Feels Good to be on Top

[ArmchairReport]

As a life-long Kansas City Chiefs fan, not often have I gotten to say, “Kansas City leads the division.” I usually get to say, “I can’t wait until college basketball starts.” Also being a Purdue Boilermaker fan and alum, this doesn’t seem like such a terrible thing to say at the moment, however, college basketball is not the NFL. No matter how badly any given team plays year in and year out, the fans are still there, because let’s be honest, the NFL is America’s new favorite pastime. Every Sunday, it’s an event in and of itself. We go to extreme lengths to find the place we can be in the game in front of a TV screen with friends and family, or sometimes just wanting some peace and quiet at home in our living rooms. What other sport do we do that for every game? I understand that to do that for an 162 game baseball season or an 82 game basketball season would be utterly ridiculous, but NFL Sundays have become events. Being a Kansas City fan, recent NFL Sunday events have been somber and disappointing, but this season, the tables have turned.


Kansas City Pass Offense Total
So when exactly was the last time Kansas City was good? By good I mean good, not 9-7 and getting into the playoffs (2007) or 10-6 and not making it into the playoffs (2005). I’m thinking good as in, 12, 13, 14 wins in a season. The year was 2003 when Kansas City went 13-3, and although 2003 was not so very long ago, in


Kansas City Pass Offense Total
football, more than 5 years to me can feel like a lifetime. We aren’t talking the Chicago Cubs who haven’t won a World Series since 1908, or the Pittsburgh Pirates who haven’t had a winning season since 1992. We aren’t even really talking about the slew of teams that have never won a Super Bowl (Kansas City won Super


Kansas City Pass Defense Total
Bowl IV over the Minnesota Vikings) which includes perennial powerhouses San Diego Chargers and Philadelphia Eagles. It just seems as if, more often than not, a few years back, when your team may or may not have been good, feels like ages ago. This year, with Kansas City


Kansas City Rush Defense Total
starting the season 3-1 through the first 5 weeks, gives me a feeling that I haven’t felt in millennia…

Kansas City has been San Diego’s little brother in the recent past. They are the team that people have recently discounted as an automatic win. However, with a fantastic draft class including Eric Berry, Dexter McCluster, Javier Arenas and Tony Moeaki, it is amazing what youth can bring to a team. That draft, combined with drastic changes in the coaching and management staff and a snazzy new stadium renovation, Kansas City has brought new hope to its fan base, making me wish that my only Kansas City jersey wasn’t a Larry Johnson jersey so I didn’t have to wear it. Sorry Larry, but when your own fans want Todd Haley to pull you to make sure you don’t break Priest Holmes rushing record as a Chief, I think that is cause for embarrassment. It’s time to buy a classic Marcus Allen or Christian Okoye jersey.

If you ask me, Kansas City should be undefeated after this Sunday’s game in Indianapolis against the Colts. Yes, I know, you can’t expect to beat the Indianapolis Colts at home. However, one or two calls made differently, like the opening onside kick or the 4th and 2 play call that was a pass play after you had run all over the Colts defense down the field, this game is drastically different. We go into halftime tied at 6, we go up 15-12 into the 4th quarter and when Mike Hart scores on an 11-yard touchdown run, we are only down 4 instead of 10. Who knows, maybe if Dwayne Bowe doesn’t catch a touchdown pass and proceed to seemingly throw the ball out of bounds proceeded by another drop by him and then a drop by Dexter McCluster leading to a punt, we win. Alas, none of these things happened and we are sitting at 3-1.

You know what though? After only winning 4 games all of last season, I will take 3-1 through 5 weeks. Why is that? The Denver Broncos, Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers are all sitting at 2-3 and what does that make Kansas City? Top dog, and man, it feels good to be on top.