Fifty years is a long time to wait between Super Bowls. And it was just four years ago that the Chiefs finally ended that five-decade long drought.
Now after defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in the AFC championship game on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs are back in the Super Bowl for the third time in four years. The long wait followed by the quick trifecta has made Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt value how special it is even more.
“We do know not to take it for granted,” Hunt said. “One of the things about going 50 years between Super Bowls is it teaches you how much to appreciate it. Certainly, over the last five years we’ve been blessed being five straight AFC championship games all here at home and the three Super Bowls.
“It’s special, but we’re not going to take it for granted. And hopefully, we’ll get out there and try to claim another Lombardi.”
To do so the Chiefs will have to take down the Philadelphia Eagles when they meet at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 12 in Glendale, Ariz. The Chiefs were depleted by injuries late against Cincinnati as JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mecole Hardman, Kadarius Toney and L’Jarius Sneed all went out with injury, and Patrick Mahomes was playing on a high-ankle sprain from the week before.
But the Chiefs overcame the odds and got revenge on the Bengals thanks to Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid and others.
“Tremendous performance tonight,” Hunt said. “Obviously one of the storylines from tonight was the adversity that we overcame. In the course of any season, you’re always going to face adversity. And I really feel like during this past week we almost faced a season’s worth of adversity starting with Patrick’s ankle injury last week and Travis’ back tightening up on him on Friday. And, of course, all the injuries tonight, particularly at the receiver position.
“But Andy and the guys did a tremendous job and were able to overcome it and get it done. I also want to mention the fans tonight. They were incredible.”
Things were looking a little bleak in the second half for the Chiefs, but a little Mahomes magic turned the tide. On a third and 4 late in the fourth quarter, Mahomes scrambled and got the first down. But he was hit out of bounds, and the late-hit penalty moved the ball into field-goal range, setting up Harrison Butker’s 45-yarder to win it.
Mahomes completed 29 of 43 passes for 326 yards and two touchdowns and helped bring the Lamar Hunt Trophy back to Kansas City.
“Andy and I were talking about Patrick earlier in the week, and I mentioned to him that the great ones always find a way to get it done, particularly when they’re facing adversity. And Patrick certainly showed that tonight. Tremendous performance all the way around.
“Clearly his ankle didn’t feel very good in the fourth quarter, and the game couldn’t have had a better finishing sequence than having Patrick make that run and get the penalty to put us in field goal position that ultimately led to the win. Watching the play, I was like, ‘Superman put his cape on and got it done for us’. And just a tremendous performance all the way around by Patrick.”
The same could be said for Brett Veach and the front office, who assembled another AFC championship team when many thought the Chiefs wouldn’t even win the AFC West as their roster was retooled, especially at the wide receiver position.
Hardman was the only returning wideout from last year, but the Tyreek Hill trade gave the Chiefs cap space and draft capital allowing them to sign, Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Justin Reid and draft Trent McDuffie, George Karlaftis, Skyy Moore, Isiah Pacheco, Bryan Cook, Jaylen Watson and Joshua Williams. And all of them contributed when it mattered most in a season that will now end in the Super Bowl.
“Internally we had high expectations understanding the challenge of playing with a bunch of young players,” Hunt said. “If you look and listen to much of the national media, you would’ve thought that we had no chance. I remember Andy commenting in response to a question that, ‘We’re not going to be too bad ourselves’ because people were talking about the other teams in the AFC West.
“Obviously, really the credit goes to Andy and the coaching staff for getting those young players ready to play. And, of course, tonight we had numerous young players step up, some who haven’t played very much over the course of the season. They had an opportunity tonight and they really shined.”
