Well, that was fun. What started as a regular Sunday ended up a party, and what started as a football game ended up a beatdown. This one never really took shape as a game, but it quickly became a classic…for CHIEFS fans. Let’s take a trip down memory lane.

The 2020 Season: Starting with October 11

It was a lovely October in Kansas City. The Covid pandemic limited the attendance to 18% of Arrowhead’s capacity. An undefeated Chiefs team welcomed a 2-2 Raiders team for another installment of the rivalry dating back to the earliest days of the AFL. The Chiefs are knee deep into the Run It Back tour and looking to make it 5 in a row vs the Raiders. At the end of the 1st quarter the K.C. holds a 7-3 edge, but a 3 TD pass performance and 2nd from Derek Carr sends the teams to the locker room tied at 24. The 3rd quarter is all defense, but another strong 4th sends the Raiders home victorious. Can’t win ’em all. This took the record vs the Raiders to 12-3 in the Andy Reid Era, so you can win most of them. Oh well, Raiders go home, and the Chiefs go to Buffalo.

Except the Raiders didn’t go home, they went to the parking lot. They got in the bus and took victory laps. This led a frustrated Reid to tell reporters, “They won the game, so they can do anything they want to do. That’s not our style.” The Chiefs went to Vegas in November for week 11 and returned the favor winning 35-31. After that the Chiefs focus was off the Raiders and back to running it back, because lions don’t compare themselves to men. Quick side note check out that video of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Forward to :58 to see the quote. He is one of the most interesting sports figures, and it 100% serious in that comment. Pure swagger. The Chiefs made another Super Bowl and the Raiders raidered away another season.

Table Set

This past Sunday was a nice day in Milwaukee. People often ask me about living here, and the questions are usually about the winter weather. My answer is always something to the effect of preferring to deal with the snow to get the summers over having to survive the humid heat of most of the South to have a mild January. Summers in Milwaukee feature a non-stop onslaught of festivals and concerts, and I will certainly be writing about them next summer when the football cupboard is more bare. Wisconsin is still in the Midwest, so the weather is drunkenly sporadic. That nature gives you days like Sunday where it flirted with 40, for the record: that’s golf weather for me.

I have kept a pretty hectic schedule this year, so having a wide-open day is rare. This one featured a lack of responsibility beyond cheering on the Chiefs. My kids were at a party with family friends for the day, my wife had a work shift that started during the 2nd half of the game, but she watched the first half at our watch party. I hit the Brookfield, WI Buffalo Wild Wings 10 minutes before kickoff, caught up with the group, got my first of many beers, and started my usual game day email exchange with other Arrowhead Kingdom folks. I expected a win but expected a close game from a Raiders team clinging to playoff hopes after a 3-0 start.

Shots Fired

Then it happened. The cameras focused on the middle of the field, and the announcing crew drew attention to the Raiders having a pregame huddle on the 50 yd Arrowhead logo. This is the equivalent of:

Biting your thumb at someone if you are in a Shakespeare play
Speaking down on someone’s mother
Peeing in someone’s front yard
Driving around their parking lot after winning a game to go 3-2
OR… GOOFING ON SOMEONE ELSE’S LOGO

What started as a mild email exchange had me send this to my crew: These A holes are on the logo. Blowout is in order. And, oh, was I right. The CHIEFS were already on emotional high alert giving their hearts to teammate L’Jarius Sneed. They really did not need bulletin board material from the Raiders to get up for this game. First snap of the game Carr hands it off the Jacobs, Jarran Reed slams Jacobs to the ground, Mike Hughes picks up the football, and Chiefs go up 7-0. The offense stalled their first drive, and the Raiders give the ball back at 10:49 left in the 1st quarter. That was the last time this was a game.

Plain, Total Joy

This game was a blast. I cannot recall that amount of smiling at the Chiefs dominance and laughing at the Raiders ineptitude from another whole game. The 3rd and 48 was funny, but that was a few minutes. This was pure, incredible ridiculousness that NFL parity is designed to prevent. The beer flowed, the game went on, and a question popped up: what’s the biggest blowout, and are we on that path? This led to some quick Google searching and social media posting, and this added to the fun. The short answer about the path is no. A regular season win over a losing team will never top 73-0 in an NFL Championship game in 1940. The History Channel wrote about that one, haha. Plus, it would have required Reid to either run up the score, which is mean, but justified against this team, or numerous D scores.

However, it is also dumb to rack up extra, unnecessary plays on the stars to further humiliate a team whose existence is generally already humiliating. Remember, lions don’t compare themselves to men, and playing stupid games wins you stupid prizes. The Raiders held their turnovers to 5 and I have to admit, that was not typed with a straight face. This was a great Sunday, and it followed a great Saturday.

The Kansas-Missouri border war basketball game started back up after almost a decade and the good guys won in blowout fashion in that one too –> ROCK CHALK!! Watching two teams I love destroy bitter rivals in the same weekend made the sports experience quite relaxing, and that was welcome. It also prompted some more research on crooked victories.

Blowouts: Research

My two favorite articles I found for blowout countdowns are this top 25 Super Bowl Era and this college football top 50. Here are my favorites in the order they appear:

1966: Chiefs 56, Broncos 10 – the Raiders are the rivalry, but the Broncos are the team I truly hate. This was the first Chiefs dynasty annihilating Denver on their home field.
2004: Chiefs 56, Falcons 10 – this is a game I remember well. The Chiefs were a middling team that finished 7-9, and I expected a beating from the Mike Vick led Falcons, who would end up in the NFC title game. It was a beat down, but it was the Falcons on the business end of it. Priest Holmes and Derrick Blaylock combined for 8 TDs and over 300 yards rushing.
2002: Chiefs 49, Cardinals 0 – man, those Vermeil Era teams could put up points.
2014: Rams 52, Raiders 0 – do the circumstances really matter?
1987: NCAA vs SMU – this was the SMU death penalty. I added this because it made me laugh. It made me laugh and while I have no connection to SMU, and anyone who does finds this anything but funny.
1916: Georgia Tech 222, Cumberland 0 – haha, WHAT?!?! I had to do some more digging into this one.

That 1916 Game

Okay, this was some fun reading, and apparently there is a book too.

Cumberland University of Lebanon, TN is an NAIA team presently, which is me simply stating a fact and noting they are still a school and athletic program. The college game was significantly smaller in the early 1900s, so them playing Georgia Tech, and currently a NCAA D1 school, was not out of the ordinary or unfair. The story started with Cumberland beating Georgia Tech 22-0 in baseball in 1915. The issue was the Cumberland team fielding a team that included pro players. That was not cool even back then, and it angered John Heisman — who later has some trophy named after him — and it angered him something fierce. He was out for blood and revenge.

The other fun wrinkle is that Cumberland was so bad in football they shuttered the program after their 1915 season. They neglected to tell Tech, the schedule was made, and Heisman insisted the game go on (or Cumberland pay $3,000 to cancel). A guy named George Allen, who had quite the political career, was behind the baseball game, and consequently the default coach of the football team for this game. He grabbed 13 others, which mainly consisted of his Kappa Sigma Fraternity brothers, and headed to Atlanta for the beating. Cumberland had -43 rush yards, 15 TO, and started punting on first down. Tech had 978 rush yards, 0 pass attempts, and 32 TD.

You just can’t make this stuff up. I still think the Bears 73, Redskins 0 in the 1940 NFL Championship game is the biggest actual blowout.

Chiefs Game Projections

I still expect the Chiefs to win out:

Week 15 @ Chargers: the D will give Herbert fits, and Mahomes will be up to the challenge of putting 30 on the board. WIN
Week 16 vs Steelers: the Steelers have made a recent habit of digging a big hole with bad offense and worse turnovers, and then turning it on in the 2nd half to win (Baltimore) or get close (Vikings). The first trend will follow the second will fizzle as the Chiefs win big. WIN
Week 17 @ Bengals: the Bengals are an inconsistent team, but one with playoff ambitions. This is the biggest trap left on the schedule, and the win will be narrow. WIN
Week 18 @ Broncos: the Broncos are obviously frustrated by their recent form against the Chiefs, and by recent I mean majority of a decade. They will want to win this one for pure pride. The issue for Denver is the single BYE. Reid and Co. will want the #1 seed and will only be able to rest starters if it is locked up or impossible. I see neither of these in play, so the Chiefs will play to win. They will also win. WIN

AFC Playoff Teams

Patriots: I have them winning out as well.
Chiefs: which means this is the best-case scenario, and still a path to hosting the AFC Championship again.
Titans: losses to the 49ers and Dolphins will pull them down.
Ravens: someone has to win the North and their 10 wins do it.
Chargers: they win all 3 after the Chiefs game to be the best wild card team.
Bills: they take care of all non-Patriot business to secure a playoff berth.
Colts: winning AFC games gets them the nod to be a dangerous matchup for KC.

Josh Kingsley — ArrowheadOne

Follow on Twitter: @mkechiefsfans

If you are viewing this in Apple News and would like to join the Discussion, [GO HERE.](http://arrowheadone.com/chiefs-a-nice-calm-blowout/#disqus_thread)