Are the Kansas City Chiefs a dynasty? That depends upon your definition of dynasty, but there’s no doubt the Chiefs have been on a run since 2018 that deserves a conversation about whether or not they have achieved dynasty status.
The Chiefs are headed to the Super Bowl again. They’ll face the Philadelphia Eagles on Feb. 12 in Super Bowl LVII. This will be KC’s third trip to the NFL’s biggest stage in four years.
They beat San Francisco 31-20 for the 2019 season title and lost 31-9 to Tampa Bay for the 2020 season championship. The Chiefs weren’t exactly world beaters before this run. Between 1970 and 2017, they played in the AFC Championship game once (1993). They’ve hosted the AFC Championship game five straight years since then and won it three times.
Read about Andy Reid: The Dynasty Creator
Let’s talk about KC coach Andy Reid. He has 21 career playoff victories –11 with the Chiefs — and trails only Bill Belichick (31) for all-time postseason wins. The Chiefs’ victory 23-20 Sunday over the Cincinnati Bengals vaulted Reid out of a second-place tie for career playoff victories with Tom Landry. Reid’s other 10 playoff wins came with the Eagles, of all people. He’s the only coach in NFL history with 10 or more playoff wins with more than one team.
Let’s talk about KC quarterback Patrick Mahomes. He has 32 career touchdown passes in playoff games, and is tied with Dan Marino for No. 8 on the all-time list. Let’s talk about KC tight end Travis Kelce, Mahomes’ favorite passing target. Kelce has the second-most career pass receiving yards in the playoffs (1,467).
Self-proclaimed GOAT Jerry Rice has 2,245 pass receiving yards in the playoffs. Kelce has caught at least three passes in 17 straight playoff games. Nobody has ever done that.
Mahomes and Kelce have connected for 13 touchdown passes in the playoffs. That trails only Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski, who teamed up for 15 TDPs in the playoffs and apparently won’t add to that figure. They’ve each retired, with Brady announcing his retirement Wednesday.
Kicks from Butker: The Dynasty Leg
Let’s talk about KC placekicker Harrison Butker, whose 45-yard field goal with 3 seconds left beat the Bengals on Sunday. He has 109 points in postseason games. That’s No. 7 on the career list. He’s only the 15th placekicker in NFL history to score at least 100 points in the playoffs.
Those are KC veterans. Let’s talk about Chiefs rookies, even though they shouldn’t be included in a dynasty discussion. Two rookie cornerbacks — Jaylen Watson and Joshua Williams — each picked off a Joe Burrow pass in the AFC Championship game. Watson’s pick came late in the second quarter. Williams had an interception on a tip drill pass in the fourth quarter.
Now let’s talk dynasty again. The Chiefs became the first NFL team to have more than one rookie with an interception in a playoff game since 1995, and the first ever since the Super Bowl began to do it in a conference championship game.
