This past week, I dusted off an old framed picture that I have. It's an enlarged Sports Illustrated cover from November 17th, 2003 with a picture of a dropped-back Trent Green in the background. The immortalized words: "The Chiefs Perfect (So Far)".
That was the season that the Kansas City Chiefs went 9-0 for the first time in franchise history. It would be the first out of three times (so far). One of those times now includes this year. The other time was 2013, head coach Andy Reid's first season with the team.
Unfortunately, just like the previous two 9-0 years, this current undefeated dream came to an end in Week 10, this time thanks to a loss to the Buffalo Bills. It was a good run while it lasted, but there's still a lot of football left to be played.
This single loss has seemed to vindicate the haters who wanted to claim that the Chiefs were more lucky than good. I still don't think that's true, but this seems like a good opportunity to look back and compare this Chiefs team with those of yesteryear who found themselves in a similar spot.
As I mentioned above, this team was captained by quarterback Trent Green and coached by Dick Vermeil. I was only in elementary school at the time, so I don't recall much about the season itself, only that it felt very cool that the Chiefs were undefeated.
Looking at the stats, it's not hard to see why they went 9-0. They regularly won their games by multiple scores thanks to an incredible offense. Trent Green became the first Chiefs quarterback to achieve a perfect passer rating that season (against the Lions), and Priest Holmes broke the season single touchdown and rushing touchdown records with 27. Can you imagine a player scoring 27 rushing touchdowns in this day and age??
The team's perfect record that year came to an end with a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. It would be one of only three losses for the team that year. Even with a 13-3 record, there was a noticeable problem with this team: its defense.
The problem became further evident when the playoffs came around and the Chiefs lost their first matchup against the Peyton Manning-led Indianapolis Colts in what has infamously become known to Chiefs Kingdom as the "No Punt Game".
The second 9-0 season in franchise history came ten years later. That one I remember more clearly, entering my freshman year of college. It was a year of new beginnings, personally and for the Chiefs. They had just hired Andy Reid and acquired quarterback Alex Smith.
Just getting more than two wins would have been an improvement over the previous year, so when the team jumped out to a 9-0 start, things were looking pretty awesome. Chiefs fans hadn't had that much to celebrate since, well, 2003 probably. The problem that year is that even as they piled up wins, those Chiefs didn't feel like a good team.
Those feelings became reality when the perfect season ended, again in week 10, with a loss to the Denver Broncos. Those Broncos were led by none other than Peyton Manning, the same Peyton Manning who had ended the previous 9-0 iteration's season a decade earlier.
Despite their strong start, the Chiefs stumbled to an 11-5 finish that year and found themselves playing their first playoff game against... the Indianapolis Colts. Yes, the same team that also ended the previous 9-0 iteration's season a decade earlier.
Of all the playoff losses in franchise history this is one of the most memorable (and painful). The Chiefs dominated the Colts in the first half before letting Andrew Luck lead one of the greatest comebacks in NFL playoff history. I still remember my dad calling me immediately after that 45-44 loss completely incredulous that a team could collapse that poorly.
Random fun fact about that season, the Chiefs only lost to three teams that year. They just happened to lose to all three of them twice.
So how does this year's team that went 9-0 compare to those two teams? Well just based off the eye-test, this team certainly seems better. Perhaps the fact that this team is coming off back-to-back Super Bowl wins and has the greatest quarterback on earth helps with that, but I am pretty confident that any Chiefs fan would pick this crew in a matchup against either of the past two 9-0 teams.
Some things stick out to me that I think back this up. First, this offense is different. Is it as good as that 2003 team? Probably not, but I don't think anyone would pick against a Patrick Mahomes-led team taking on the best Trent Green-led team (sorry Trent). The Chiefs aren't blowing anyone out this year, but they are incredibly efficient.
Second, this year's defense is worlds better than either the 2003 or 2013 Chiefs. If this team loses in the playoffs, I am pretty sure it won't be because the defense let them down. Consider that their loss against the Bills was the first time in two years that the Chiefs defense had allowed an opponent to score more than 28 points. There will not be another "no punt game" or letting the other opponent come back after being down four scores.
It is a bummer that the Chiefs weren't able to extend their franchise-best past 9 weeks once again, but I'm not sweating it yet. I don't think there is any doubt this was the best 9-0 team the Chiefs have had (so far).
