Lesson from St. Louis’ NFL heartbreak: Chiefs fans should just enjoy Super Bowl ride
Many Chiefs fans who are counting the minutes until the team takes the field Sunday in Miami are already envisioning years-long domination of the NFL and a string of Super Bowl victories.
But as those of us who have loved and lost teams can attest, a Super Bowl appearance comes with no guarantees for the future.
I speak from painful experience.
As a native of St. Louis, I’ve endured the loss of two football franchises in my life. The NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals moved to Arizona in 1988, and the St. Louis Rams returned to sunny Southern California a few seasons ago. I have been in football purgatory ever since.
Sure, the Chiefs are an integral part of Kansas City, and the team doesn’t appear to be a flight risk. But one magic carpet ride of a season can quickly give way to stretches of mediocrity and missed chances.
When the Royals won the World Series in 2015, plenty of fans were dreaming of a dynasty. But the last few seasons have brought few glimmers of hope.
Former Chiefs head coach Dick Vermeil, who led the team from 2001-05, understands the fleeting nature of success on the field.
“Fans have to realize the Chiefs have a 50% chance of winning and a 50% chance of losing,” Vermeil told me. “Enjoy the week as if you will win. It takes the same amount of energy to get there and win as it takes to get there and lose. Winning is better.”
Vermeil has lived both the highs and lows of the big game. He was head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles when they lost Super Bowl XV to Oakland in 1981. Vermeil was king of the football world when the St. Louis Rams prevailed in Super Bowl XXXIV 20 years ago this month.
That victory by the team known as “The Greatest Show on Turf” was perhaps the greatest moment of my life as a sports fan. And no one on this earth could have convinced me then that we would not win another championship.
In St. Louis, world championships in baseball aren’t such a rarity. But in a snake-bitten football town like ours, even making it to the Super Bowl was pure joy. Winning it all was indescribable, and even two decades later, I can’t quite put it into words.
Former Rams wide receiver and Hall-of-Fame finalist Isaac Bruce offered a message to Chiefs fans who have never experienced a Super Bowl appearance: “Embrace it.”
“You have to be able to embrace it,” Bruce told me this week from Miami, site of Super Bowl LIV. “ It could be another 50 years.”
Bruce is right. He was part of an offense that set the football world on fire for three consecutive seasons. The Rams played fast-break basketball on turf and scored touchdowns at a dizzying pace, similar to what Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are doing now.
And then it all disappeared.
Of course, Mahomes is a once-in-a-generation franchise quarterback. And he is surrounded by playmakers at wide receiver, tight end and running back. Head coach Andy Reid could end up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame some day.
So, as the Chiefs prepare for their first Super Bowl in five decades, it’s easy to believe the good times will keep rolling. But in an era of free-agency and salary caps, it’s tough to keep the band together.
“When you have an organization that from the very top is stable, you are set up for success,” Bruce said. “Where Kansas City is, they are in a very good place.”
And yet, life and sports are full of plot twists.
“The beauty of football is the games have to be played,” Bruce said. “You decide it on the field.”
If desire counts for anything, though, Chiefs nation could be celebrating on Sunday.
“There is not a city in the league that deserves this more than Kansas City,” Vermeil said.
For now, though, let’s just enjoy the ride.
