Is half century of misery ending?
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 5 years, 2 months AGO
No, I won’t be making a final score prediction for the Super Bowl.
Instead, I will leave that responsibility to every single person who’s ever appeared on ESPN.
Just like Joe Namath, however, I do have a few guarantees: no matter the result on Sunday, I will yell, I will curse, and I will cry.
And so will the entire Kansas City region.
I should know — I was born and raised there.
IT’S BEEN 50 years since the Chiefs made the Super Bowl, and even though I’ve only been alive to endure half that drought, it has felt like an eternity.
The Chiefs were an original AFL franchise, and a dominant one at that.
Hall of Famers Len Dawson, Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Curley Culp, Willie Lanier, Emmitt Thomas, Jan Stenerud and Johnny Robinson anchored a franchise that lost the first Super Bowl to Green Bay and won the fourth against Minnesota.
Coach Hank Stram, another Hall of Famer, famously told his team in Super Bowl IV to “just keep matriculating the ball down the field, boys” — and they did, beating the Vikings 23-7.
On Christmas Day 1971, Kansas City lost a playoff game at home to the Miami Dolphins in double overtime, in what remains the longest NFL game ever played.
In Kansas City, we call that the burnt turkey game.
That day began nearly a half-century of football heartbreak in the heartland.
BY THE mid-70s, Stram and most of his Hall of Fame players were gone, and the losing seasons commenced.
It wasn’t until 1986 when the Chiefs made the playoffs again, and it took until 1993 for the franchise to recapture the AFC West crown.
Ironically, 49ers legend Joe Montana led that Chiefs team to the AFC Championship game, where they fell to the juggernaut Buffalo Bills.
It would take 25 years for Kansas City to make it back to that stage.
Hell, it took 22 years for the Chiefs to win another playoff game.
During that stretch, the Chiefs started five former 49ers quarterbacks and lost three heartbreakers to the Indianapolis Colts — though the Colts were far from the only franchise to crush our spirits.
Across a span of nine seasons, the Chiefs finished 8-0 at Arrowhead Stadium, only to lose their playoff home opener on three occasions.
Three times in nine years.
ONE OF those disappointments was a 38-31 loss to Peyton Manning’s Colts following the 2003 season in a game in which neither team punted.
A decade later, in Andy Reid’s first season as head coach, Andrew Luck brought the Colts back from a 28-point second-half deficit to prolong our torment.
Three years ago, KC lost to Pittsburgh at home 18-16 in a game in which the Steelers failed to score a touchdown.
Two years ago, the Chiefs blew an 18-point halftime lead to the Tennessee Titans, losing 22-21. Marcus Mariota (remember him?) threw a TD pass to himself — the pass was knocked down at the line of scrimmage right back into Mariota’s hands, and he ran it into the end zone.
Last year, in the franchise’s first AFC Championship Game in a quarter century and the first ever at home, cornerback Charvarius Ward intercepted a Tom Brady pass with less than two minutes remaining and the Chiefs leading 28-24.
The drought was finally over, it appeared.
But there was one problem.
DEFENSIVE END Dee Ford — who now plays for, you guessed it, the 49ers — had lined up offside.
The interception was negated, and the Patriots scored a touchdown just a few plays later.
Even though KC forced overtime, New England won the coin toss and scored on the opening possession, ensuring that MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes would never see the ball.
Not surprisingly, Ford never suited up for the Chiefs again.
This year, though, the 50-year curse has finally been lifted.
The Lamar Hunt Trophy — awarded each year to the AFC champion and named after the original Chiefs owner who helped coin the term “Super Bowl” — has returned home to the hands of chairman Clark Hunt, Lamar’s son.
IT’S WORTH noting that through all the losing and letdowns, Kansas City never abandoned the Chiefs.
If you’ve ever been to a game at Arrowhead, you understand the passion we have for our team.
After all, it is the loudest outdoor stadium in the world (sorry, Seahawks fans).
I’m also aware that many North Idaho residents are California transplants who will be rooting for San Francisco to capture its sixth Super Bowl this Sunday.
I won’t hold it against you, but know this...
I hope that when the dust settles and the confetti fills the air, your tears are as salty as mine are sweet.
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Matthew Gwin is a former Press intern filling in for Steve Cameron while he recovers from some medical procedures. He will be watching the Super Bowl in his Patrick Mahomes jersey.