It was supposed to be a year of misery for the Kansas City Chiefs. Their wideouts were dropping passes, their offense was undisciplined, Travis Kelce was starting to slow down and there was seemingly no way for Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid to turn things around.
They nevertheless succeeded, and at the same time confirmed their status as a new dynasty in the NFL.
After completing their victorious comeback in overtime against the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on Sunday night, the Chiefs got their hands on their third Vince Lombardi Trophy in five years. And they became the first team since the New England Patriots with Tom Brady at the helm two decades ago — the last true dynasty to dominate American professional football — to successfully defend their title.
Even Mahomes, when asked if the Chiefs had achieved dynasty status, replied, “It’s the beginning.”
“It’s a little implausible,” Reid admitted. I don’t know what a dynasty is. You have vocabulary, so you can draw your conclusions from it. It’s a great victory, because I know how difficult it is to achieve this and how grueling the season has been, with its ups and downs, and I’m proud of the guys, because they stuck together and never lost hope. »
Never has an underdog team managed to win back-to-back Super Bowl titles, and perhaps this is where two key lessons should be learned: The Chiefs should have lost this season, but no one been able to defeat them in one-on-one matches.
A new cycle
In terms of personnel, general manager Brett Veach had to be quite creative to build a competitive club around Mahomes — a quarterback who takes up US$37 million of the Chiefs’ payroll, more than anyone in the NFL. Regardless, the architect of the Chiefs’ last three Super Bowl conquests was able to find bargains on the market such as Jerick McKinnon and Drue Tranquill, who contributed well beyond their salary value.
Observe their group of spaced wingers; a mix of youngsters and veterans who are rolling around in the league and who have dropped more passes than any other team in the NFL this season. They coalesced around rookie Rashee Rice, a quiet man, who has become Mahomes’ top target as well as a star in the making.
The Chiefs will celebrate their recent Super Bowl victory with a parade in downtown Kansas City on Wednesday, and after a short break, Veach will reunite with Reid and the rest of the team’s staff to prepare for the next campaign. A new cycle will then begin.
Because sustained success — like the ones the Chiefs enjoy, year after year — is what turns a good team into a true dynasty.
“I’m going to celebrate tonight. I’m going to celebrate in the parade, Mahomes said after earning his third Super Bowl MVP, and then I’m going to do everything in my power to be back on this stage next year to complete the hat-trick. »
“I think Tom [Brady] summed it up well: as soon as you win this game, you participate in this parade and you get this ring, then you are no longer a champion, Mahomes continued. You have to go back to training with the same mentality, and learn from guys like him who are some of the greatest in history, at the top of their game, so that’s my approach. I’m going to celebrate with my guys, because of how we did it, but then we’ll get back to work so we can be back here [au Super Bowl] next year. »