KC Replay: Chiefs make headlines, Sporting KC loses twice and NWSL team is now Current
The NFL’s 24/7 news cycle never stops churning out headlines, and that certainly was evident in Kansas City last week.
The Chiefs won a game (which is news in and of itself these days), pulled off a big trade and then learned they wouldn’t be facing the reigning league MVP in their Sunday afternoon home game against the Green Bay Packers.
Elsewhere around the Kansas City sports scene, Sporting KC stumbled in back-to-back games at the worst time, KC NWSL re-launched its identity with a new name and logo, and two of the area’s three Division I football teams posted victories and KU won its exhibition opener in basketball.
Chiefs all over the news
The Chiefs got their week started on a promising note with a narrow home win over the New York Giants on Monday Night Football. A late 34-yard field goal by Harrison Butker was the difference as the Chiefs prevailed 20-17.
Then came the NFL’s Tuesday trade deadline, and the Chiefs (4-4) were right in the thick of it: They acquired veteran edge rusher Melvin Ingram from the Steelers and, in a separate deal, sent Canadian doctor/right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif to the New York Jets in exchange for a backup tight end.
But their biggest news-drop involved a player not even on their own roster. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers tested positive for COVID, meaning he’d have to quarantine for 10 days, per the NFL’s policy for unvaccinated players. Thus, he’s unable to play when Green Bay visits the Chiefs for Sunday’s 3:25 p.m. game. Backup Jordan Love, who has thrown seven passes, was to start in Rodgers’ place.
Oh, and one more Chiefs item: Rookie linebacker Nick Bolton, the former Missouri Tiger, on Thursday was honored as the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Month. He’s piled up 26 tackles in the last two games.
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Opportunity lost for SKC
Sporting KC lost twice at a time when the club most needed some victories.
Locked in a battle with Seattle for MLS playoff seeding at the top of the Western Conference, Sporting dropped a 2-1 decision at Minnesota on Halloween Sunday, then got routed 3-1 at Austin FC.
Routed is a fair description, too. The last-place team in the conference rang up a 3-0 lead on Sporting before Johnny Russell stretched his streak of games with an assist or goal to 10 with a header into the net.
So now it’s down to Decision Day at home against Real Salt Lake on Sunday. Depending upon that outcome (and others in the West), Sporting will take the first, second or third seed into the MLS Cup Playoffs.
The latest Current events
RIP to the generic “KC NWSL” moniker under which Kansas City’s women’s pro-soccer team had played since the franchise’s inception in December 2020.
The club used the occasion of its final game of the year, against the OL Reign at Legends Field in KCK Saturday, Oct. 30, to formally unveil its new name and logo: the Kansas City Current. The new name plays off the Missouri River, along which the team’s new stadium and training facility will be built, power and empowerment.
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, whose fiancee Brittany Matthews is a part-owner of the Current, even sported a Current shirt before and after Monday’s Chiefs-Giants game.
Two out of three in football
Two of the area’s three D-I football programs recorded wins on Saturday, Oct. 30.
K-State beat TCU 31-12 in Manhattan, Mizzou claimed its first SEC win of the season, beating Vanderbilt 37-28 in Nashville and KU got drilled 55-3 at Oklahoma State.
This weekend’s games included the annual Sunflower Showdown and, for Mizzou, a trip to Georgia to play the top-ranked Bulldogs. The past week also included the passing of former MU coach Warren Powers, a KC native who prepped at Bishop Lillis.
KU wins exhibition opener
The Jayhawks beat visiting Emporia State 86-60 Wednesday night in their lone men’s basketball exhibition ahead of the 2021-22 season.
Sophomore starting forward Jalen Wilson did not play after being suspended by coach Bill Self following Wilson’s arrest last weekend for DUI. The punishment will also keep Wilson sidelined for the team’s first three regular-season games.