NOBODY SAID THE CHIEFS WERE BAD! STOP LYING!
Now look, I was going to let this whole “nobody believed in us” thing pass because I chalked it up to the “heat of the moment” following the Super Bowl — but it’s got the stop. Since the final whistle of Super Bowl LVII, the Kansas City Chiefs have been gaslighting everyone.
It started with Travis Kelce ranting about “us against the world,” and the “haters,” and now this weird myth keeps getting more steam that nobody but Chiefs fans and players believed Kansas City could win this season.
Patrick Mahomes: “I gotta be honest, I don’t know what rebuilding means. In our rebuilding year, we’re world champs!”
— Brandon Kiley (@BKSportsTalk) February 15, 2023
This seriously feels like I’m taking crazy pills. Nobody either said the Chiefs were “done,” nor did anyone say this team was rebuilding. Sure, there may have been some questions about how the offense would retool without Tyreek Hill, and whether JuJu Smith-Schuster could be a close enough approximation on the outside to keep things rolling — but again, nobody of note said this team was “done.”
Vegas didn’t think the Chiefs were done
The Chiefs were THIRD in preseason odds to win the Super Bowl.
ESPN didn’t think the Chiefs were rebuilding
The Chiefs were No. 4 in the preseason power rankings.
Sports Illustrated didn’t count this team out
They had the Chiefs finishing 11-6. If you want to grind an axe over three wins I guess you can.
The Ringer didn’t “hate” on the Chiefs
Their NFL season preview had Kansas City winning the AFC West.
Here at SB Nation we sure as hell believed in the Chiefs
In our season preview our own JP Acosta absolutely nailed his analysis of the Chiefs, predicting that they would start slow (they did, opened 2-1 with a disappointing loss to the Colts in Week 3) — but also predicting the Chiefs would pull away from the pack and win the AFC West, which they did.
EVERYONE BELIEVED IN THE CHIEFS
Now look, you can absolutely find some outliers everywhere. Bart Scott went on First Take and claimed the Chiefs would miss the playoffs — so okay, there was some bad analysis out there. However, from top to bottom people universally believed in the Chiefs.
Were there playoff questions about the Bills potentially pulling ahead of Kansas City after the Hill trade? Sure. Was there a small contingent of people who were confident the Chargers might put it together in 2022? Absolutely. That said, this kind of widespread “disrespect” the Chiefs keep talking about since winning the Super Bowl is a figment of their imagination.
Nobody said this team was rebuilding. Everyone acknowledged Patrick Mahomes as the best QB in the NFL (and if not first, no lower than second). There really was not any grand movement towards calling the Chiefs “done.”
I know teams need motivation and love to cut out headlines during the season, but it’s done. Y’all won. Can chill a little on all this and stop gaslighting everyone.
