Chiefs Kingdom: The Official Story of the 2019 Championship Season

Opening kickoff at Arrowhead Stadium, Nov. 3, 2019.

Travis Kelce during pregame introductions at AFC Championship Game, Jan. 19, 2020. 

The Chiefs defense takes a break during the 28–10 win over Oakland, Sept. 15, 2019. 

Damien Williams scores the Chiefs’ first touchdown in AFC Divisional Playoff Game, Jan. 12, 2020. 

Patrick Mahomes prior to the Chiefs game with Houston, Oct. 13, 2019. 

Front cover: Chiefs’ offense huddles during Sept. 22, 2019, game against Baltimore at Arrowhead Stadium. 

Chiefs Kingdom copyright © 2020 by 24/7 Publishing LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews.

Andrews McMeel Publishing

a division of Andrews McMeel Universal

1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106

www.andrewsmcmeel.com

ISBN: 978-1-5248-6478-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020939520

Editor: Jean Z. Lucas

Art Director: Spencer Williams

Production Manager: Carol Coe

Production Editor: Dave Shaw

Digital Production: Kristen Minter

Photography: Steve Sanders, team photographer Kansas City Chiefs.

Additional photography: Jim Berry, Andrew Mather, Ben Green,

Chris Donahue, Sam Lutz, Cassie Florido, Evan Sanders, Aaron Sprecher.

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For those who will

always remember

February 2, 2020

. . . and January 11, 1970

Foreword

by andy reid

I still remember the day I realized I was going to become the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. It was January 2, 2013, in a conference room inside the Philadelphia airport. I’d recently been fired by the Philadelphia Eagles, but I knew I wanted to coach again.

The Chiefs were one of the teams that were interested in interviewing me, and Clark Hunt showed up with a good portion of the front office. I’d always held the Hunt family in high regard; my wife, Tammy, had gotten to know Norma Hunt during our time in the league, and I’d felt for a while that if I ever went somewhere else, the Chiefs would be one of the teams I’d be interested in, because of the family and the way they go about business. Also, my friend Dick Vermeil—revered in both Philadelphia and Kansas City—raved about his time coaching the Chiefs.

During the interview that day, it became clear that Clark and I wanted the same things, and could forge a good working relationship. The conversations just kept going; two hours turned into four hours, and four turned into six, and the interview wound up lasting nine hours. By about hour seven I was comfortable enough to call my wife and say, Listen, I think we’re a pretty good way along here, and this sounds like it’s going to be the right place.

I already knew about the Chiefs’ fan base and Arrowhead Stadium. In the late ’80s and early ’90s, while I was on the staff at the University of Missouri, I’d drive up from Columbia to spend time with the irascible Howard Mudd, Marty Schottenheimer’s offensive line coach for his early Chiefs teams. Everything about the gameday experience there was terrific: the stadium was clean and classy, the crowd was loud and supportive, and the people were incredibly friendly. You could tell that football was an important part of the community.

Coaches are teachers but they also need to learn themselves. By the time I got to Kansas City in 2013, I was older and more experienced. I was not quite as rigid as I had been in Philadelphia. I was pretty stern at the beginning of my time there, and had been a little more standoffish with the media. But as the team grew, I grew with them, and by the time I took the job in Kansas City, I had walked in those moccasins before.

So I was probably more relaxed, but I still kept high expectations for the team. We were fortunate that there was already a good core of leaders on the team—people like Eric Berry, Derrick Johnson, and Tamba Hali. And their desire to win was clear; the message I got from those players was, Just tell us what we need to do, and we’ll do it.

So we all went to work. I felt like we needed a quarterback here, and I’d always been a fan of Alex Smith, from the time he was in college. I felt he would get us going and competing for championships. He had the talents you want in a quarterback, but also the personality. He was the ultimate professional: the hardest worker, always in the best shape, and the smartest guy we had, and he brought it every day. He’s a good-looking guy, too, but amazingly tough underneath those blue eyes.

Right from the beginning, you could feel something special happening. Arrowhead set the Guinness Book world record for being the loudest stadium in the world in 2013, against the Raiders, and again in 2014, against the Patriots. Watching something like that on TV doesn’t really do it justice. There was a vibration on the field that I’ve never felt anywhere else, where the fans cranked it up to higher decibel levels than what they’d managed in Seattle, and the ground was shaking.

As we continued to build a perennial contender in Kansas City, one of the key components, of course, was Patrick Mahomes, about whom Brett Veach