JAN 30, 2025 | OPINION | By Seth Jahraus
Let’s get the biases out of the way. I was born and raised in Kansas City, Mo. My dad was born in Kansas City, moved to Tulsa, Okla., as a kid, and then moved back to Kansas City because he wanted to be closer to the Chiefs. He met my mom in Kansas City, so the joke in our family is that my very existence is partly due to the Chiefs. I more or less have a blood-bound contract tying me to this team.
That said, even if you aren’t a KC local or die-hard fan, I believe you can still root for this team without becoming a so-called heartless bandwagoner.
First off, I get it. I’m not asking you to stop hating the Chiefs. The team who wins (specifically, the team that wins against your team) deserves the hate. It’s part of football fandom, and I wouldn’t want to strip that from anyone.
I still hate Peyton Manning, who has become one of the most loveable faces on sports television, because of his 7-1 record against the Chiefs during his four-year tenure on the Denver Broncos. I still hate former Tennessee Titan Marcus Mariota, who has long since drifted into the back of the minds of most NFL watchers, because of his ridiculous self-pass to knock the Chiefs out of the playoffs in 2018.
I don’t want you to stop hating the Chiefs. I just want to explain a few reasons why (even secretly) you should be vying for them in the upcoming Super Bowl against the Philadelphia Eagles. I won’t be using any crazy statistics or heavy handed sports lingo — these are just some moral reasons as to why there are worse things in the world than another Chiefs victory.
1. Cities like Kansas City don’t get dynasties
Think of the biggest dynasties in sports over the past half-century, that is, sports teams who have had periods of success over several years. The top of your list probably includes the New England Patriots from 2001-2019, New York Yankees from 1996-2000, Chicago Bulls from 1991-1998 and Los Angeles Lakers from 1980-1988.
You probably could have also listed runs by the San Antonio Spurs from 2002-2008, Boston Celtics from 1980-1986 or Edmonton Oilers from 1983-1990.
If you really wanted to broaden your consideration — or if you have a soft spot for San Francisco — you could have included the Golden State Warriors from 2014-2019, San Francisco Giants from 2010-2014 and San Francisco 49ers from 1984-1989.
My point in providing an exhaustive list of historically successful teams is that the smallest metropolitan areas represented above are Edmonton and San Antonio, which both have 500,000 more people than Kansas City.
To find a dynasty with a market size similar to Kansas City, you’d have to return to the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1974-1979 or the Oakland A’s from 1972-1974. The reality is, small, even mid-sized cities aren’t producing dynasties anymore.
Smaller cities have been reserved for the “almost-dynasties,” the teams that almost made the hurdle. The Cleveland Cavaliers won the Eastern Conference Final four straight years only to be snuffed out by the Warriors in three of their championship appearances. The Buffalo Bills similarly made it to four straight Super Bowl appearances in the early 90’s with zero returns.
Over half of the teams in the NFL represent cities that fall outside of the top 15 largest metropolitan areas in the United States. It’s high time that a team rises out from flyover country, from a city known less for big corporations or movie stars and more for BBQ or automobile manufacturing. If any city’s team had to get really good, why not Kansas City?
2. Mahomes would be well on track to pass Brady
There’s nothing like a heated greatest of all time (GOAT) debate to fuel interest in a sports league. Since Lebron James’ 2016 finals run, and even much before then, the Lebron vs. Jordan GOAT debate has circled NBA sports talks ad nauseam, and it somehow continues to produce new arguments and counterpoints for every year Lebron puts up superstar numbers while Jordan’s prime fades into an era long gone.
After his Super Bowl win with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2021, against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs no less, Tom Brady solidified himself as football’s GOAT. Brady has seven Super Bowl rings, putting him well ahead of every player as well as every team in the history of the league.
With a Chiefs win on Feb. 9, Mahomes would reach four Super Bowl wins after seven years as a starter, half the time it took Brady to get there. On a graph of years to Super Bowl wins Mahomes’ trajectory would pass Brady’s.
I am not saying Mahomes has already proven himself to be better than Brady. He hasn’t, and even as a Chiefs fan blinded by recent success, I can recognize Brady’s career as monumental and one that Mahomes will most likely need to well surpass to be considered the official GOAT, especially considering Brady’s 2-0 record against Mahomes in the playoffs.
I’m also not trying to discredit the earlier part of Brady’s career. He won three Super Bowls in the first four years as a starter, and during his championship drought from 2004-2014, he still managed to put up MVP numbers while bringing his team to several AFC Championships and a few Super Bowls.
By comparing the two, I am pointing to the fact that if there were any active player to surpass Tom Brady in the GOAT conversation, it would be Patrick Mahomes. For those who are Brady supporters or for those who believe Mahomes is simply a Brady substitute, this is a moot point.
Of course you would rather have a potential GOAT on your own team, and his presence on any other team justifies your hatred towards him. But again, I’m not asking you to root for Mahomes in any capacity going forward, but on Feb. 9 he has the chance to dramatically improve his standing in the history of quarterbacks.
A generational talent like Brady followed by another generational talent like Mahomes indicates the development of the NFL and its ability to continuously produce new and exciting players. Mahomes coming away from the Super Bowl with another win would put him ahead of Brady and make the Chiefs three time back-to-back champions, a feat that hasn’t been done in the Super Bowl era.
A Chiefs win far outweighs an Eagles win considering all that hinges on the outcome.
3. The refs are bad. The Chiefs are just better
I’ll address the elephant in the room. The primary reason why people hate the Chiefs, from what I’ve heard, and what is currently circulating on social media, is because of biased officiating that seems to play out in favor of Kansas City every game.
There are bad calls, bad calls that favor the Chiefs. The officials improperly placing the ball before the first down maker resulting in a turnover for the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship game was a bad call. The roughing the passer penalty on Mahomes against the Texans in the divisional round was a bad call. These bad calls certainly helped in key situations.
But it’s important to consider that right now there is a giant magnifying glass in the sky that every fan, player and sportscaster looks through when they watch the Chiefs play. That magnifying glass is focused on every missed penalty, yellow flag and 50/50 ruling that occurs during any of their games. I’m hesitant to call it confirmation bias, but bad calls are certainly a lot more noticeable because of the narrative against the team in red.
Another thing that makes the calls seem more flagrant is that the Chiefs capitalize off of every penalty that goes in their favor. If every other team in the NFL were given a heavier hand in terms of beneficial penalties, very few would be able to maintain the success of the Chiefs.
Do penalties help the Chiefs in key games? Certainly, we’ve seen it happen many times. Is that the only reason why they’re as successful as they are? Of course not. Questionable officiating for the Chiefs gets as much hate and attention as it does because no other team in the NFL can turn those penalties into points as consistently as Kansas City.
The penalties are frustrating as an opposing fan, but if that is your only reason for rooting against the Chiefs, I’m afraid you’ve found an ineffective scapegoat that has been used since the dawn of organized sports to hate on successful teams.
4. Spite
I invite everyone to open Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) or any other social media platform and navigate to a sports news outlet. ESPN works best, but anything from the official NFL page to Sportscenter would work fine. Click on any post featuring the Chiefs, or even better, find one featuring Travis Kelce or Taylor Swift and scroll through the comments section.
What you’ll find is hate. The kind of hate that surpasses typical fan hate. A hatred that has no place in sports or anywhere else.
You’ll find misogynistic comments promoting more exclusion in football, demanding a rectification of the masculine sport they once knew to maintain their toxic obsessions with people they’ve never met in ways that are outdated at best and straight-up repulsive at worst.
The NFL fan base has expanded in recent years. Despite the negativity they perpetuate, social media apps have blown the doors open to allow football and other professional sports to become more accessible than they’ve ever been. Both dedicated and casual fans have an endless supply of player podcasts and sports show talking-heads to fit their needs. Player-to-fan engagement is at an all-time high, which now allows them to share personal opinions surrounding the game, their life and even politics in casual settings on their own terms.
Traditional football fans hate this, and the Chiefs are the most recent team to showcase it. Travis Kelce’s relationship with Taylor Swift alongside his “New Heights” podcast with his brother and former Eagles center Jason Kelce are two key examples of what traditional NFL fans hate. Both are opening up the world of football to a greater population, a population that doesn’t fit their perception of the game they grew up with. A greater fan presence in the NFL threatens their standing and the power they hold in this small part of their life they hold dear.
If the Chiefs win, photos of Kelce and Swift embracing each other will circulate online. Happy pictures of Mahomes with his wife Brittany Mahomes and their three children will make their way to every football watcher’s feed. Every hater, misogynist and gatekeeper who calls themself an NFL fan will have to wallow in the success of everything that they are hoping to snuff out.
Some of these bitter fans haven’t experienced a Super Bowl win in their entire life. All of the Swifties who root for the Chiefs by association may get their second championship in their second year of being fans. I personally find this hilarious.
If absolutely nothing else, root for the Chiefs because of spite. Root for the Chiefs because you know it will piss off the worst kinds of football fans more than anything else.