The backstory of how the KC Chiefs, Mahomes honored Len Dawson with a ‘choir huddle’
As of only a few days ago, the plan was for Patrick Mahomes to never step foot on GEHA Field during Thursday’s preseason finale.
But moments after a punt turned the ball over to the Chiefs early in the first quarter, Mahomes walked toward the football’s resting place at the 47-yard line, with a note for referee Craig Wrolstad along the way.
Announce the penalty as No. 16.
Mahomes had insisted on his inclusion for this — Travis Kelce, too — and as he approached what he’d usually term a huddle, he fastened his chinstrap to his helmet and arched his back into position. As he looked up, there stood 10 teammates, in a “choir formation” huddle, staring back at him.
The most memorable moment from Thursday’s preseason game — granted, that’s not a high bar — came on a play that never counted. On a ball that was never snapped. If you were inside Arrowhead Stadium, disappointed not to see the quarterback throw a single pass, you’ll remember the sequence before the Chiefs’ first snap and consider it all worthwhile.
Mahomes and his teammates leaned into the choir huddle made famous by Len Dawson’s Chiefs a half-century ago, a remembrance of one of the city’s top sports icons.
Dawson died this week at 87 years old. He was Patrick Mahomes in this town before there was Patrick Mahomes. He introduced this city to football in some ways, or at least its hometown team, leaving behind a legacy as a player and subsequently a local and national broadcaster that inspired the moment that came Thursday. He had a Hall of Fame career as both.
Mahomes even mimicked the positioning of Dawson’s body, bent at the hip, as his five linemen stood in the back row, with receivers, a running back and tight end bent in front of them.
“We wanted to do something,” Mahomes said. “A little token to show our appreciation.”
It began with a phone call between old friends. Bob Moore, now the team’s historian who has spent four decades working for the organization, originally as a PR man, rang owner Clark Hunt.
He had the idea.
“What if,” Moore said, as Hunt recalled Thursday inside the Chiefs’ locker room, “you guys did the choir huddle on the first play?”
You see, Moore remembered that the Chiefs had actually tried this once before. In September 2003, Hank Stram, the head coach of Dawson’s Super Bowl-winning team in the 1969 season, attended a Chiefs-Steelers game in Week 2. Why not honor him with the choir huddle on the first snap?
It had, shall we say, a couple of hiccups.
Then-quarterback Trent Green, who was ironically calling the game on the TV broadcast Thursday, nearly forgot the idea until the last minute.
“That was my fault,” Green said then. “The linemen were ready to do it, but I was caught thinking about the play and the defense and almost forgot. But we got it straight.”
For a bit.
That initial snap gained 2 yards on a Priest Holmes run. On the next, Green dropped back for the game’s first pass and threw an interception into the belly of Pittsburgh cornerback Chad Scott. Wouldn’t you know it, Scott returned the interception for a touchdown, and 38 seconds into the game (and about 28 seconds after the choir huddle), the Chiefs trailed.
On Thursday, an encore that arrived 19 years later enticed one quarterback into taking the field — just for the opportunity to honor another. A couple of weeks ago, Mahomes spoke to the “swag” of the man whose teammates called Lenny the Cool. For a brief moment, he got to take his place.
The Chiefs did a casual walk-through of the concept before the game — complete with a coach grabbing the shoulders of the offensive linemen to ensure they were lined up properly. Asked if he’d ever taken a huddle quite like that, Chiefs center Creed Humphrey quipped, “I’ve never been in a huddle until I got to Kansas City.” His college days were spent guiding the offense of no-huddle Oklahoma.
The Chiefs never snapped the football. On a delay-of-game call, Wrolstad announced the penalty ... on No. 16.
That number will be glued onto the back of the Chiefs’ helmets throughout the season.
Before the game, Mahomes wore a sweatshirt honoring Dawson. During the game, a headband. A couple of years ago, he donned a shirt with a famous photo of Dawson sitting in a cheap chair during halftime of Super Bowl I, in mid-drag of a cigarette.
On Wednesday, after the news of Dawson’s death became public, he posted an artist’s version of another — his arm around Dawson, both men in full uniform.
Born six decades apart.
But for a brief moment Thursday, locked in the same position.