Amid the communal hyperventilation after the Chiefs rallied to beat San Francisco in Super Bowl LIV for the franchise’s first championship in 50 years, ever-animated defensive tackle Chris Jones sat at a podium and stressed basking in the moment.
That lasted approximately 12 seconds.
Then he turned both to wanting to be a Chief for life (still to be determined) and what that might entail:
“Win not only one championship: two, three, four,” he said, repeatedly thwacking his hand on a table for emphasis. “Baby, we’ve got to build a dynasty here. You know what I’m saying?”
Sure did, and sure do.
Trouble is, the meaning of the term in this context is slippery.
Perhaps the most applicable definition is the way Merriam-Webster puts it: “a powerful group or family that maintains its position for a considerable time.” It elaborates that “this sense of dynasty is often applied to a sports franchise (that) has a prolonged run of successful seasons.”
So even by strict definition, the concept is so vague as to be a matter of interpretation and debate.
One generous perspective: As the Chiefs take their first steps into the 2023 season with quarterbacks and rookies reporting Tuesday to training camp at Missouri Western State in St. Joseph, any number of measures say they’ve already made good on that.
They’ve played in three of the last four Super Bowls, after all, winning two — double the amount they’d previously won in franchise history after coach Reid’s masterpiece against the Eagles.
They’ve hosted five straight AFC Championship Games and won seven straight AFC West titles and, since Reid took over, achieved 10 straight winning seasons.
That last figure isn’t so much a bar as a telling foundation in the parity-weighted NFL, in which Buffalo is second in that category with a mere four straight winning seasons.
All great elements of a compelling portfolio for a dynastic claim.
But the profile lacks one decidedly elusive jewel to make the notion a matter of irrefutable acclamation in even the most contrarian minds: The statement it would make to become the first NFL team to repeat as champion in the nearly two decades since the New England Patriots became the last to do it in the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
Buoyed by one of the winningest coaches in NFL history, his connectivity with a savvy and relentless general manager and the truly incredible quarterback who changed everything, not to mention plenty of other vital players and reasons, the Chiefs are uniquely poised for the quest.
So much so that I fully expect them to at least make it back to the AFC title game despite all that lurks over the prospect — including the pivotal caveats of injuries and quirky bounces and officiating calls that can’t be overstated.
Think of it this way:
“When the absolute winner is declared, they’re there on the basis of being really good plus chance events,” Rich Keefe, the former director of sports psychology at Duke University and author of a book on the psychology of peak athletic performance called “On The Sweet Spot: Stalking The Effortless Present” told me as the Chiefs were seeking to repeat after beating the 49ers. “So that means the next year they could be just as good and not have those chance events work out on a couple things and then they fall back.
“So it’s not really that they weren’t as good; they just didn’t have the things going for them that they need to win.”
His words proved prophetic by the time the Chiefs reached Super Bowl LV.
Behind a ravaged offensive line, Patrick Mahomes was relegated to such instant and constant pressure that he scrambled for 497 yards, according to NextGenStats, in a 31-9 clobbering by Tampa Bay.
Given the flux that defines the game now, it’s remarkable enough they got that far.
Because there’s ample reason that what was once relatively common — the Patriots repeat was the eighth time that was pulled off (by seven different franchises) through the first 39 Super Bowls — is not just against the grain but against gravity itself.
The salary cap, revenue sharing, free agency, the inherently equitable ongoing nature of the draft (and college football feeder system) and to some degree scheduling itself have contributed to a fundamentally egalitarian climate.
Since the salary cap was introduced in 1994, a year after free agency began in earnest, only the 1997 and 1998 Broncos and the aforementioned Patriots have repeated. And since the Patriots repeated, twice as many Super Bowl winners (six) failed to even make the next playoffs as those who managed to return to the Super Bowl for an encore shot (three).
You could name a zillion other obstacles, from how hard it is to get to one in the first place to theoretically getting everyone’s best shot week-in and week-out to shortened offseasons and the possibility of complacency setting in.
Or just not being as good.
In the case of the Chiefs, let’s start with this: I believe they’ll have a better defense this season with the further maturation of so many young defensive backs, and I think the offense is going to take on some added dimensions with the further emergence of Kadarius Toney (yes, assuming he can stay healthy) and Skyy Moore in particular.
Moreover, I also don’t believe complacency will present any sort of issue at all.
To the contrary.
Not when you understand how driven Mahomes is — and his influence on all around him — and the steady hand of Reid.
In the midst of trying to repeat during the chaos of the pandemic in 2020, Reid guided the team to 14 wins in 15 regular-season games before resting starters in the regular-season finale. That reflected his ability to command focus on the grind and the journey.
“Like a washing machine going around and around and around,” he called it at the time. “Kind of eliminates those outside issues that you might think about.
“And if you exhaust yourself on that part, I think it helps you with the other stuff. The clutter that might come in.”
Meanwhile, the Chiefs also have endless incentives to win again: to move into an entirely new frontier in NFL history.
Only six franchises have claimed more than the three Super Bowls the Chiefs have won (including Super Bowl IV).
Only four coaches have won more than two.
Only four quarterbacks have won more than two.
And, of course, only one franchise has repeated this century.
End that drought this season, and the Chiefs can boast “dynasty” when it’s never been harder to do.
