What I Saw

['Hamas' Jenkins]

There isn’t a way to quantify a loss like that. There isn’t a way to describe it someone, even if they saw it. There is only the experience of having your guts ripped out.

It feels like a fugue state. The sides of your vision get fuzzy, footsteps and breaths feel artificial, forced.

It’s easier to blame particular whipping boys, but I think that is a half-assed analysis.

Here’s what I saw:

I saw an opposing QB sandwich three interceptions around play that is as good as I’ve ever seen from any quarterback. Andrew Luck was absolutely brilliant. That wasn’t just great quarterbacking, it was all-time pantheon quarterbacking.

I saw a wide receiver we didn’t have an answer for, regardless of which corners were in or out of the game.

I saw an artificial surface that should be nuked from orbit. Head injuries on incidental contact like that is somewhat of an aberration, but that many should not happen. I wonder if they replaced the rubber filling with tungsten before the game.

I saw a defense that made a number of excellent plays yet was completely eviscerated. It’s hard to put it all on the D when they gave the offense 17 points via turnovers and won the battle 4-1

I saw an offense score 27 points on its own, and convert another 17 points via turnovers, without its best player for the entirety of the game.

I saw a rookie RB with ball security issues play his ass off as a worthy replacement for our best player.

I saw a quarterback whom many, myself included, derided as a game manager play at a level that no Chiefs QB has in the playoffs in my lifetime. Alex Smith was absolutely magnificent in that game. He did not deserve that loss. He beats almost any QB in history on any day except that QB on that day.

I saw a wide receiver, who is the second best in franchise history and who gets crapped on like he’s Jonny Morton, play a brilliant game.

I saw a free safety who shouldn’t start in the UFL commit the cardinal sin of playing that position.

I saw a head coach whose biggest knack was time management and whose offense was built upon efficiency waste all of its timeouts on offense which turned a 4^th and 11 into a 4^th and the season.

I saw a head coach go for a field goal at the one yard line when every statistical metric says you go for it. Had they converted, the Chiefs would have won the game. Had they not, they still would have had a chance to win that they had at the game’s end.

But what I didn’t see makes me feel just as shitty.

I feel bad for Jamaal, Bowe, Smith, Hali, and others, but I feel terrible for fans that had to experience that.

Sorry milkman, Reaper, OTW, ChiefsCountry, Flopnuts, Rainman, Bob Dole, and countless hundreds of others that populate this site. You didn’t deserve that experience.

I feel like the football antichrist dragged his carcass from the bowels of Hell to smite us one more time.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by jspchief

And the stats don't tell the story of his quick decisions and the use of his legs that bailed out a ton of plays today.

Smith has limitations, but he rose to the occasion today. The Chiefs lost their biggest playmaker and Smith put the offense on his shoulders.

Imagine if LeBron got knocked out of Game 7 of the finals last year and Wade went off for 44/8/6 but the Heat lost by two. Then, people blame Wade for missing two shots in the fourth despite going 16-21 from the field for the game.

That's the only comp I can muster here.

[KC_Connection]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

There isn’t a way to quantify a loss like that. There isn’t a way to describe it someone, even if they saw it. There is only the experience of having your guts ripped out.

It feels like a fugue state. The sides of your vision get fuzzy, footsteps and breaths feel artificial, forced.

It was like the football version of Game 7 of the Leafs/Bruins from last spring for me. Never thought I'd experience something like that again, but here we are.

[kcxiv]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

No. The idea of curses just makes it easier to take all of the losing. It's a narrative we tell ourselves to make the pain bearable.

not really.. Call it a curse, call it, thats who the Chiefs are. It doesnt make it any better. Quite possibly it makes it worse.

[PunkinDrublic]

Hamas I regard you as one of the smartest people on this board. I was thinking thinking that this would replace Houston losing to Buffalo as the worst chokejob of all time but this wasn't Frank Reich coming out of nowhere. I feel a tad better.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

30/46 for 378 4TDs and 0 picks.

Show me a Chiefs QB that ever played a better playoff game than that, because I don't know of one.

Christ, people are bitching about Bowe after going 8/150/1

They both played great and they are pretty much blameless.

[Coach]

I just did not agree with the FG attempt on 4th and 1 at the 1 yard line.

I would have gone for it. It is the playoffs, IMHO.

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

Yes.

Bowe beats his man and breaks two tackles on the way for a 60 yard gain that puts us at the 1 yard line.. And he's at fault.

The stupid is thick tonight...

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by Rausch

The stupid is thick tonight...

Exhibit A.

[TEX]

Originally Posted by Redcoats58

That's what I saw as well, Gray hesitated a bit so it looked like Smith overthrew him, he keeps running full stride that's a TD.

EXACTLY how I saw it too.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

35 points allowed on the last 5 possessions....think about that for a second

[bevischief]

I one of the better playoff games in a long time.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by PGM

35 points allowed on the last 5 possessions....think about that for a second

It was worse than the Cowboys choke against the Pack a couple weeks back.

Egregious.

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by Fruit Ninja

not really.. Call it a curse, call it, thats who the Chiefs are. It doesnt make it any better. Quite possibly it makes it worse.

Those are two different things. See, with a curse? The blame is cosmic. It's not our fault as fans. We happen to root for a cursed team. Nothing we can do. Sigh.

But with the mindset of this is just who the Chiefs are as a franchise? Then the blame isn't with some spiritual power. It's with humans. It's with dozens of small mistakes that together add up to poor results.

You can do everything to support a cursed team but they'll still lose. There's actually comfort in that. You know the outcome. You can more easily accept the outcome.

But if you don't believe in curses, then you know that your support is for a team that still can win, and just fails time and again to do so. The outcome is in question. Hope is alive, which means so is disappointment.

[OrtonsPiercedTaint]

Flowers is brittle
DB Smith is insecure
****a & Slewus suck

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by Bo's Pelini

Smith missed a wide open Gray and took the team out of FG range with that grounding.

Smith had a solid B+ game which I certainly didn't think he had the ability to do. He shit the bed in the end but he surprised me.