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Perhaps this sounds acquainted: As soon as upon a time, the Chiefs misplaced three straight occasions in lower than a yr to a bitter (and cocky) rival. These defeats had been lowlighted by an agonizing collapse on the cusp of the Super Bowl, a loss that propelled them into the offseason.
And alongside the way in which again to that stage a yr later, they nonetheless proved susceptible to the very foe they’d face once more, with a berth within the championship sport as soon as extra on the road.
To what diploma any of that previous is likely to be prologue stays to be seen. However the circumstances that season and in the present day lend themselves to some compelling parallels, each tangibly and under the floor.
Then as now, with the Chiefs making ready to play the Bengals within the AFC Championship Sport after shedding to them thrice in a calendar yr, the matter of what it’d take to finish the pattern hovered over the 1969 AFL Championship Sport at Oakland.
To a point, that was as a lot about mindset because the superior crew.
“It was throughout city,” then-Chiefs defensive finish Aaron Brown instructed Sports activities Illustrated in 1970. “KC, the jinx membership. You don’t imagine it, however you may’t assist however give it some thought. It makes you need to fly within the face of the fates.”
With the “complete nation,” as The Boston Globe put it on the time, saying Oakland had the “psychological benefit” — 4 wins in a row total towards Kansas Metropolis — the Chiefs certainly believed in any other case.
Simply in case, although, coach Hank Stram turned to his so-called “secret weapon”: Monsignor Vincent Mackey, the team chaplain Stram dubbed “Blackbird,” who instructed the Globe he led a pre-game prayer within the locker room thusly:
“‘Expensive Lord. We don’t imagine in whammies or superstitions. However we all know we’d like your assist.’”
A method or one other, these Chiefs helped themselves to a 17-7 win that Stram afterward known as “the best victory in our historical past contemplating the circumstances in our sequence with Oakland. The more durable it’s, the extra you recognize the triumph.”
Much more so seeing the Raiders leaving Oakland Alameda County Stadium lugging the suitcases they’d dropped at the sport — a degree Chiefs legend Bobby Bell introduced up immediately as he spoke of the sport by cellphone the opposite day.
The Raiders had presumed a direct journey from there to New Orleans for Tremendous Bowl IV, to which the Chiefs as a substitute proceeded (and the place they’d stomp the Vikings 23-7).
Whether or not the Chiefs can duplicate such a flip Sunday once they play host to the Bengals and Joe Burrow in a wholly impartial occasion can’t be recognized — particularly in a matchup underscored by the thriller of Patrick Mahomes’ ongoing restoration from a high-ankle sprain.
However there are also loads of comparisons to think about from 1969-70 and the ever-simmering conflicts with the Raiders. Together with this:
Not in contrast to the bluster and thoughts video games of the Raiders within the Al Davis period, the already edgy dynamics between the Bengals and Chiefs are being stoked anew by such jabbering out of Cincinnati as cornerback Mike Hilton and others referring to Arrowhead as “Burrowhead.”
Aside from linebacker Willie Homosexual lapsing into saying “nothing” in regards to the Bengals’ offense impresses him, by clear design trash speak from the Bengals’ camp has gone unrequited … even when Chiefs coach Andy Reid’s understated response to the noise mentioned loads.
“That’s OK,” he mentioned. “We’re nonetheless going to play the sport.”
Regardless of how anybody else appears to be like at it.
For his half, Mahomes scoffed at the idea of being considered an underdog, a story in itself. And he was incredulous at any suggestion the Bengals’ three-game successful streak towards Kansas Metropolis would possibly in some way occupy a problematic place in his thoughts coming into the sport.
“I don’t understand how it will be (in) a destructive approach,” he mentioned, smiling. “I imply, you gained’t calm down. You’ll focus in much more on the small print. We’ll be able to go, and I’ll be able to go. For positive.”
Which brings us to the intersection of all this: How a lot will Sunday’s showdown be purely about matchup points … and the way a lot is it about which crew holds a psychological edge?
Because it occurs, there are quite a few associated variables to think about. So many who the psychological factor may “doubtlessly be a push,” mentioned Dan Wann, a sports activities psychologist at Murray State and ardent Chiefs fan.
Whereas previous occasions can completely “hang-out you after the actual fact and stick to you,” he mentioned, the correctly ready athlete and crew is motivated to alter the narrative and attuned to the second at hand.
Meaning the Chiefs must be anticipated to have been readying themselves with acute objective and to start the sport with distinct depth.
That is likely to be notably anticipated, contemplating Mahomes’ historical past of being at his finest when he feels underestimated and the Chiefs’ probably sense of rallying round him … and maybe even fortified by the Bengals’ babbling.
When Chiefs safety Justin Reid gave the Bengals some fodder before their meeting in December, KC coach Andy Reid scolded him. And apart from Homosexual’s ”nothing” bit, the Chiefs have had nary a provocative factor to say this time round.
That obvious technique may need a number of advantages, Wann mentioned. For one factor, the Chiefs aren’t giving the Bengals any bulletin-board materials of their very own. For one more, a few of Cincinnati’s jaw-jacking loses its affect when given no oxygen.
Don’t doubt that they are going to be inclined to speak again on Sunday, although, which is okay and good until it results in being goaded into or in any other case drawing a penalty.
Till then, you may imagine the Chiefs are getting ample juice from the Bengals … who in fact are producing their very own motivation, including with contrived outrage over such issues as logistics of ticket gross sales.
“In psychology, we at all times say that notion is actuality …” Wann mentioned. “In case you’ve satisfied your self you’ve been disrespected, that’s all that issues.”
Then there’s the matter of convincing your self to battle off any “right here we go once more” moments. Like if the sport unfolds because the aforementioned three-point losses have: into the ultimate moments or additional time, wherein a sequence of Chiefs miscues largely determined these video games.
As a result of even being the professionals that they’re, and deny it as they could, Wann mentioned, “persons are conscious of their previous occasions, proper? It’s not like you may block that out of your thoughts fully. … If you get all the way down to the final moments and if the sport remains to be doubtful, that’s when these doubts can creep in and make a distinction.”
Can. Not essentially will.
“It relies upon,” Wann mentioned, “on the athlete.”
If the Chiefs want a reference level for one option to snuff any of that out, they will look to their 1969-70 ancestors.
By cellphone, Bell recalled the 41-6 drubbing in Oakland the yr earlier than and the silent postgame locker room and flight dwelling richly described in my pal Michael MacCambridge’s e-book, “‘69 Chiefs: A Workforce, A Season, And The Start Of Fashionable Kansas Metropolis.”
“It wasn’t a great flight; I’ll let you know that,” mentioned Bell, who remembered pondering, “We mentioned that’s not going to occur once more.”
That loss, then essentially the most lopsided in franchise historical past, drove and consumed Stram and the crew within the offseason … as did the Chiefs’ 27-24 additional time loss to the Bengals final season after they botched an 18-point lead.
Just like the Chiefs struggling a 27-24 loss in Cincinnati this season, the Raiders in 1969 handed the Chiefs two of their three regular-season losses (27-24 and 10-6) alongside the way in which to an encore showdown for the AFC championship.
So …
“Yeah, it will get in your head,” Bell acknowledged.
Then he paused and added, “However that’s bought to cease.”
Easy as that or in any other case, that is the essence of the duty for the Chiefs, who face one other query amongst others: If not now … when?
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