History is written by the victors.
Kansas City Chiefs fans will surely remember this win as one of the greatest and most pivotal in NFL history.
The Chiefs went toe to toe with their perennial challengers, the Buffalo Bills, trading shots down to the wire — and when the final bell rang out across the hallowed grounds of Arrowhead, it was the defending champs who found themselves standing over their opponents like Muhammad Ali over Sonny Liston, winning 32-29, bringing home the Lamar Hunt AFC Championship Trophy and moving on to their third consecutive Super Bowl.
Here are five things we learned as Kansas City continued its quest for glory:
1. Champions are defined by pivotal moments
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The great philosopher Yoda once said, “There is only do or not do. There is no try.”
And that’s precisely how the Chiefs played in this game. Was it a perfect performance?
No.
It was better than perfect; it was greatness.
A greatness that was defined by the grit that can only be earned through countless clashes on the battlefield. Champions aren’t just bigger and stronger and more talented than their advisories. Sometimes, it’s the exact opposite. No, what sets a champion apart from a talented challenger is their ability to outlast and outfight their opponents.
It’s the understanding that there is no tomorrow.
There is no trying to win the game. There is only the football. The moment you are in. The man in front of you. And an opportunity at greatness.
It’s the fourth-down stop.
It’s scoring to retake the lead.
It’s getting the first down to ice the game.
A handful of moments define what your legacy will be, and the great ones seize the opportunity.
2. Andy Reid isn’t holding back
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Early in the game, when the Chiefs went for it on fourth down from the wrong side of the 50-yard line, you knew that Andy Reid wouldn’t leave this game to what-ifs. Reid would hit the Bills with everything he had, essentially telling Buffalo that if you want the crown, come and take it off my head.
But when Kansas City picked up the first down on that play via a designed run to quarterback Patrick Mahomes and then later called another rollout running play for his quarterback, Reid wasn’t simply emptying his bag of tricks. He was throwing his own rulebook out the window and living dangerously.
It’s hard enough to outsmart a genius like Reid; it’s nearly impossible to know what he will do when he’s out there coaching like a madman. It makes the Chiefs all the more dangerous.
3. Stats don’t matter
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Go ahead and argue why Mahomes wasn’t very good this year and didn’t deserve to be in the Pro Bowl. Sit here and try to discredit his achievements by saying the Chiefs cannot create explosive plays down the field. Keep betting against them in favor of the flavor of the month.
There is one thing that none of these stat-driven awards and narratives miss — stats are not the measure of success in a football game; they are a series of indicators of the possibility of success. But history is full of 400-yard passing days by the quarterback of losing teams.
What you won’t find very often is a game played by a quarterback that was better than Mahomes’ 245 yards on Sunday night. Or a player who has made the AFC Championship game every year as a starter. Or another quarterback who is going for his third straight Super Bowl title.
Stats don’t matter. Wins matter.
Stats are just an attempt to quantify our perception of a player.
4. Outsiders want the Chiefs to be something they don’t want to be
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When you hear a member of the national media talk about the Chiefs, it’s usually about their sustained success. Then it’s quickly followed by a qualifier that says, “The Chiefs have won more one-possession games than any other team in the league.”
Here is the thing: everybody wants the Chiefs to be a Cobra, striking hard and fast, killing its prey before halftime. But they’ve got it all wrong. The Chiefs aren’t cobras. They’re boa constrictors, slowly squeezing you and applying pressure, suffocating you until your bones break, and then they devour you.
Sure, cobras look cool, but they also miss more. The boa constrictors use a method of hunting built around their ability to capture their prey and slowly squeeze it to death.
5. The Chiefs have a two-game season every year
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Going into the season, you knew the Chiefs would win their division. You also knew there was a pretty good chance Kansas City would get the one seed in the playoffs. And it was never really in question.
For the Chiefs, this game was the beginning of the season. Nothing else matters except for this moment.
Kansas City woke up just one more win away from immortality.