Same Old Chiefs? KC Isn't Just Winning Titles, They're Changing the Story

These days, the Kansas City Chiefs are everywhere. It seems like the club is on national TV virtually every weekend. Some combination of Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Andy Reid appears in just about every commercial. And that's not even counting the Taylor Swift factor, which has bumped Kelce's profile up to a new level.

The rise to prominence has been somewhat divisive. If you take legendary sportscaster Bob Costas at his word, Kansas City has replaced the Dallas Cowboys as America's Team. But, at the same time, there are the social media maps showing how fans around the country were rooting for seemingly anyone other than the defending champs.

From afar, that largely makes sense. Whether we're talking about the Patriots, the Chiefs, or any other dynasty, opposing fans hate to see the same team win again and again. It is, at best, boring and, at worst, a crushing reminder of your own team's failings.

But, for those within the Chiefs Kingdom, this run of success hasn't come lightly. It's been a long and arduous journey to the top.

Being a Chiefs Fan Wasn't Always Glamorous

Remember, Kansas City wasn't a franchise blessed with success at the quarterback position. And while the importance of that position has ebbed and flowed over the years, the Chiefs seemed uniquely destined to fail there. Despite boasting some big names under center, like Len Dawson and Joe Montana, the club couldn't draft a star signal-caller.

"I am a Chiefs fan myself. I'm gonna be the third generation, let's say, in my family, and at one point in time, that would be a curse, right?" Charles Goldman, the conference editor for A to Z Sports, who previously spent time at USA Today's Chiefs Wire, told Newsweek.

"You look at all these fanbases in the league who haven't gotten there, and that was this team for the longest time. In fact, I have a very vivid memory of my father and my grandfather. Every Sunday, they would have a phone call at some point during the Chiefs game. ... At some point during the Chiefs game, they would get on the phone together, and they would just commiserate. And it would always come back to, you know, that same thing, which was the quarterback," Goldman said.

"And it was always something to hear that interaction and how frustrated they were because, you know, it had just taken [the Chiefs] such a long, long time to figure that position out...The last time before Patrick Mahomes that they had taken a quarterback in the first round was Todd Blackledge, and he did absolutely nothing."

Blackledge's name is uniquely painful, as he came to town with the seventh overall pick of the 1983 draft, leaving Jim Kelly and Dan Marino (plus Hall-of-Famers and Pro Bowlers at other positions) on the board. He went 13-11 in five seasons as a starter, only appearing in a single postseason game.

But he wasn't the entirety of the organization's quarterback woes. As mentioned above, Joe Montana came to Arrowhead and couldn't get KC over the hump. Trent Green played well but left town without much to show for his efforts. There was an entire unfortunate era featuring the likes of Damon Huard, Tyler Palko and Tyler Thigpen under center before Matt Cassel arrived to be the franchise's chosen one. He, of course, failed to save the day.

Alex Smith helped turn the tide and, of course, Patrick Mahomes took things to an entirely new level. A position that seemed cursed is now a source of both pride and security. With No. 15 under center, anything is possible.

"It's just interesting to see how specifically Patrick has completely changed, you know, I guess the trajectory of this franchise when it was just pure misery for so many fans," Goldman added.

But the story of the Chiefs franchise is about much more than simply quarterbacks. There was also a lingering, Brooklyn Dodgers-esque feeling that, no matter what went right, there was always a failure looming around the corner.

Sometimes, Kansas City was outright bad. There was a two-win season in the 1970s, a three-win campaign in the 1980s, and two-win seasons in both the 2000s and 2010s. But even when things went right, heartbreak was never far away.

There were great seasons that ended in disaster; KC, at various points, had gone more than 30 years without a postseason win and played six straight home playoff games without a win. When a quarterback completes a touchdown pass to himself to spark a comeback, as Marcus Mariota did at Arrowhead, it's easy to feel like the Chiefs were cursed.

There were all-time greats, ranging from Derrick Thomas to Tony Gonzalez, who couldn't get their respective teams over the hump. Potential, as exciting as it may be, doesn't do much for the trophy cabinet.

The current run of success arrives against that backdrop. While the Chiefs might look like world-beaters, long-time fans know what it took to reach this point.

"It is crazy around here because, I just, I think what you see is a real generation gap—you know what I'm saying—when it comes to the Chiefs. Because there's people my age, I'm 40, who grew up around these parts and, you know, all the people that were Chiefs fans growing up in my era, all they knew was heartbreak," Jesse Newell, The Kansas City Star's Chiefs beat reporter, told Newsweek.

"They knew the no-punt game where Peyton Manning came in and beat them. Jim Harbaugh came in and beat them. And Lin Elliott can't make a field goal. And Elvis Grbac comes back when Rich Gannon should have been the starter. And the longest playoff losing streak in NFL history. And they just can't win a playoff game. What does it take to win a playoff game?"

But now, things are a bit different. Mahomes slayed the metaphorical dragon in early 2020—the Super Bowl run began with a historical 24-point comeback against the Texans, overcoming a moment that would have destroyed the Chiefs of old—and never looked back. Playoff wins are the baseline expectation at Arrowhead. It may seem like arrogance from the outside, but there's a new sense of confidence within the Chiefs Kingdom. It took a while, but there's now faith that things can finally work out.

"Now, you have, like my daughter is 8 years old, and she almost hasn't lived in a world where the Chiefs haven't made the AFC Championship Game. And when we're talking to her about 'Oh the Chiefs won the Super Bowl,' she doesn't think that's weird. She thinks that's what happens every single year," Newell said.

Some of that surrealism is what's lost in translation. Football fans who follow other teams have watched the Chiefs rise from an upstart squad trying to get past the Patriots to the new bully sitting atop the AFC. Mahomes has grown from an exciting young prospect into a metaphorical grim reaper, looming in the background to end any AFC team's exciting season.

And now, Kelce, who could always be a bit of an outsized personality, has taken his celebrity status to an entirely new level. As an outsider, that can get annoying.

If you sat through season after season of Chiefs struggles, though, this run has been something of a karmic redemption. All of the misfortunes of previous eras are being balanced out before our eyes.

"I know I dreamed of it," Goldman said when asked if he ever thought the Chiefs could attain this sort of success. "And I don't think there's any Chiefs fan who didn't. But there was definitely a time in my life where I was thinking, 'God, am I ever gonna see this team win? Is this ever gonna change for us?' It's been so long.

"My whole life, the teams that I knew, they were at some points good, but they were never good enough. It's been amazing now, I was just reflecting on it the other day in fact, but I never thought that I would get to see this team play in one Super Bowl, and now I'm covering them professionally for the fourth time in the last five years in the Super Bowl. It's kind of crazy to think about, and it feels a bit like a fever dream sometimes."

America's Team? What About the World?

Newell had a similar take on the current Chiefs era, which includes a rise to a new level of prominence.

"No," he said when asked if he thought he'd see the Chiefs become this sort of high-profile franchise. "America's Team, for me, growing up, was the Cowboys. It was [Troy] Aikman. It was Emmitt Smith. It was Michael Irvin. It was Jimmy Johnson. It was Jerry Jones. And I think that's where the Chiefs have gotten to."

And while you wouldn't traditionally think of the Chiefs as having that same je ne sais quoi, something has changed. KC could have a claim to the "America's Team" title, but this run of success headlined by the likes of Mahomes and Kelce may have elevated them even further.

The club, like the Cowboys of old, is simply known. Whether you love them or view them as the black-hatted villain tormenting the league, you can't avoid the Chiefs. And that footprint is expanding wider than ever before.

"I think you're starting to see this on the global stage," Newell said. "It was fascinating going over to Frankfurt, Germany to watch their game earlier this season. And, you know, you go in the airport, there's a big Mahomes, Adidas banner. That's their ad. That's there. There's a Burger King that's all spruced up in Chiefs stuff over in, you know, the middle of Europe that we went and visited."

But that wasn't all. Beyond the branding, which you could argue would be there independent of any on-the-ground interest, people wanted to see the defending champs. While normal practices are a low-key affair for local beat reporters to keep tabs on injuries and take a few pictures, things in Frankfurt took on a different tone. Events were open to any member of the media who wanted to attend, and the results of that decision were staggering.

"I've never had a walk like that," the Star's scribe remembered. "There's a photo on my Twitter account; I mean, there was, I would say, over 100 people. Over 100 media members, in the middle of another country that just want a glimpse of Patrick Mahomes. That just want a glimpse of Andy Reid. That just want to see this team, the Kansas City Chiefs."

"And did think it kind of hit me at that moment, that, yeah, the Chiefs have built something that's much bigger than, you know, Jackson County in Missouri or Johnson County in Kansas or this little area that I've grown up living in," Newell added. "This is the whole different area of the world that is sort of hanging on what this player and this team do."

Does that mean much to NFL fans who don't care for Mahomes, Kelce and the Chiefs? Probably not. Saturation is saturation, and that's part of what ultimately rubs people the wrong way.

'A Reason to Believe'

But with that being said, there's something universal lurking underneath that frustration. Part of the joy of sports is that every season represents a new opportunity. Maybe that top draft pick will become a franchise savior; perhaps this year really will be different. As painful as the bumps in the road may be, hope springs eternal.

The Patriots hit the jackpot with Tom Brady, after all, and now Kansas City is enjoying a similar run of success.

But, by that same token, you never know when it's going to end. Part of the joy (and pain) of sports is the narrow margins; a single injury or bad break can bring everything crashing down.

The 2023 campaign provided some reminders of that reality for those wearing red, white and gold. Mahomes and the offense looked human. Something, whether it was age, injury or distraction, had Kelce looking unlike himself. Things got ugly, especially around Christmas.

And while things ultimately came together, that's still a reminder of how fleeting success can be. When you've sat through blown leads, awful seasons and the inability to get out of your own way, every moment is worth savoring.

That's something that just about every sports fan can understand. It might be a kick in the teeth to see KC keep celebrating, but (most) members of Chiefs Kingdom aren't looking to rub it in or be jerks. Instead, it's about something as simple as believing again.

"The narrative has been completely flipped, and what this team has become has completely flipped. And we all know Andy Reid and Travis Kelce and all those things, but I think the belief factor of all this comes back to one person, and that's Patrick Mahomes," Newell said.

"And he's given not only the team but the city, I think, a reason to believe when previously there were a lot of reasons to not believe. And that's probably just the biggest thing I would say. ... It's pretty crazy to see the same sort of fans who were, you know, who could not believe that anything could go right for their team in the playoffs now are a little bit stunned when anything does go wrong."