National Football League
Kansas City Chiefs
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Chiefs History
In 1959, a Texan by the name of Lamar Hunt had been trying to gain a pro football team but was rebuffed at every turn. Frustrated, Hunt formed the American Football League with 6 teams to include Dallas, New York, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles and Minneapolis.
In 1960, his own team, The Dallas Texans, were in direct competition with the NFL Expansion Team the Dallas Cowboys and he found that even though the team had a strong identity and following some thought the AFL inferior to the NFL. The team averaged 24,500 fans in their first season which led the league though the team finished 2nd with an 8-6 record.
The 1961 season ended with an uneventful 6-8 season but in 1962, the team bounced back to finish with an 11-3 record and the AFL Western Division Title. The team the AFL Championship game against their in-state rivals the Houston Oilers and the two teams battled to a 17 all tie taking the game into overtime. In the Overtime period, neither team could score which led to the first ever double overtime game in Pro Football History. Finally, the Texans end the day in victory as PK Tommy Brooker nails a 25-yard FG for a 20-17 victory and the AFL Title. Shortly after the game, Lamar Hunt decides to move his team to Kansas City as they didn’t want to compete with Dallas and Kansas City had no professional football.
The team opens the 1963 season as the Defending AFL Champions in Kansas City. In the draft, the team would pick up Buck Buchanan, Ed Budde and Bobby Bell who would play an unprecedented 526 combined games for the chiefs. The ’63 season would also be marked by tragedy as another rookie, Stone Johnson, sustains a serious spinal cord injury during a preseason game against the Oakland Raiders. Johnson died 10 days later at the age of 23. Although Johnson was never officially on the teams roster, the franchise retired his jersey. The team would only manage a 5-7-2 record.
The following season, the team manages a 7-7 record but manages to snag Gale Sayers in the first round of the draft. Sayers would eventually sign with the Chicago Bears and never play for the Chiefs. Late in the season, RB Mack Lee Hill would go down with a knee injury. Days later, as he was undergoing knee surgery, Hill passed away on the table leaving the franchise to grieve yet again for another of its young teammates. Hill’s Jersey number 36 was retired.
The 1966 season saw the Chiefs draft RB Mike Garrett and after a game with the Buffalo Bills, made an on the field trade with the Bills for Kicker Mike Mercer for a 5th round pick. The move enabled the Chiefs to solidify a weak position. The team finishes with an 11-2-1 record setting up a rematch with the Buffalo Bills for the AFL Championship game. The Chiefs Head Coach Hank Stram utilized a smothering defense and a great I-formation offense to whip the Bills 31-7. Meanwhile, Team Owner Lamar Hunt successfully negotiated with the NFL to have a World Championship game taking the Champion from the NFL against the Champion of the AFL that would become known later as The Super Bowl.
Super Bowl I matched the AFL Champion Chiefs against the NFL Champion Green Bay Packers. The Packers would strike first and would take a 14-10 lead into the half time. Disturbed by his teams lack of drive, Head Coach Vince Lombardi was concerned and took his team into the locker room to tweak some things and pressed his team for better execution. In the other locker room, KC Head Coach Hank Stram was pleasantly pleased with his teams performance as his team actually outgained the packers in total yards (181-164) and would later say “I honestly thought we would come back and win it.”
In the second half, the Packers defense would take over and allow the chiefs offense to cross midfield only one time for the rest of the game while the offense would score 21 points in the half to end the game with a blowout of the AFL Champions 35-10.
Two years later, in the 1969 season, and ten years after the formation of the AFL that Chief Owner Lamar Hunt helped to create, a league that nobody thought would last, merged with the NFL following the1969 season. Up until then, only one team, the New York Jets, who beat the NFL Champion Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl III, were the only AFL team to win the Super Bowl. Following a remarkable 11-3 record the Chiefs again found themselves in the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl IV took place in New Orleans and matched the Chiefs against the heavily favored Minnesota Vikings. The Chiefs would stun the Vikings and take a 16-0 lead into halftime. Coming out in the 2nd half, the Chiefs allow only one touchdown by the Vikings in the 3rd quarter as QB Len Dawson hits WR Otis Taylor who catches the ball on the 41-yard line, broke two tackles and rumbled into the end zone for their only score.
The final score for the final AFL-NFL Championship game was the Chiefs 23, the Vikings 7.
The decade of the 70’s saw the Chiefs make the playoffs one more time in ’71 with a 10-3-1 record but failed to advance into the AFC Championship game. The rest of the decade the franchise was on a downslide and failed to make the playoffs again until the 1986 season.
The ’86 season saw a slight resurgence of the Chiefs who got off to a fast 7-3 start. They would level out losing their next 3 games but would recover to finish the season Coach John Mackovic, in his 3rd season, finally put enough pieces together and his team earned a tough AFC Wild Card birth with a 24-19 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Chiefs would match up against the New York Jets at the Meadowlands but fell way short as the Jets whipped the Chiefs 35-15. Coach Mackovic resigns at the end of the season to take the Head Coaching Job at the University of Texas.
The 90’s saw a resurgence of the Chiefs as they would win their division 6 out of 10 seasons but would only make it to the AFC Championship Game once in 93 where they were eliminated by the Buffalo Bills.
In the new millennium, the Chiefs would acquire Hall of Fame Coach Dick Vermeil as well as RB Priest Holmes who won Offensive Player of the Year in 2002. 2003 saw the team again capture the Division Championship but could go no further into the playoffs. That was the last year the team made it into the playoffs. Head Coach Dick Vermeil stayed on until the end of the 2005 season, where he hand picked his successor, Herm Edwards. Coach Edwards would stay on until the end of the 2008 season
KC Chiefs Chairman Clark Hunt has hired former Arizona coach Todd Haley to take over the club in the upcoming 2009-10 season.
The Chief have made the playoffs 14 times in 46 seasons. They have won their Division 6 times (1966, 1971, 1993, 1995, 1997 and 2003), they have won the Conference Championship 3 times (1966, 1969 and 1993)). The team has won the Super Bowl 1 time (1969)
The Chiefs have 14 Hall of Famer on their Rosters: Marcus Allen, 1993-1997, Bobby Bell, 1963-1974, Buck Buchanan, 1963-1975, Len Dawson, 1962-1975, Lamar Hunt (Owner) 1960-2006, Willie Lanier, 1967-1977, Marv Levy (Coach) 1978-1982, Joe Montana, 1993-1994, Warren Moon, 1999-2000, Jan Stenerud, 1967-1979, Hank Stram (Coach) 1963-1974, Derrick Thomas, 1989-1999, Emmitt Thomas, 1966-1978, Mike Webster, 1989-1990.
Team Awards for the Chiefs include 1 Coach of the Year (1968 Hank Stram), 3 Defensive Rookie of the Year Awards, (1984 Bill Maas, 1989 Derrick Thomas and 1992 Dale Carter) and 1 Offensive Player of the Year (2002 Priest Holmes)
The Chiefs have retired 8 jerseys: #3 Jan Stenerud, #16 Len Dawson, #28 Abner Haynes, #33 Stone Johnson, #36 Mack Lee Hill, #63 Willie Lanier, #78 Bobby Bell and #86 Buck Buchanan.
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