Laddie Morse
Maybe the 2024 Kansas City Chiefs have their best offense in the Patrick Mahomes era… and… maybe the Kansas City Chiefs have their best offense ever. Yes, I was around to watch the 1969 Chiefs play in Super Bowl IV when they beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-to-7 and it was somewhat of a vindication for losing the very first Super Bowl against the Green Bay Packers, 35-to-10. Of course, those were the days when the Super Bowl wasn’t called the Super Bowl… and long before the Halftime Show was an event to tune in for all on it’s own. The question is: what is the best offense the Chiefs have ever had?
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While KCSN is purporting that the Chiefs 2024 Offense is the best in the Patrick Mahomes era, that has me wondering if this is the best O ever during the Chiefs entire history. Here’s Farzin Vousoughian of The Chiefs Zone as he spells out how this offense will be improved (0:56):
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Sure, this offense will be majorly improved, but will it be the best the Chiefs have ever put on the field… or even on paper? I can recall the offense of 2002 when the offensive line was: Wille Roaf, Brian Waters, Casey Wiegmann, Will Shields, and John Tait. I bring them up first because they — those five starters — are perhaps the best Offensive Line the Chiefs has ever known… as well as the best the NFL has ever known.
Yes, we had Tony Gonzalez at Tight End, and Priest Holmes at Running Back, with Trent Green at quarterback and wideouts of Eddie Kennison and Johnny Morton plus Dante Hall as a returner… but that OL was the best ever, hands down. The reality is, the 2002 Chiefs finished 8-and-8 and ended up in 4th place in the AFC West (which was last place because the Seahawks left the AFC West after the 2001 season).
Does the Chiefs 2002 OL make that year’s O the best offense the Chiefs have ever had? Pretty darn close to it in my book. However, this year, the additions of Wideout’s Marquise “Hollywood” Brown and Xavier “Zay” Worthy along with TE’s Travis Kelce and rookie Jared Wiley, while ejecting Marquez Valdes-Scantling, help this current team endlessly.
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Some fans may recall 1993, the year the Chiefs added both QB Joe Montana and RB Marcus Johnson, and yes, that was a very good offense — good enough for me to buy season tickets — but that was the year the Chiefs finished 11-and 5 then lost in the AFC Championship game to the Houston Oilers, 30-to-13. For Wideouts that year, the Chiefs had: Tim Barnett, Willie Davis, J.J. Birden, and Danan Hughes and besides Allen they had RBs of Harvey Williams, Todd McNair and Kimble Anders. Plus, they had a backup QB of Dave Krieg. That team was led by HC Marty Schottenheimer, but they just weren’t good enough to make it over the hump.
The 1969 Super Bowl IV Champion Chiefs offense was good enough to win it all, 23-to-7. I know it may not be fair to compare an offense from that era with an offense from this era, but since they won it all, that makes it worth mentioning. With Lenny Dawson at QB, and Mike Garrett and Ed Podolak at RB with, Otis Taylor as their main Wide Receiver, that offense was as good as any in that day and age. Period.
Note: as a Chiefs fan for many years, the 1971 season through the 1990 season was a long dry spell of mostly losing and even when the Chiefs tried to draft a first round QB, it just didn’t work out.
However, the 2024 Kansas City Chiefs Offense has a chance to be as good as any in the Patrick Mahomes era… as well as any in Chiefs history, no matter what era you’re talking about. The main difference is Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes may go down as the best QB ever and with GM Brett Veach handing him more offensive tools to work with, while maintaining a Super Bowl winning defense, which has a claim on being the best in the league in 2023… it’s easy to see why KCSN may be right about this grouping of offensive players.
With Patrick Mahomes at QB, the players he’ll be throwing to include: Rashee Rice (who will be serving a suspension to start the season), Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy — the new and reigning king with the title of, “the fastest man in the NFL” — and TE Travis Kelce — not only the best TE ever, but now the highest paid TE ever — along with RB Isiah Pacheco who was 65 yards away from gaining one-thousand, and he did it in 14 games in 2023. Let’s not forget that Xavier Worthy ran a 4.21 40 yard dash and…
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Here are some Travis Kelce highlights:
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The Chief also drafted a new TE, by the name of Jared Wiley, to give Travis Kelce a break now and then and hopefully he can learn from the master before the master departs… in a few years (we certainly don’t want to rush things). This is from Matt McMullen, the Chiefs beat reporter:
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There was nothing like watching the 1969 Chiefs call that famous play — 65 Toss Power Trap — that today has become redundant in it’s usage (1:29).
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There was also nothing like seeing Joe Montana hit Wille Davis for a TD in a Monday Night Game, early 1994. It didn’t hurt either that we beat John Elway that night too (0:51):
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I’ll also never forget seeing RB Priest Homes cross the goal line with his hands outstretched (0:24 seconds in) as he scored one of his many TDs (0:44):
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In January of 2020, the Chiefs were playing in the AFC Championship game in Arrowhead and trying to get back to their first Super Bowl in 50 long seasons. Not the longest drought but one of the longest to be sure… and when Patrick Mahomes hit Sammy Watkins, I nearly cried (0:43):
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The 2024 Chiefs of course have to put it all together.
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However they have plenty of time to work things out.
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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne
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