Tag Archives: KC Chiefs

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So cool to see the KC Chiefs return to the Big Game … 50 years later!

Allow me this moment of pro football joy, given that I don’t really follow the professional game as I used to do when I was a kid.

The Kansas City Chiefs are heading back to the Super Bowl, a game they have played twice. The lost the first one. They won their second game.

Here’s the deal: The first game occurred in 1967 against the Green Bay Packers, who won that contest 35-10 in the very first championship game that didn’t even have the name “Super Bowl” yet attached to it; the Chiefs’ second appearance was in 1970 against the Minnesota Vikings, which the Chiefs won 23-7.

Let’s see. That’s 50 years between that second appearance the game they are going to play soon in Miami against either the Packers or the San Francisco 49ers.

You might know already that I am a diehard American Football Conference fan, particularly of those teams that merged in 1970 with the National Football League. The Chiefs were among those former AFL franchises to join the rival NFL.

So … here we go. Now that you know about my AFC preference, I supposed you can presume — correctly, I should add — that I don’t have a favorite for whom the Chiefs should play in the next Super Bowl. I say that with reluctance, given that I have a very close family member who lives just south of SF Bay and is an avid 49ers fan. Too bad, sis. We all have our bias.

I believe 50 years is more than enough time to lapse between winning the Super Bowl trophy, which now carries the name of the late Vince Lombardi, the legendary Packers coach who, I hasten to add, led the Pack to that initial AFL-NFL championship victory over those long-ago Kansas City Chiefs.

The here and now is upon us. I am delighted to see the Chiefs set to play for the championship of the NFL.

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What’s so wrong with a defensive struggle?

I am going to take up the cudgel for the two professional football teams that just played in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl in history.

The New England Patriots scored 13 points compared to the three points rung up by the Los Angeles Rams.

I’ve been reading social media and other commentary about how “boring” and “stupefying” and “disappointing” the game turned out to be.

Let me stipulate that I didn’t want either team playing for the NFL championship. My favorite among the four teams vying for the Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs, lost to the Patriots in overtime in the AFC championship game. The New Orleans Saints, it can be argued, should have been the NFC rep, but were robbed by a non-call that should have gone against the Rams in that conference’s title game, which the Rams won also in overtime.

When did massive offensive output, though, become the benchmark for on-the-field excellence in these football games? I watched most of the game Sunday night. I watched a lot of sequences when both teams would take three snaps and then punt the ball away. It got to be so repetitive that CBS Sports color analyst Tony Romo joked that the first-half highlight was the Ram punter’s record-setting kick of 65 yards.

However, we all did watch some stellar defensive strategies being played out. Both teams were hitting hard and their tackling was sure-handed. Patriots QB Tom Brady got sacked for the only time during this year’s playoff season. Rams QB Jared Goff was hassled and chased around constantly by New England’s defensive front line.

I didn’t see many defensive mistakes out there. I saw some hard-hitting tackle football.

So what if the teams couldn’t ring up 30 or 40 points apiece? The outcome was in doubt until practically the very end of the game.

There. Having said all that, I am kinda/sorta glad the Patriots won the game, owing only to my longtime affection for the AFC over the NFC. We saw a bit of history made Sunday night, with the Patriots winning the franchise’s sixth Vince Lombardi Trophy.

What is so wrong with that?

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Patriots vs. Rams: not the preferred matchup, however . . .

OK, here we go again. The New England Patriots are going to play for their umpteenth Super Bowl championship against the Los Angeles Rams.

This wasn’t the matchup I wanted. I already declared my desire to see the Kansas City Chiefs win the whole thing. They were long overdue for another trip to the Big Game; their latest Super Bowl was in 1970, when they beat — while still representing the former American Football League — the heavily favored Minnesota Vikings 23-7.

I remain a diehard American Football Conference fan, so I’ll root (more or less) for the Patriots against the Rams.

The LA Rams last played in the Super Bowl in 1980 when they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, the St. Louis Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans in 2000. So the franchise is a recent participant in the big game. So now the Rams, who have returned to La La Land, are back.

I didn’t predict the Chiefs would take it all home. It was merely my stated preference.

However, having said that, I have to declare that the AFC championship game was incredibly well played, given the utterly frigid temperatures the players endured on the field at Arrowhead Stadium.

As for the NFC game, I’ll merely say that the refs stole that game from the New Orleans Saints with that remarkably hideous non-call on pass interference.

They shoulda called the cops.