Eyes on the prize
By Sam Kombrink
It was a cold gloomy day at Arrowhead on Sunday, December 6th, 1996. The Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Indianapolis Colts 10-7. Since then the Chiefs and Colts have played each other four times. The Chiefs are 0-4 vs Indy in the postseason, but that is about to change.
As we have seen recently, the road to Atlanta will be tedious. As it stands the Chiefs have a record of (12-4) leading the AFC. This Chiefs team is a Super Bowl contender, despite their many penalties. The Chiefs lead the league with 137. In order to win games in January, the Chiefs need to leave all of their mistakes in 2018.
Blessed with an “elite” QB like Patrick Mahomes, you can go ahead and close the history book. He now leads the NFL with 50 touchdowns, joining Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
The NFL has not seen a young dynamic gunslinger like Mahomes since 1984. Dan Marino, at the age of 23, threw for 48 touchdowns, 5,084 yards, with a passer rating of 108.9, winning him the 1984 MVP Award. Mahomes has thrown 50 touchdowns, 5,097 yards, and holds a passer rating of 113.8. Mahomes is the current front runner to win MVP.
Tight End Travis Kelce also broke records this season with 1,336 receiving yards as well as 103 receptions.
In order to make it to Atlanta for the Super Bowl, the Chiefs’ defense needs to continue to make plays at the right time. During the last game against Oakland, I saw improvements on our pass rush and defensive line. I think we will see this squad rise up with All-Pro Safety Eric Berry back on the field. Berry sets the tone for the younger players.
The defense is doing a good job of getting to the quarterback. The Chiefs tied the Pittsburgh Steelers for the league high, (52 sacks) this season. Defensive Lineman Chris Jones lead the team with (15.5 sacks). Dating back to 1982, when sacks came into fruition as an official stat, nobody in NFL history has constantly hit the QB like Chris Jones. Jones has recorded a sack in 11 straight games, passing Demarcus Ware, and Simon Fletcher at (10). Linebacker Dee Ford is second on the team with 13 total sacks
There are a lot of skeptics out there saying that the Chiefs don’t have all of the tools to bring home the Lombardi Trophy. The fact of the matter is that the Kansas City Chiefs currently stand atop the AFC at 12-4, and I will quote the great Bill Parcells: “You are as good as your record says you are”. No team in 2018 scored more points than the Chiefs who scored 565 points. That is the most by any team in the Super Bowl era.
Haters also like to point out that we seem to not have a running game all of a sudden because of what happened with Kareem Hunt. This is simply not true. The “Williams Brothers” (not really brothers), Damien Williams (#26) and Darrel Williams (#31), do a good enough job in the running game alongside a healthy Spencer Ware (#32) and Charcandrick West (#30).
The Chiefs have been waiting to get back to the promised land since January 11th, 1970, where they took down the Minnesota Vikings, 23-7 to win Super Bowl IV. All this Chiefs team has to do is not make mistakes, run the ball efficiently, make plays on defense, and trust that Andy Reid will draw up the right plays for Mahomes. If we do those things I believe we will see the Kansas City Chiefs playing in the Super Bowl.
As for Saturday’;s match up versus the Colts, here is what Big Red Andy Reid had to say, when asked what would a win on Saturday mean for this city?
“I haven’t got that far ahead. I know how passionate the fans are. I know how passionate our players, coaches, the building is. I know it’s important to a lot of folks. The guys here are busting their tails to get ready to play a good football team and to do the best we possibly can. I know our fans are going to be there doing the same thing, so they’re going to be fired up and ready to go. That to me is a beautiful thing. You prepare, you prepare, you prepare, and then you put your best out there and go play and that’s what this thing is all about. We look forward to that challenge.”
With that, I’m taking the Chiefs to win the game 34-31.
Coming up in my next article, an exclusive interview with Chiefs Defensive Tackle, and former Grandview Bulldog, Xavier Williams.
Twitter : @Samborooski