The Kansas City Chiefs pulled off one of the biggest upheavals in superbowl the story. Nobody remembers it as such, because of what happened the year before.
In Super Bowl IV, the Chiefs were 12-point underdogs against the Minnesota Vikings. It was the last game before the American Football League merged with the NFL. The Chiefs won that game 23-7. He would be remembered as a much bigger moment in NFL history if not for Super Bowl III, when Joe Namath led the AFL. New York Jets to a breakthrough win over the Baltimore Colts, who were 18-point favorites the previous year. This Jets win is the one everyone is still talking about.
Maybe that win was overshadowed in the context of NFL history, but for the Chiefs, it was a huge victory that they needed to celebrate for a long time. This is because until Patrick Mahomes happened, Kansas City didn’t get another Super Bowl preview.
The Chiefs had a good history at the start of the Super Bowl
The Chiefs made it to the first Super Bowl, even though it seemed like an afterthought. Their opponent, the Green Bay Packers led by Vince Lombardi and a host of Hall of Famers, were in the midst of a great dynasty. The Packers were the headliner of Super Bowl I and a proper champion. However, the Chiefs kept the game close for a half and proved that the AFL has great players too. The Chiefs lost 35-10, but it wasn’t as bad for a Super Bowl debut as the score might indicate. The Packers were just better.
The Chiefs’ second trip to the Super Bowl went much better. Facing the heavily favored Vikings in the fourth Super Bowl, Hank Stram’s Chiefs dominated the game. They were leading 16-0 at halftime. The defense was excellent, forcing five turnovers. Super Bowl MVP Len Dawson led the offense, and a 46-yard catch and run from Otis Taylor for a touchdown in the third quarter made it clear the Chiefs were in for a championship.
Nine members of the 1969 Chiefs made the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But Super Bowl IV was the last playoff win for this big group. It will be a long time before the Chiefs return to the Super Bowl.
The Patrick Mahomes era leads to another title
Between 1971 and 1986, the Chiefs didn’t make the playoffs, let alone a Super Bowl. They had an AFC Championship game with Joe Montana at the end of the 1993 season, the only appearance in an AFC title game they would have in decades.
Then Mahomes came along and the Chiefs started hosting all of the AFC Championship games.
Mahomes was the Chiefs’ first pick in 2017. He didn’t start as a rookie, but in 2018 he became the starter. That season, he won the NFL MVP title and the Chiefs hosted the first of five straight AFC Championship games. They would lose that one, but the next year they moved on to Super Bowl LIV. The leaders followed the San Francisco 49ers 20-10 in the fourth quarter of that game, but a massive 44-yard pass from Mahomes to Tyreek Hill the third and 15 sparked a comeback. The Chiefs won 31-20, their first Super Bowl championship in 50 years.
Kansas City returned the following season, but lost 31-9 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. At least it wasn’t 50 years before he made another Super Bowl.