Chiefs’ historic comeback isn’t enough now. ‘It don’t mean nothing,’ as one player said
They shouted and cursed and smiled as they walked from the field of their conquest to the locker room, but once inside the noise calmed with surprising speed.
A group of men who minutes earlier finished one of the wildest comebacks in NFL playoff history did not dance. They played no music. They offered few high-fives. Mostly, they showered, put on fresh clothes, made plans for the rest of the night and exited in silence.
One minute the Chiefs are playing a first quarter so horrendous they were booed at home, they next they’re completing a historic 51-31 comeback win over the Texans in an AFC division playoff game at Arrowhead Stadium Sunday.
Twenty or so minutes after that, they’re talking about grabbing tacos. Maybe some watching some Netflix.
“It don’t mean nothing,” said Frank Clark, the team’s highest-paid player and star defender. “We gotta get there.”
By there he means Miami, where the Super Bowl will be played, and to get there the Chiefs will need to win the AFC Championship Game against the Tennessee Titans and bruising running back Derrick Henry, who is one outstanding night from becoming this generation of Chiefs fans’ John Elway. More on that in a minute.
A million things could, will, and already have been said about an afternoon so wild KC Wolf banged his head against a door in frustration, one fan left Arrowhead in some desperate mojo-reversing attempt to start a rally, and another literally jumped into a lake.
This is the day the Chiefs’ relentlessly creative history of playoff failures moved to baptize Patrick Mahomes, and the day the 24-year-old quarterback saw those ghosts, felt those ghosts, and then stepped through those ghosts. Nobody who witnessed in person will forget.
The Chiefs trailed by 21 after the first quarter, a spot so hopeless only eight of 143 NFL teams had made it through with a victory. They scored three touchdowns in 201 seconds, and Mahomes became the first quarterback in playoff history with 300 yards passing, five touchdowns and 50 yards rushing in the same game.
If his career makes it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame someday, a clip from this afternoon will play before his speech.
“Guys were saying ‘Next play,’ but it got to a point where it was like we were running out of next plays, you know?” receiver Tyreek Hill said.
“Thank god we’ve got Pat Mahomes,” Clark said.
We should be abundantly clear about two things. First, it sure as hell felt like something real happened here. The franchise with a playoff past that reads more like a horror show just completed the third-biggest comeback in postseason history, a game marked by dropped passes, dropped punts, a boneheaded decision by the opposing coach and touchdowns on a record seven consecutive possessions.
Charlie Brown kicked the damn ball, finally.
The second thing we should be clear about is that as much as those of us watching might believe in that kind of thing, we should also remember that it is fundamentally irrelevant to the men who will either end the franchise’s (embarrassing) 50 years without winning the trophy named for the founder, or not.
That’s a fan thing.
“Yes,” right tackle Mitchell Schwartz said. “Pat’s what, 24? He didn’t grow up with all that. He’s been our quarterback two years and we’ve been in the AFC Championship Game two years. That’s the reality we live in.”
Which is the clearest point from the day, really.
The Chiefs have to win next week.
They have to.
Lose to the Titans and none of this matters. Lose to the Titans and this comeback is a prelude to an all-time kick in the (guts). Lose to the Titans and we’re right back to the first quarter, the Chiefs down 21-0, the fans who wear shirts bragging about 142.2 decibels booing the home side.
“People booed,” Clark said, without being asked. “You know, I’d appreciate it if they didn’t boo.”
Those are the stakes now. Before the season, with distance, it seemed logical that a loss in the AFC Championship Game could not be fairly described as a failure. It wouldn’t be a success, not after the overtime loss at home to the Patriots last year at that stage, but a failure?
Well, how could it be anything else at this point?
A team once defined by a load of injuries is now almost fully healthy, especially if Chris Jones is able to play after another week. The Chiefs earned a first-round bye only after one of the league’s biggest upsets in decades, and that turned into homefield advantage through the AFC portion of the postseason when the Baltimore Ravens — the heavy favorite not just in the conference, but the league — got pantsed by the Titans Saturday night.
In their last three games of full or relatively full strength, the Chiefs’ offense has scored more points and more often than it did a year ago, setting league records. The defense has made remarkable strides into the league’s top 10 in many categories both traditional and analytical.
And now they will play the AFC’s bottom seed, at home, with the Super Bowl on the line. Excuses don’t exist. Neither does a safety net. This team will either play in the Super Bowl or be remembered as blowing the kind of chance a lot of guys never see.
“This is it,” linebacker Anthony Hitchens said. “We’ve got to make it happen. We ain’t going to keep getting these opportunities in back-to-back years.”
That explains the mood after Sunday’s game better than anything else. NFL locker rooms stay closed to the media for 10 or so minutes after every game, but even then, they are transparent places. Careers are too short, opportunities too rare.
Over the years, Chiefs locker rooms have felt like a party after even regular-season wins, and almost like a funeral after losses. This one felt ... like business. They did smile, and they did appreciate what they’d just done.
But like the man said. It don’t mean nothing without at least one more win. They have to get there, to the place this franchise hasn’t been since before their star quarterback’s father was born.
“My mind is already on Tennessee,” offensive lineman Austin Reiter said. “That’s redemption. This one was, too. But a lot of guys are still hungry. We’re not celebrating until we’re in Miami.”
This story was originally published January 12, 2020 at 8:36 PM.