're going to start there.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
A big part of the infrastructure is the Hunt family
and Clark Hunt's commitment to continue to win at a
high level.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Yeah, Clark puts the entire organization in a position to succeed.
And we see that across the NFL and across sports
that that's not always a given. But Clark, I mean,
it's just incredible how he knows how to run this
thing and knows how to put people in a position
to find success. And we'll talk about Coach Read here
in a minute, but letting Coach Read do his job,
(13:45):
letting Brettveach do his job, letting the scouting staff do
their jobs, and we've seen the benefits of that over
the last several years. I mean, really, you cannot have
success in the NFL if you don't have someone at
the very top who knows what it takes to win
and knows how to put people in a position to
find success to win. And that's what we have with Clark.
(14:06):
We're very fortunate, yep.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
And it's over really very very underrated or people just
kind of gloss over it. Take it for granted. We
are not on this episode. Second is coach read when
you look at the fourth winning as coach in NFL history,
second in playoff history, and man, he is zooming in
to take over that top spot in that category. But
you look at what he is, and we're going to
get into where I think he's brilliant. He's most brilliant,
(14:30):
and that will be in the second segment of this podcast.
But this podcast is the infrastructure. So let's start with
coach Red Hunt, Hunt family, Clark Hunts chairman and CEO.
Second is Andy Reid and the fact that he has
won one consistently in a span of twenty six years
as a head.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Coach, and think about his time in Kansas City. Okay,
twelve straight winning seasons. I'm going to get into all
the liberally exciting stuff like division titles and conference titles
and Super Bowls and all that. But if I went
back to twenty twelve and I told you or me,
or just about any Chiefs fan you're going to have
three consecutive winning seasons, I think you'd be over the
(15:08):
moon about that. Twelve winning seasons a winning season. I
get at this point like, hey, we want to talk
about super Bowls, but in order to put yourself in
a position to win a super Bowl, you got to
have a winning season. And there are so many teams
like the forty nine ers come to mind, that have
had a lot of success lately, but they have like
one just bad clunker season in there where they just
(15:28):
won six games, And at stanks right, the Chiefs every
single year have put themselves in a position to maybe
go win the whole thing. So twelve straight winning seasons,
ten straight playoff bersts, that's crazy. Ten consecutive trips to
the playoffs for a decade, the Chiefs have done nothing
to go to the playoffs. There are kids who can
read and write and talk and have personalities who know
(15:48):
nothing other than the Chiefs going to the playoffs. So incredible,
and a lot of us in Chiefs Kingdom before this
stretch know that was not the norm and is not
the norm. Nine straight division titles again, are going for
a tenth straight division title this year. Mitch and I, I
wish everyone could have heard this. Mitch and I the
day after the Super Bowl loss, We're on the bus
(16:10):
just waiting to go to the airport and him and
I kind of had just like a group therapy session
where we just talked for like two hours as him
and I on the back of this bus before we left,
about everything, kind of unpacking it all. And I think
the thing that got us most fired up and kind
of turned our moods around was we're going for a
decade of winning the AFC West and it won't be easy.
(16:30):
We know the AFC West is going to be good
this year, but that's what we're going for this season.
Seven straight trips to the AFC Championship Game. I mean,
it's almost just like a norm now. I remember how
cool it was in twenty eighteen, Like we're hosting the
AFC title game, and we've just done that every single
year seven for seven years, and one of them was
(16:51):
in Baltimore, but we won that one whatever. I mean,
it's just amazing. So and of course three straight AFC titles,
defending that again this year and trying to get back
to the Super So I want to talk about the
combination with Coach Reid and Patrick Mahomes as well, But yeah,
coach reads amazing because even before Patrick Mahomes got here,
all he has done is win every year and no
(17:11):
matter the circumstances and things have happened, we win.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
That is the baseline. We'll have a winning season. And
you cannot take that for granted.
Speaker 1 (17:19):
You're returning a quarterback who's not yet thirty, he'll be
thirty in September, who has one hundred and six wins
and twenty seven losses. Let that just soak in for
a second. And the fact that he's seventeen and four
in the playoffs, and let that soak in. So the
fact that everything's going to go away, and the detractors, haters, whatever.
(17:45):
You're bringing back a head coach who will be not
even the first ballot Hall of Famer, he'll shatter the voting.
And then with Patrick Mahomes, and then you put in
the fact that this is the most successful NFL team
ever over a three year span. The forty nine wins
and twelve losses, including the playoffs is the most successful
(18:07):
run in a three year span for any NFL team ever.
And that is coming back. So again, it's perspective, but
understanding that you have this incredible quarterback had one of
his worst games, he admits it, and a coach that
(18:27):
he'll look at that game and go I'll fix it.
I'll fix it. We're gonna get to that in a second.
But I see his face telling me we're going to
fix it. But the fact that Mahomes is coming back,
he's not yet thirty. You alluded to this earlier, But
what he's done already, does anybody think he's going to
go three and fourteen all of a sudden.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
I will have none of the Patrick Mahomes slander. I
just want to have it, and I get But have you.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Seen the comments, like Chris Harris Junior. Yeah, the dB
for the Broncos is going, are you guys stupid? Like
he's not going anywhere. He's had defenders, they're not playing anymore.
But he said, defenders from opponents that are going, you
guys are crazy. If you think he's slid back or
done or going two in fifteen.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
People that really watch it, and yeah, the guys that
have played against him, the guys that really know, they
know that he's not going anywhere and that he I
still think he's the greatest quarterback to ever play.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
I'll just say it. I think he is.
Speaker 4 (19:18):
Well, the numbers are there, yeah, and I think he's
going to continue that trajectory. For the rest of his
career and build on that.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
People. There's a jealousy.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Factor there are The Chiefs have ended a lot of
seasons and ended a lot of fans hopes surround the NFL,
and they want to see the Chiefs lose.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
They want to see Mahomes struggle.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
I get it, but he's not going anywhere and we
can't be prisoners of the moment of one game. Because
I have some fun numbers for you. So, the Chiefs
have the most total wins for any team in a
seven year span in NFL history since Mahomes took over.
The next best team in that span is Buffalo in
this particular span where Mahomes has been playing, and the
Chiefs have twenty three more wins than Buffalo. That's the
(19:57):
same gap between the Bills and the fourteenth ranked team
in that time. More context, the Chiefs winning percentage and
that time is seven to eighty one.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
All right.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
The two thousand and one to two thousand and seven
Patriots was seven to seventy five.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
We think about that.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Team like they were just unbeatable because they were, well,
the Chiefs have been better. The eighty three to eighty
nine forty nine Ers of Joe Montana seven forty, the
ninety one to ninety six Cowboys seven thirty nine, and
this is my favorite one. And this is why I
think what happened in the Super Bowl was the most
surprising outcome of anything. I mean, if you told me
(20:32):
the Chiefs are going to lose by double digits in
the Super Bowl, I wouldn't believe you because it doesn't happen.
Because Mahomes is lost by more than one score just
six times in one hundred and thirty three career games.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Can you guess them? Do you know what they are?
Speaker 2 (20:45):
Like?
Speaker 1 (20:45):
I said, I've had time, I'd go through these Tennessee yep,
on the Road twenty four to three, Super Bowl fifty five,
and Super Bowl fifty nine verse three. He did not
play in the game against the Steelers in sixteen, which
is the only to blow up that I can think of.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
Right up the hand, I can tell.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Bill's Bill's home game, the rain game we had the
Royals in the booth. Yep, there's four. I got two more.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
One this year and one last year.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Won this year.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Oh well, technically span it's not OK because we lost
by nine points.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Yeah, but then last year Denver that weird game in
Denver when he was sick all night so he threw
up all six times the Mahomes is lost by more
than one score. So Josh Allen has lost eleven games
by more than one score and nine fewer career games
than Mahomes. Joe Burrow has lost ten and half of
the career games of Mahomes. Joe and Hurts has lost
(21:40):
fifteen games by more than one score in his career,
and through their first one hundred and thirty games, Tom
Brady lost by more than one score sixteen times, Joe
Montana eighteen times, and Peyton Manning twenty five times. Again,
Mahomes has lost by more than one score just six
times and one hundred and thirty three career games. Does
it stink that just happened in the Super Bowl? Yeah,
(22:01):
But the point is this doesn't happen very often. Almost
every single time that Patrick Mahomes takes the field, Almost
every single time you are in the game at the end,
you might not win. You probably will though, and it'll
be close and you'll have a chance. And I'm sorry
that guy isn't going anywhere because he has an entire
body of work that shows that he's going to be
in just about every single game he plays. And I'll
(22:22):
tell you what, even when the Chiefs were done twenty
four to nothing, I thought we were gonna win just
because of what I've seen over the course of his career.
So it didn't work out in Super Bowl fifty nine.
It stinks, but we've seen for almost a decade that
Patrick Mahomes, when coach read is here and Brett Veach
is greeting the roster, they're in almost every single game.
No other team can say that really in NFL history.
(22:44):
It's what I'm trying to say, and that's why I
feel good about our chances next year, no matter what.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
He's been down twenty four to nothing before and won
the game. That's what you're thinking of. I guess Houston
in the divisional playoff game in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
So we're talking here on this podcast about auditing assets,
and we've given you infrastructure the second one. And we'll
try to go a little quicker here, but this is
handling flashpoints. This to me is Andy Reid's greatest characteristic
of so many. We know how innovative v is offensively,
(23:18):
we know he's wicked smart, He likes to play the
you know, bumble rooskie, take my French fries and take
my chicken nuggets and stuff. But the guy is brilliant.
He's un He could be CEO of any company in
the Chiefs Kingdom or in the country. He's brilliant. But
he handles flashpoints. This is a flashpoint for the Kansas
(23:39):
City Chiefs to get beat forty to twenty two and
to get late scores to make it even that close
against the team that's really good, but the team he
used to coach, and the team he beat in Super
Bowl fifty seven. But to put everything into the trying
to get the three peat and then losing that game
and getting hand in that game. Let's be honest. He
(24:01):
is a flashpoint. But we can go through. We'll go
through these really quickly. Every year Andy Reid has been
the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, there have
been major flashpoints. You have forgotten and coach and I
can think of about four times, four or five times
that we've been in this realm and he'll look at
me right in the eyes and he'll go, I'll fix it.
(24:23):
That's all I mean. He'll go, I'll fix it. And
I'll go okay, and he does.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
So let's start twenty thirteen, the loss to the Colts.
It was a debacle in that playoff game, and you're thinking, well,
nice year ago nine to zero on the start, but
now what because that's a flashpoint. Then to come back
and have a winning year every year since his one.
I know you're gonna have the even number years. I
got the odd number years. But just listen to this
because this is the stuff you have forgotten.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
We'll never figured.
Speaker 4 (24:50):
After that Colts loss in twenty thirteen, I just was
so distraught and my dad looked at me. He's like,
he's got to get a grip, and I was like,
I just want to see the teams win a playoff game.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
And he lost his laptop.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
He did, yeah, and the Chiefs have figured it out
in the time since twenty fourteen. I remember this just
a fan. I drove and met my friend. I went
to Missoo, my buddy went to KU. We met in
the middle in Kansas City and went to that first
game in twenty fourteen against the Titans and Titans were
not good and uh we went to two Mike DeVito
and Derry Johnson both poor their Achilles. We weren't good
(25:25):
in that game we lost, We were one of their
two wins. It wasn't fun. We started zero to two
and we had the Peyton manning Broncos in the division.
Wasn't looking great, but still found a way to be
in a position i'd to have a chance at the postseason.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Didn't make it.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
But it's funny we look back on twenty fourteen as
being like this, Ah, that's the year that we weren't
very good.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Well, still finished nine and seven.
Speaker 4 (25:46):
I mean, that's the worst mark for Coach read here
in Kansas City and overcome a lot of adversity to
get that nine and seven records, So still an impressive record,
I'd say, looking back at.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
It, Alex Smith lacerated spleen against the Steelers and yet
still went record twenty fifteen That year started one and five,
one in five, Well, doesn't look like it's going to
work in Kansas City. I remember seeing Coach drive his
pickup by me. I just happened to be in the car,
kind of staring at the steering wheel like I do
a lot, and his pickup drives by me, and I'm
(26:15):
like all right, and on long after that we're getting
ready to go to London to play the Allions. He goes,
I'll fix it, I'll fix this. Well, we had just
beaten the Steelers. That's when he drove by so out
to two and five, win ten straight games into first
playoff victory in twenty one seasons, that's what happened. He
fixed it. Twenty sixteen. Got to look a little harder
(26:36):
in this one, but it's still there.
Speaker 4 (26:37):
I'm glad you say that though, And earlier you mentioned
how we've kind of forgotten about a lot of these flashpoints.
There's big ones that are obvious. But I think we
look at twenty sixteen and we're like, oh, yeah, I
won the division. Just we're really good all season, no problem.
Well we started two and two and got clobbered by
the Steelers, just absolutely clobbered. We finished ten and two
the rest of the way. We won that big game
(26:59):
on third to night Football against the Raiders. People forget
the Raiders are really good. Then we're twelve and four,
like Derek Carr was like an MVP candidate that year,
and we won that game.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Derek Johnson got hurt in that game. That was a bummer.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
But another flashpoint and find a way to win the division.
And we've done nothing but win the division since.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
You got to start.
Speaker 4 (27:17):
If you have a division title streak, it's got to
start sometime, and it started in twenty sixteen. And if
I told you that in Week four, didn't always look
that way. So that was an impressive year.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
People, we would just all forget it. Twenty seventeen a
one in six stretch, one in six stretch, and that's
when Marcus Peters has taken off his shoes and socks
in New York. Right, that was a rough stretch. Coach
looks at me and goes, I'll fix it. We won
the last four games of the year, win back to
back division titles, which you remember, Oh my gosh, we
(27:48):
just won the AFC West back to back. It's a
huge deal, huge deal. We beat Miami on a cold
Christmas eve Dale and he fixes it.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
I'll fix it. He fixed it. Twenty eighteen.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Twenty eighteen had some struggles on defense, so we lost
games in which we scored fifty one points, forty points,
thirty one points, and twenty eight points. Still came within
a play of going to the Super Bowl. You know,
I looked back at that twenty eighteen championship game against
the Patriots. There's been so many playoff games in the
time since, and frankly so much success that I've kind
(28:19):
of just forgotten about the nitty gritty of it. Besides
like the obvious stuff. Crazy game like we scored twenty
four points in the fourth quarter, like pat caught the
ball back of thirty nine seconds left and tied it.
I mean, just crazy, crazy game. To have the struggles
we did defensively that year and to still find a
way to be that close is cool, and it shows
(28:39):
how we built on it after that year. It wasn't like, ah,
that was our chance. It's like now, that was just
kind of announcing the new Chiefs to the league. But
again adversity. I mean, you lose a game that you
score fifty one points in, you don't feel great about it.
But the Chiefs were still that close to getting back
to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
And ooh, the Colts. The Colts in the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
You can't be ever, ooh yeah, Colts thirty eight to
third twenty nineteen, twenty nineteen, the glorious Super Bowl fifty
four championship, losing three of four in October. I can
see it as if it was yesterday. Pat gets hurt,
dislocated kneecamp in Denver. Matt Moore's got to play. I'll
fix it, Coach says, I'll fix it. We fix it.
(29:18):
We win against the Chargers in Mexico City and never
lose again and win the first Super Bowl in fifty years.
It's time and time again. Coach fixes it. And in
twenty twenty, his leadership was tested with COVID, and twenty
twenty had its own challenges.
Speaker 4 (29:33):
I mean tons of challenges. Looking back with the COVID season,
that's incredible. The league got through that the way that
they did. You talked about it earlier. I mean we
were like living in like lockdown. I was going through
my desk the other day looking at some old stuff
and found my Tier one badge, Like don't lose your
Tier one badge, you know, and got to like do
your health check every day before you go in. Just crazy.
(29:54):
And the things the players got through. We lost Mitchell
Schwartz in Week six, colecci as simile Week five. Still
want sixteen and three beat a Bills team that year
that have won eight straight and won seven of them
by double digits and again, there's so many parallels between
the twenty twenty season and the twenty twenty four season,
and that twenty twenty team was one of the best
(30:16):
in team history despite all the circumstances, and it's a
bummer we don't really remember them because it ended the
way that it did. And it's kind of similar to
Super Bowl fifty nine. Just wasn't our night. In super
Bowl fifty five, it was the Bucks Night, and I'm
not sure anybody would have beaten the Bucks in that game.
But still, now that we have all this hindsight looking
back at that year, incredible ability to overcome adversity by
(30:40):
the Chiefs throughout that entire season, and.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
In twenty one it was like, oh, they're not gonna
be any good. Like it's all they just got blown
out in the Super Bowl and whoop. And after a
one and two start. People forget that we started one
and two and three and four and three and four.
Then twenty twenty one people like that was just roses
and candy canes all the way to the AFC Championship Game.
It was not i'll coach, I'll fix it, I'll fix it.
(31:02):
We go on a run, we get all the way
to the AFC Championship Game again, to do it four
years in a row unthinkable, to use your analogy of
going back in twenty twelve and saying would that be
the case, and so to recover from that, to get
all the way to the AFC Championship Game only to
lose an overtime and after being up twenty one to ten,
could have been up twenty four to ten. That could
have been very different. So twenty two, the world's gonna end,
(31:26):
Tyreek Hill's gone, Oh my gosh, the Chiefs are done.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
They're going to go one in sixteen.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
I can't forget about the numerous people around the league
publicly saying like, oh, yeah, they're done, Chiefs are done.
That's why when there's that conversation right now. I went
back and watched our DTK in March of I guess
twenty twenty two after the twenty twenty one AFC Championship Game,
and yeah, there were a lot of people saying like,
Chiefs are done.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Chiefs are done. Well not quite.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Patrick Mahomes when's the MVP that year and sets the
NFL record for total offense by a single player, and
the Chiefs.
Speaker 3 (31:59):
You know, when the Super Bowl so pretty good.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, and lose to the Colts, Like, oh wow, lost
to the Coles the Bills. Bess was, oh my gosh,
it's all over.
Speaker 4 (32:08):
But then, I mean, listen, if I'm ranking my non
Super Bowl favorite Chiefs memories, the AFC Championship went over
the Bengals in twenty twenty two is like the very
top of the list for so many reasons, Like, I mean.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
I've told Ellie this before. I'm like, Ellie, that was
like one of the best days of my life. And
she's like, just don't don't tell me that. I'm like,
I'm sorry, it was so great.
Speaker 2 (32:28):
Your wedding day.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
Yeah, she's beating the Bengals that title game.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
And that was the bust out of the doubt, dislike disrespect, just.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
Kick Kels on stage talking about the mayor stuff.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
Oh my gosh, twenty twenty three. This is a recent memory,
so you're gonna remember these. But the six losses that year,
the loss on Christmas Day kind of felt like the
Super Bowl fifty nine game. Aidan O'Connell's quarterback and does
not complete a pass for three quarters and the Chiefs
lose that game. A relentless pass rush by the Raiders
Malcolm Koons of course Max Crosby Chiefs lose. Looks like
(33:03):
it's all over covered in cole dust. Wait a minute,
back to back Super Bowl champions for the first time
in six nine and forty four days. And then this year,
we lose track of this year and how much this
team had to overcome.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
All the injuries.
Speaker 4 (33:16):
I mean, losing Hollywood on the first play of the preseason.
Hollywood was going to have a huge year, gets hurt
first play of the preseason, losing Marashie in week four
or she was on pace for like two thousand yards,
I mean, just the go to guy in the offense
and gets hurt in week four and it stinks. Lose
Pacheco after week two and Patrick Mahomes again still went
seventeen and one with this team until the Super Bowl,
(33:40):
and the only team he lost to he beat when
it counted in Buffalo. His team still made history. He
found a way to get back to the Super Bowl
for a third straight year, becoming the first team in
league history to win back to back Super Bowls and
even get back to the Super Bowl for a chance
to do a three peat. I mean, truly, it's a bummer,
because when you lose in the context of history, it's
(34:01):
easy to forget this. But this run is one of
the greatest, if not the greatest, of all time, and
again we're right in the middle of it. Going through
all these games is to show, or all these seasons
is to show that there's always been some kind of adversity.
There's always been something, There's always been someone saying, hey,
the Chiefs are done. In every single year this team
(34:22):
has found a way to say, no, we're not. And
we'll keep talking about like rebounding after bad Super Bowl losses.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
I have some more stuff for you about that.
Speaker 4 (34:30):
But still, again, you just cannot understate how this team
has shown a resolve over the years that hey, no
matter what's going on, no matter the circumstances, we're actually
excited about the challenge. Like that stinks what happened, but
we're excited to prove you wrong. And once again, I
think that's going to be the case this time around.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
I just wish all of you that are either viewing
or watching or watching or listening to this episode could
see Andy Reid's face the times I've seen it where
he's just looked at me and said I'll fix it.
And we have just given you every year that Andy
Reid has been here that he has fixed it, so
we have every bit of confidence that he will fix
(35:09):
it going into twenty twenty five. Now we'll close on
this one just because, and we're going to save our
other asset for a later episode, the ones that we
like the most of what they're kind of tricky and
a little bit off the normal thinking of fans. But
we are going to give you this one as we close,
and that is, Oh, you get blown out of the
(35:31):
Super Bowl, that means.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Your life is over.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
The top five super Bowl blowouts went back and looked
at those five. Three of those five won their division
the following year after getting blown out the nineteen eighty
six Pats who had to play the eighty five Bears
and got wiped out. Steve Grogan from Ottawa, Kansas, Case
Stater got wiped out by the eighty five Bears, whoops.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
Came back and won the division.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
In nineteen eighty six, the ninety three Bills lost the
Super Bowl, came back and won their division. The AFC
East got all the way back to the Super Bowl,
beat the Chiefs in the AFC championship game, they went
twelve and four. Oh, Denver got blown out, they got destroyed.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Whoops.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
Came back and won the division in twenty fourteen with
a twelve and four record, and then won the Super
Bowl the following year in Peyton Manning's.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
Final year in Denver.
Speaker 1 (36:25):
So even Bronco fans, you've got your own lesson here that, oh,
super Bowl blowouts mean the end of the earth.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
Not so fast.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
Maybe it means that you just read if you've got
the infrastructure and ways to fix it. We just said,
you line up to maybe win the division the following year,
and if the Chiefs do it next year, it will
be ten straight years.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
But a Super Bowl blowout.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Doesn't mean necessarily that your franchise ends and you shut
the door.
Speaker 4 (36:47):
Definitely not. And I have kind of an adjacent thought process.
I looked back at the three playoff losses for the
Chiefs prior to this one, and it's in a similar
sense to what we've been talking about, but really kind
of examining the seasons after those losses. So twenty eighteen,
the defense, like I was talking about earlier, struggled. I mean,
we were allowing over four hundred yards per game. Well,
(37:09):
how did the Chiefs respond after losing the AFC Championship
game to the Patriots, where just one more stop You're
going to the Super Bowl, couldn't get it done?
Speaker 2 (37:16):
Well?
Speaker 4 (37:16):
How did Brett veach Head to coach Read respond? Well,
we hire Steve Spagnolo to run the defense. Traded for
Frank Clark, signed Tyron Matthew, signed by Shot Brielant, drafted
three defensive players. We saw this defense transform, and really
the roots of that decision making process, that transformative defense
is what propelled the Chiefs to a Super Bowl championship
(37:38):
the following year, got them back to the Super Bowl
in twenty twenty in Spags, of course, being the defensive
coordinator all this time. We don't won the Super Bowl
in twenty two and twenty three without SPACs telling you
that right now. So anyway, we saw this team transform
after a very disappointing loss in twenty eighteen. Similar deal
in twenty twenty. We all know this one needed to
(37:58):
rebuild the offensive line. Trick Mahomes running for his life
in Super Bowl fifty five. Well, what do we do
in the offseason? Signed Joe Toney, draft Creed Humphrey, draft
Trey Smith signed Kyle Long. People forget about that too.
Forget about Kyle Long was going to be a good
player on this team. But it shows kind of the
commitment to rebuilding the offensive line. Even though Kyle didn't
play a whole lot for US. Kyle Long was brought
(38:19):
in here to play guard and then he traded for
Orlando Brown Junior. So Bretvich wasn't messing around. He said, Okay,
I saw what happened in this game, saw what happened
toward the end of the season. We're going to fix
this and we're going to be better because of it.
We saw this team transform to be even better after
the fact twenty twenty one almost got back to the
Super Bowl, then of course won it in twenty twenty
two to twenty three, and got back in twenty four,
(38:41):
and then twenty twenty one, we're talking about losing to
the Bengals in that AFC Championship game. After that one,
it was kind of kind of a look in the
mirror kind of moment. Needed to kind of remake ourselves offensively.
I think because we saw how teams were playing, US
couldn't quite do this explosive downfield passing attack anymore because
of the two high safety shell coverages and also.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
Kind of needed to undergo a bit of a youth movement.
I think, well, what's Brettviach do?
Speaker 4 (39:06):
Trades Tyreek kill to Miami, and Man, if you go
back and look at the rhetoric back then, I mean
people just saying doing eulogies for the Chiefs, saying like, hey,
it was a great run by the Chiefs, we'll never
make it back.
Speaker 3 (39:19):
Well, what do you know?
Speaker 4 (39:21):
The Chiefs end up having the number one scoring offense
in the NFL in twenty twenty two and use the
draft picks that they got in exchange for Tyreek to
create the nucleus that's got us to these super Bowls
in the time since.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
So I say all this to ask what will it
be this time?
Speaker 4 (39:37):
So we've had a playoff loss, a devastating playoff loss, Well,
what's going to happen? History shows us that this team
will transform and that this team will attack it and
find a way to be better because of this loss.
And it could be remaking the offensive line, could be
some schematic changes offensively, maybe you get more explosive on offense,
and could be getting younger in some spots, but Brett
(39:59):
Veach has show us time and time again he is
not comfortable with the status quo, certainly after a tough
loss in the playoffs. And he knows that we have
the greatest quarterback of all time on our team. Let's
give him a chance every single year to win the
Super Bowl. And these tough losses are bummers. But man,
I look back at it. If we don't lose that
game in twenty eighteen, do we win three Super Bowls
(40:22):
in five years?
Speaker 2 (40:22):
Maybe?
Speaker 4 (40:23):
I don't know, maybe, But I'm just saying sometimes these
losses you can use them as a positive moving forward.
You never want to lose, but when you do, how
do you get better because of it? And Bred has
shown us over the years he's going to do that
every single time.
Speaker 1 (40:36):
So as we go into twenty twenty five, and we're
going to jump in here the combines this week as
you as we post it, and then that leads into
the free agency, which gets wild, and then to the
draft and then to OTAs and then to mini camps
and then their training camp and going into the twenty
twenty five season, well, many others will say that the
(40:57):
Chiefs are done, that this is over. We give you
empirical data here because of infrastructure, starting with the ownership
family and the chairman and CEO Clark Hunt to a
Hall of fame head coach to a Hall of fame quarterback,
to handling flash points because a lot of teams lose
their year or go disappear for a while because they
(41:20):
do not handle flashpoints. And sometimes even success can be
a flashpoint. You can't stay there either way, win or lose.
And then oh super Bowl blowouts, Well wait a minute.
Three of the worst blowouts produced a division winner the
following year, including a team that went back to the
super Bowl. So we're just taking a look at things
(41:42):
and what we're doing is auditing assets and we move
forward with a lot of enthusiasm.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
M
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