The Derrick Thomas Monday Night Meltdown. .

[Chiefspants]

Symbolically, this game was way worse in the moment than it is looking at the performance in hindsight, or even looking at the final score.

This was the statement game the Chiefs needed on Monday night to revive their season against a vulnerable Broncos team without John Elway. It was the first time the Broncos came to Arrowhead after skating away on a controversial call on Tony G in 1997 season that was supposed to be the Chiefs year, but this time - we had Gannon here to right the ship. This was the statement game the Chiefs needed to show that this was, finally, the year the Chiefs were going to go all the way. It ended up being an undeniable statement to fans that this era of contention was over.

Instead, we got trashed by Bubba and Shannon Sharpe got the face of our franchise to meltdown by reciting the phone number of Derrick Thomas' girlfriend (among other kind things Shannon said about her).

It was a complete unraveling, and was the nail in the coffin between a 6 game losing streak suffered by who was supposed to be the best team in the NFL. It was the symbolic death of Marty's time with the Chiefs and the 90's "dynasty that never was".

I think an important thing to remember is that Arrowhead was looked at as the toughest place in the NFL during this time. The Chiefs DID NOT lose home games in the regular season. 8-0 at home was an expectation in the mid to late 90’s. I honestly think the end of the Marty era (and the ushering in of the club level era) broke that kind of rugged fandom the stadium once had. The highlight OF the 90’s was probably John Elway pleading with the refs for the crowd to quiet down. Arrowhead just hasn’t quite recaptured that since that era for one reason or another.


The Chiefs played the game they were capable of in Mile High that year and blasted the Broncos out of the gate... and still, John Elway came from behind to win it as insult to injury. I was six, I think that was the first time I ever cried at a sporting event. That game, in my honest opinion, was even worse.