Chiefs’ win means first Super Bowl in 50 years
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The last time the Kansas City Chiefs played in the Super Bowl, in 1970, Andy Reid was 11 and Patrick Mahomes was 25 years from being born.
The Chiefs will finally return to the Super Bowl, 50 years after beating the Minnesota Vikings for their only NFL championship. This time, they will be coached by Reid and quarterbacked by Mahomes after their 35-24 win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game.
Mahomes was as usual the key figure for the Chiefs. He completed 23 of 35 passes for 294 yards and three touchdowns.
His running was as big a factor. Mahomes led the Chiefs with 53 rushing yards on eight carries. He scored a 27-yard touchdown that gave the Chiefs their first lead at 21-17 late in the first half.
Mahomes and the Chiefs put Reid in the second Super Bowl of his career. He coached the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl after the 2004 season. There, they lost to the New England Patriots.
The Titans jumped to double-digit leads twice in the first half. But after taking a 17-7 advantage in the first half, they didn’t score again until just more than four minutes remained. The Chiefs held Titans running back Derrick Henry to 69 yards. He had 188 yards and two touchdowns against the Chiefs in a Week 10 victory.
The Chiefs won the Super Bowl in 1970 as members of the old American Football League, then in its final season. For 50 years, time moved on without the Chiefs.
They had played in the AFC Championship Game twice before Sunday. The Chiefs lost both times, including a 37-31 overtime defeat to the New England Patriots last year.
Most of the time since their last Super Bowl appearance, the Chiefs often seemed without a coherent plan. The franchise went through a particularly dark period before hiring Reid in 2013.
In the six seasons from 2007 through 2012, the Chiefs lost 14 games in a season twice and 12 games twice. One of the darkest moments in Chiefs history came during that 2-14 season of 2012, when linebacker Jovan Belcher killed his girlfriend and then drove to Arrowhead Stadium, where he committed suicide in the parking lot of the team’s practice facility.
The Chiefs made the playoffs in six of their seven seasons under Reid but were 1-4 in the first four postseason appearances.