Kansas City Chiefs

• Inaugural season: 1960
• Home field: Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri
• Owner: Lamar Hunt Family
• Team colors: Red, gold, white

Overview

The Kansas City Chiefs are an American football team that plays in the West division of the American Football Conference (AFC) of the National Football League (NFL). Based in Kansas City, Missouri, the franchise has enjoyed considerable fan support and on-the-field success throughout its existence despite occupying one of the smallest markets in the NFL. By the early 2020s the team enjoyed one of the highest average attendances in the league, due to both the high capacity of its home field at Arrowhead Stadium and consistent playoff contention, including multiple Super Bowl championships. In part as a result of the team's loyal fan base, Forbes valued the franchise at $4.8 billion in 2024.

The Kansas City franchise began life as the Dallas Texans in 1960 before moving to Kansas City in 1963. The team’s name was changed to the Chiefs as a result of a fan contest. The name has generated controversy, as some American Indian groups have asked sports teams to stop using imagery and names that they perceive as racist, including Kansas City's “Tomahawk chop” chant and the tendency of fans to wear American Indian–style headdresses and warpaint-inspired make-up to games. While the franchise has not attracted as much negative press as some other American Indian–themed teams, it has struggled to balance the demands of American Indian groups with the fans’ continuing desire to keep the team’s existing nickname and traditions. For instance, in 1989, the Chiefs retired the team mascot—a pinto horse called Warpaint that was ridden by a White man wearing a feather headdress—and replaced it with a costumed wolf. In 2009 the team sought to create a more sensitive version of Warpaint. This incarnation featured a cheerleader riding the horse without any American Indian paraphernalia, a change that was well received. Nonetheless, the team has continued to face problems related to its nickname, and in 2021 Warpaint was officially retired once more.

History

The Kansas City franchise was born from the frustration of Lamar Hunt, the son of a wealthy oil speculator. Unable to secure his own team from the NFL, he created the rival American Football League (AFL) in 1959, installing himself as league president. The AFL began its inaugural season in 1960 with eight teams, with Hunt owning the Dallas Texans franchise. The team was successful in its three seasons in Dallas, ultimately going 25–17 and winning the AFL’s League Championship in 1962 over the Houston Oilers in double overtime. However, the Texans struggled to compete for fans with the Dallas Cowboys, a new NFL expansion team.

By 1963, Hunt recognized the folly of having two newly established professional football teams in the same market of Dallas and elected to move to Kansas City. Hunt selected Kansas City in large part due to its relative proximity to Dallas, where he continued to live even after the team’s move. In secret negotiations with the city management, the move was contingent on the city’s ability to match the 35,000-person attendance figures the team enjoyed in Dallas. The city sent out sales agents, who sold the required 35,000 season tickets within eight weeks even though buyers were unaware of any details about the future team, except that it was an existing franchise looking to move from its present home.

Although the team struggled to a .500 overall record in its first three seasons in Kansas City, it proceeded to become the most successful of the AFL franchises. Over ten years in the AFL, the team went a league-best 92–50–5 under the guidance of head coach Hank Stram, including two more league championships in 1966 and 1969. In January 1967 the Chiefs also appeared in the inaugural AFL-NFL World Championship Game, unofficially known as the first Super Bowl, though they lost 35–10 to the Green Bay Packers. They returned to the interleague title game in Super Bowl IV, where they upset the favored Minnesota Vikings 23–7 in January 1970. This is considered the franchise's first Super Bowl win. Stram was unique among football coaches in that he never used an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, or special teams coach for the entirety of his career.

In 1970, rather than merely having their league champions play at the end of the season, the AFL and NFL elected to merge into a single league that would use the older NFL name. Although the Kansas City owners and the team’s fan base were excited at the prospect of playing local teams like the Dallas Cowboys, its strongest rivalry turned out to be with the Raiders, its old AFL conference mate in Oakland. Over the next fifty years, the two teams would become heated enemies.

The next twenty years would be immensely difficult for the team. During that stretch the Chiefs only managed two playoff appearances, in 1971 and 1986, both of which resulted in first-round losses. Among the highlights from this period was a 1971 Christmas Day game against the Miami Dolphins that became the longest game in NFL history. After more than eighty-two minutes, Miami ultimately claimed a hard-fought double-overtime win, 27–24.

This tough luck loss would become emblematic for the frustrations of the team. Over the next eighteen years, Kansas City would only manage five winning seasons, with two of those coming in 1971 and 1972 under the declining Stram. The franchise’s only playoff appearance during this dire stretch came in 1986, when the team went 10–6 and lost the Wild Card game to the New York Jets 35–15. Struggling with a deteriorating on-the-field performance, Stram eventually parted ways with Kansas City after fifteen seasons with the team. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

His successors fared little better after his departure. His immediate inheritor of the Kansas City team was Paul Wiggins, who paled in comparison to the legendary Stram and managed only sixteen victories in three and a half seasons. His last season in 1977 ranked as among the worst in franchise history, and he was relieved of his position halfway through a miserable 2–12 season. Marv Levy, who would go on to great success coaching the Buffalo Bills, was unable to turn the team around during his 1978–1982 tenure, and he, too, was fired. John Mackovic managed to break the team’s streak of playoff futility in 1986, but was fired after only four seasons. His successor, Frank Gansz, was only given two seasons, and was summarily relieved of duties in 1988 after managing only eight wins. After having had only one coach in the first fifteen years of its existence, the team managed to burn through four head coaches over the next fourteen years.

The team finally saw its fortunes change under Marty Schottenheimer. During his tenure, he achieved nine winning seasons in ten years, a feat punctuated by seven playoff appearances. Despite the renewed stability and success of the team, his failure to win playoff games ultimately was his undoing and he was fired at the end of the 1998 season. Now emboldened by heightened expectations, the franchise was again left disappointed by the succession of coaches that followed, beginning with Gunther Cunningham (1999–2000) and Dick Vermeil (2001–2005). After Lamar’s death in 2006, the Hunts assumed control of the team and rapidly moved through head coaches Herman Edwards (2006–2008), Todd Haley (2009–2011), and Romeo Crennel (2011–2012) with little improvement. During this painful stretch, Kansas City managed only three playoff berths, each ending in a first-round loss.

In 2012, former Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid took over the reins. Under Reid, the team saw renewed success and winning seasons. Reid led the Chiefs to their first playoff victory in twenty-two years with a 30–0 win over the Houston Texans during the 2015–16 postseason. They lost, however, to the New England Patriots in the divisional round. While the team did not make it past their second playoff game over the next three seasons, they secured a new franchise quarterback by selecting Patrick Mahomes at number ten overall in the 2017 NFL Draft. He was named the starter in the 2018 season and made an immediate impact, setting or matching several records and earning the NFL Most Valuable Player Award. After finishing first in the AFC West Division during the 2019 season, the Chiefs beat the Texans and the Tennessee Titans in the playoffs to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in fifty years. In Super Bowl LIV, held in February 2020, they defeated the San Francisco 49ers 31–20 to secure the franchise's second official Super Bowl title and first since the AFL-NFL merger.

The following summer, Mahomes signed a ten-year contract extension valued at $503 million, which, at the time, was the largest deal in the history of the major North American sports. The Chiefs continued to be perennial contenders over the next several years behind Mahomes and Reid. They immediately returned to the championship game following the 2020 season, though they ultimately lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9–31 in Super Bowl LV. In 2021 they made it to the AFC Championship game for a record fourth year in a row before being eliminated by the Cincinnati Bengals.

The following season, Kansas City rematched the Bengals for the AFC Championship and this time prevailed, paving the way to yet another Super Bowl appearance. They beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38–35 in Super Bowl LVII, with Mahomes earning the Super Bowl MVP Award as well as his second NFL MVP. With the 2023 season, the Chiefs managed the rare distinction of back-to-back NFL championships, winning Super Bowl LVII against the 49ers in overtime, 25–22. Mahomes once again earned Super Bowl MVP honors, and the game broadcast set a US viewership record. Though the team remained highly competitive in the 2024 season, reaching a repeat matchup Super Bowl game against the Eagles in 2025 and hoping to set a league record as the first to win three Super Bowls back-to-back, the Chiefs ultimately did not perform well at the championship, losing to the Eagles with a score of 40–22.

Notable players

Kansas City has seen several players who spent the majority of their careers with the franchise enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Among the best-known of these are quarterback Len Dawson (who played with the team from 1963–1975), who led the team’s offense during its heyday in the 1960s; cornerback Emmitt Thomas (1966–1978), who reached five Pro Bowls and was responsible for twelve interceptions in 1974; linebacker Derrick Thomas (1989–1999), who was a nine–time Pro Bowler and the anchor of the team’s defense during his tenure; and linebacker Bobby Bell (1963–1974), who was honored with nine post-season all-league honors. Tony Gonzalez (1997–2008) is regarded as one of the finest tight ends to ever play the game; he appeared in ten Pro Bowls during his Chiefs tenure and set team records for receptions (916), yards (10,940), and touchdowns (76).

Other important players include Priest Holmes (2001–2007), who in his first three years with the Chiefs was responsible for 6,566 yards from scrimmage, a number that was later surpassed by Marshall Faulk over an equivalent three-year period. Wide receiver Otis Taylor (1965–1975) was the key to the team’s passing attack during his tenure with Kansas City during the team’s early glory days.

The Chiefs' major resurgence in the late 2010s and early 2020s was spearheaded by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, widely hailed as a generational talent who set a new template for "dual-threat" quarterbacks able to both pass and run the ball with equal skill. Another crucial player during this era was Travis Kelce, a record-setting tight end drafted by the team in 2013. Speedy wide receiver Tyreek Hill (2016–21) also became a superstar with the Chiefs before being traded. Chris Jones played a key role on defense after being drafted in 2016, earning multiple Pro Bowl selections.

Bibliography

Adkins, James. “The 25 Greatest Players in Kansas City Chiefs History.” Bleacher Report, 27 May 2013, bleacherreport.com/articles/1651331-the-25-greatest-players-in-kansas-city-chiefs-history. Accessed 25 July 2019.

Deters, Jeff. Kansas City Chiefs Legends: The Greatest Coaches, Players and Front Office Execs in Chiefs History. Deters Publications, 2019.

Kansas City Chiefs, www.chiefs.com/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.

"Kansas City Chiefs." Forbes, www.forbes.com/teams/kansas-city-chiefs/?sh=6957f1b41adf. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.

"Kansas City Chiefs Franchise Encyclopedia." Pro Football Reference, www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/kan/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.

“Kansas City Team History.” Pro Football Hall of Fame, www.profootballhof.com/teams/kansas-city-chiefs/team-history/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.

Kniggendorf, Anne. “Health Experts Join the Push for Kansas City Chiefs to Stop Using American Indian Symbols.” KCUR, 8 Dec. 2018, www.kcur.org/post/health-experts-join-push-kansas-city-chiefs-stop-using-american-indian-symbols#stream/0. Accessed 25 July 2019.

Tanyos, Faris, et al. "Eagles Deny Chiefs Super Bowl 2025 'Three-Peat' with Dominant Win. Here Are the Game Highlights." CBS News, 10 Feb. 2025, www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/super-bowl-2025-chiefs-eagles/. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.