HOUSTON– The date Jan. 16, 1994 no longer lingers over Chiefs Kingdom after a winless drought of 20-plus years in the postseason came to a halt with the Chiefs routing the Texans 30-0.
Jan. 9, 2016; Houston; Kansas City Chiefs fans celebrate during the second half against the Texans at NRG Stadium. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
“This is better than church on Christmas,” Luke Hill, of Wichita, Kan., said of the win.
The win was a long time coming.
The diehard fans were ready to do just about anything in order for the Chiefs to win in the playoffs.
“I wouldn’t give away my first born,” said Tim Vanderpol, of Lansing, Kan., “but he knows I’m close.”
Chiefs fans were ecstatic to see the streak end.
And one of those excited fans was Dave Adam, of Wichita, Kan.
“I’ve been to eight straight losses,” Adam said. “I’m 65 and I had never seen the Chiefs win a playoff game.”
Going to every postseason appearance over the past 22 years and walking away as a fan of the losing team wasn’t easy for Adam.
“We just leave, put our heads down and leave,” Adam said of the past eight losses. “Just get out of the stadium and go home. I’m too hostile in the stadium. I’m pretty aggressive, so it carries on, but if we lost, I try to leave tactfully and get out of there.”
John Daly of North Pole, Alaska, unlike Adam, remembers attending the postseason wins of old.
He said he’s been to roughly 100 games, one of which that sticks out was Super Bowl IV.
“My dad took me to the Super Bowl when they played the Vikings,” Daly said. “Len Dawson brought us home, baby. He brought us home. Otis Taylor, Buck Buchanan, I remember all those players. It was a whole different time back then. Football’s a whole different game now.”
The win in Houston was living poetry, as the last time the Chiefs won a playoff game came a stone’s throw away from NRG Stadium in the Astrodome.
The fact that former San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks orchestrated playoff wins in 1994 and 2016 adds to the poetic aspect.
Marty McDonald, the founder of the Save Our Chiefs movement in 2012, enjoyed how it all came together.
“What’s neat about this is the last time the Chiefs won a playoff game, my dad and I were here for the game with my uncle here in Houston back when Joe Montana led us to victory,” McDonald, of Phoenix, said. “It’s kind of cool you have an ex-49ers quarterback led us to victory there. We have another ex-49er quarterback in Alex Smith playing great leading us to victory tonight.”
But just because the playoff losing streak is over doesn’t mean Chiefs fans are satisfied.
“It’s great they went to Super Bowl I and it’s great they went to Super Bowl IV, but they need to make a deep run,” Randy Moseley from Lake of the Ozarks, Mo., said.
Daly believes the Chiefs can make a run for it.
“Andy Reid’s opened up Alex Smith,” he said of making it further into the playoffs. “Give him the keys to the car and let him drive it. Let him drive it home. I believe I’m going to ride in that car with them all the way home. Absolutely.”
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Amie Just is a contributing writer for ChiefsDigest.com. Use the contact page to reach her or find her on Twitter: @Amie_Just.
