As finality of season hits Chiefs ‘between the eyes,’ a look back and glance ahead

On the morning after an abrupt end to the season on Sunday night, Chiefs coach Andy Reid met with the media and essentially spoke for both the organization and Chiefs fans everywhere when he said, “There’s just this finalization to it that hits you right between the eyes.”

The 18-16 loss to the Steelers in the AFC Divisional round was just the latest postseason futility for the Chiefs, who have won just one playoff game since the 1993 season.

Here’s an A-Z look at what made the season special, what makes this loss sting and a glimpse at some questions that will loom for the Chiefs in the months ahead.

A is for Arrowhead Stadium, certified by Guinness World Records as the site of the loudest crowd roar in a stadium (142.2 decibels) but a tomb when it comes to Chiefs postseasons: The Chiefs have lost their last five playoff games there since beating Pittsburgh 27-24 in overtime on Jan. 8, 1994. In those five regular seasons, they were 37-3 at home.

B is for the block by offensive tackle Eric Fisher that was ruled a hold and thus negated a two-point conversion pass to Demetrius Harris that would have tied the score with 2 minutes, 43 seconds left Sunday. The call will help characterize the game for generations, though obviously it wasn’t what lost the game for the Chiefs, who were outplayed and couldn’t atone for their multiple mistakes.

C is for Charles, Jamaal, who turned 30 in December and has missed most of the last two seasons because of knee surgeries. Charles, whose career rushing average of 5.5 yards is second-best all-time among NFL running backs, wants to keep playing football. But is there a disconnect between Charles and the Chiefs?

D is for details, the lack of attention to which by the Chiefs showed up in everything from crucial penalties to dropped passes to blown coverages and missed tackles on Sunday. They looked out of rhythm, in fact. Might they have been better off not having a bye week after all?

E is for Eric Berry, the safety affixed with the franchise tag in 2016. Berry is the unrivaled emotional leader of this team, particularly after his return from cancer, and at 28 still has both the skills and the knack for making game-changing plays. This man needs to stay a Chief by whatever means necessary.

F is for the fence that Reid sits on with Chiefs fans as he’s reinvigorated the team and is tied for the ninth-most NFL postseason coaching wins with 11 … but is the only one in the top 17 with a losing record: 11-12.

G is for grown-man football, which the Steelers inflicted on the Chiefs in the form of a salty offensive line and running back Le’Veon Bell, who rushed for 170 yards in 30 carries. The Chiefs stiffened in the red zone, never allowing a touchdown, but Bell’s dominance set the tone for the game and exploited a vulnerability the Chiefs have to shore up before next season.

H is for Hill, Tyreek, the whirlwind rookie who single-handedly changed the dynamics of the offense and special teams. Imagine his capabilities as he further digests a complicated playbook and as the Chiefs have an entire season to sort out more and better ways to get him the ball.

I is for indelible, which no matter how this season ended, the amazing comeback wins over San Diego, Carolina, Denver and Atlanta will remain.

J is for Justin Houston, who insisted his knee was fully healthy for the game against the Steelers but was such a non-factor that’s hard to believe. It was largely a lost season for Houston, who missed the first nine games recovering from offseason surgery and then the last two before the playoffs.

K is for kicker Chris Boswell of the Steelers. His six field goals established an NFL postseason record, another cruel asterisk in Chiefs’ postseason debacles.

L is for lackadaisical, which the Chiefs inexplicably were on what became their last drive of the season. The 13-play, 75-yard drive that consumed 7:06 and culminated in Spencer Ware’s touchdown left them with little realistic chance to get the ball back with enough time to have a chance to score again in regulation.

M is for the middle, where the Chiefs need serious help on defense and evidently are counting on some from the return of 34-year-old Derrick Johnson from his second season-ending Achilles’ injury in three years.

N is for the next level, which has to be the offseason focus for this Chiefs regime. It has stopped the bleeding of the Scott Pioli era and established a new standard with three playoff appearances in the last four years, but the bar is raised now.

O is for the offense, which in between the first and last drives managed just 97 yards because of a combination of misconnections, penalties and simply being outmanned up front by the Steelers defense.

P is Poe, Dontari, the nose tackle — and mesmerizing offensive force — who is up for free agency and whose likely price tag will challenge the Chiefs to determine if he’s worth the price of retaining,

Q is for quarterback — time to use a premium pick to cultivate the future heir to Alex Smith.

R is for Ramik Wilson, who led the Chiefs with 15 tackles in a playoff game in a season that began with him being waived by the Chiefs.

S is for Smith, Alex: After a game in which he completed just 20 of 34 passes for 172 yards, Smith will get the blame from many for this loss. But it’s worth asking how differently his effort would be perceived — or how this game would have played out, for that matter — if not for three outright drops.

T is for Tamba Hali, the 33-year-old linebacker who got just seven snaps on Sunday … but wants to play a few more years. Will the Chiefs see it the same way?

U is for unimportant … in the moment, anyway. But it bears remembering that the Chiefs won the AFC West for the first time since 2010 and have won 22 of their last 26 regular-season games. In a sense, that makes the playoff fizzle more disappointing, but it’s also a reminder of a new baseline in place after the franchise had won four games or fewer in four of the previous six seasons before the Andy Reid-John Dorsey tandem took over in 2013.

V is for volatile, as in tight end Travis Kelce, whose intensity is a double-edged gift and vulnerability. He had a remarkable season with 1,125 receiving yards, but his temper was the final signature when he compounded a dropped pass with a cheap-shot penalty on the next play. The sequence may have been the difference between a game-changing touchdown and what became a field goal on the drive, and Kelce’s juvenile tirade after the game reiterated his lack of self-control.

W is for wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, who endured the most difficult season of his pro career (other than the 2013 season he missed because of an ACL injury). Between a groin injury that kept him out for four games and contending with the death of a friend early in the season, Maclin only really was himself in bursts and glimpses with 44 catches for 536 yards — just under half his 1,088-yard total in his 2015 debut with the Chiefs. He had two catches for 28 yards against the Steelers and one of the drops. Maclin brought more to the table than just his numbers, but he acknowledged this season tested him — and here’s betting he returns better than ever next year.

X is for X-factor, which Reid’s bye week record was supposed to be. Entering the game, he had been 19-2 with two weeks to prepare, including 3-0 in the playoffs. But after the six-play, 55-yard first drive apparently went right to script, the Chiefs offense was off-kilter most of the rest of the game.

Y is for youth: As of opening day 2016, the Chiefs had the sixth-youngest team in the NFL (an average of 25.54 years old), the makings of a fine foundation.

Z is for zebras, aka officials, whom Kelce needs to understand have memories and talk to each other and aren’t apt to forget a pattern of behavior that includes tossing a towel at one earlier this season and his profanity-laced remarks on Sunday that included saying referee Carl Cheffers “shouldn’t even be able to wear a zebra jersey ever again. He shouldn’t even be able to work in a (freaking) Foot Locker.” Human nature says that the more Kelce acts out and spouts off, the more they’ll be watching for it. It’s on him to adjust to them, not the other way around.

This story was originally published January 16, 2017 at 5:02 PM with the headline "As finality of season hits Chiefs ‘between the eyes,’ a look back and glance ahead."