Look, I get it. There are college seniors in Missouri who can legally drink, but haven't seen a playoff win in their lifetime. Those of us who were lucky (or just old) enough to remember Montana leading the Chiefs on a playoff run have brutal memories in the years since.
We fans and the media are hung up on this concept of exorcising the Chiefs playoff demons. Give that Amateur Hour podcasts a listen, they are great ... but the focus on the past failures of the Chiefs is, with all due respect, missing the point.
The (other) AP's Dave Skretta wrote about it this week: "Of all the teams in the National Football League, few have such a woeful recent playoff history as Kansas City. Twice the franchise went one-and-done as the AFC's top seed, and on more than one occasion it's been eliminated in the most heartbreaking of fashions."
Here's my hot take of the day: Forget the past playoff failures. They mean NOTHING. There is NO curse. There never was. This is a different game, a different year, a different team and a different opponent.
"I don't think this team is carrying that weight to be honest," said Alex Smith, who put it perfectly. "Those were the other 22 years and 22 teams. This is us."
This team doesn't know or care about the past playoff losses. We shouldn't either. Paraphrasing from a sitcom I'm almost embarrassed I liked ... "It's a moo point. You know, it's like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter. The point is mooo."
The collective pain and feeling of a curse is kept alive only because of the media and fans. I don't mean to discount the feelings of either. It sucks to see the team lose in what seems to be a painful pattern. But the team doesn't share the same collective sense of historic tragedy.
"When you talk about the sea of red, man, it's real and they're passionate," Reid said of the fans. "We definitely keep that in mind. I didn't know the record -- I mean, I didn't know the whole playoff thing. But we appreciate their support. We're playing for Kansas City."
610 Sports' Danny Parkins asked 5-6 guys on the team about the playoff drought, and who was the QB for the Chiefs the last time they won a playoff game. NONE of them knew. Spencer Ware didn't even know Joe Montana was ever a Chief. The team is focused on the opponent at hand, and the guys in their locker room.
Yes, the Chiefs just lost in historic fashion to the Colts in 2013. That was the first year of Reid and Dorsey, the first year of Alex Smith and the Chiefs roster simply didn't have the depth and talent to overcome the loss of seven starters and a few key backups. That team didn't lose because of the playoff failures of prior regimes. They just got beat in the second half of that game on that day.
Each year, each NFL team is different from the prior year. Yes, some of the players and coaches carry over. In fact, the Chiefs have finally enjoyed some continuity in their third year of this regime. But each year players leave, rookies and free agents join the team and the dynamic changes.
This year, the Chiefs added dynamic playmakers and strong personalities like Jeremy Maclin and Marcus Peters. This year, they are rallying around Eric Berry in his return from cancer. This year, the Chiefs didn't let the loss of Jamaal Charles or Justin Houston to injuries derail their season (or at least they were able to get it back on track before the season was over).
This is a different Chiefs team, just as the other 45 iterations of the Kansas City Chiefs that came before them were different. Each enjoyed success and suffered through failure. Each had great players come and go and had injuries and had backups step in.
So, next time someone talks to you about how the Chiefs need to make up for 22 years of playoff failures, tell them it's a moo point. It's about THIS team, on THIS day beating THIS opponent. Nothing else matters.