Picture: Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire/Getty Photos
You’re by no means going to consider me once I say this, however I swear it’s true: There was a time that Tom Brady, Invoice Belichick and the New England Patriots had been America’s Staff, true underdogs that everyone I knew was cheering for. Forgive us: We had been younger, and we didn’t know.
There have been a number of causes we had been all rooting for the Patriots within the 2002 Tremendous Bowl — a want for an upset, the U2 halftime present, that we didn’t actually know Brady or Belichick but, simply common fast post-9/11 mind fog — however the main one was that we thought they had been taking down a dynasty. The Biggest Present on Turf St. Louis Rams had received the Tremendous Bowl two years earlier than and had been closely favored to take action once more, in search of all of the world like an unstoppable crew that might win titles for years to come back; they regarded just like the dynasty in ready. And after a succession of the Steelers, 49ers, Cowboys, and Broncos, we had been very sick of these. The Patriots felt like they had been standing athwart historical past, just like the little guys taking down the empire.
That is, after all, the other of what they had been. That Tremendous Bowl would find yourself being the primary of six titles Brady and Belichick would win along with the Patriots, teaming as much as grow to be probably the most storied and hated franchise in NFL historical past. The duo would ultimately break up — Brady to win yet another title with the Buccaneers, Belichick to do regardless of the heck he’s doing in Chapel Hill proper now — however they continue to be as avatars of what sports activities followers declare to dislike greater than anything: a dynasty. Sports activities followers love the toppling of a dynasty, too, which is why their breakup was so satisfying: It brings them again to earth, reminds us that they’re human, lets us fake they’re zhlubs like the remainder of us.
However the circle perpetually comes again round, which brings us to in the present day and, probably, the tip of the Patriots’ substitute dynasty. The yr after the Patriots’ last title, 2020, was the primary championship received by the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, a younger, plucky upstart crew with an endlessly ingenious and excited 24-year-old quarterback named Patrick Mahomes; his perpetual-bridesmaid coach, Andy Reid (who coached the Eagles for 14 years with out ever successful a title); and an All-Professional tight finish named Travis Kelce, who was identified extra for his yards-after-catch capability and that he’d been suspended from his school crew for smoking weed than he was for having as soon as starred on his personal actuality relationship present. They had been contemporary and new and enjoyable, largely as a result of we didn’t know they’d win two extra Tremendous Bowls within the subsequent 4 years and we’d all get sick of them too.
That is all to say: The Chiefs’ dynasty is in severe hazard and … everybody appears superb with it?
Kansas Metropolis misplaced a brutal recreation Sunday to the Denver Broncos, a crew that has handed them for first place within the AFC West, dropping the Chiefs to 5-5 on the season, the newest they’ve been .500 in a decade. The Chiefs have received 9 straight division titles, however they now face the very actual risk of lacking the playoffs totally. January video games in Kansas Metropolis have been the signature characteristic of the NFL postseason for a decade now. However you received’t see Taylor Swift in an Arrowhead Stadium luxurious field this yr.
There are a number of causes for this. ESPN’s wonderful Invoice Barnwell has an exhaustive rundown of the Chiefs’ issues, however all advised, he makes a superb case that the main distinction between final yr’s Tremendous Bowl–dropping crew and this yr’s 5-5 one is solely dangerous luck. It’s telling that the Chiefs lacking the playoffs and probably even dismantling when the season is over … doesn’t look like that large of a deal? It is potential that is the tip of the Chiefs as we all know them, in spite of everything. Reid is the second-oldest coach within the NFL and has toyed with retiring for years, and whereas Kelce could seem youngish in a pop-culture sense, he’s one of many oldest gamers within the NFL, and his physique has 14 years of tight-end mileage on it. (His numbers this yr are additionally far beneath his Corridor of Fame profession averages, although they’re an enchancment on final yr’s.) It’s extensively thought that Kelce will retire on the finish of the season; he does, in spite of everything, have quite a lot of different stuff happening. Mahomes isn’t going wherever — he’s nonetheless solely 30 — however his numbers are additionally far beneath his profession peak, and he has arguably been handed amongst quarterbacks by the Payments’ Josh Allen, the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, the Rams’ Matthew Stafford, and even (gasp) the Patriots’ Drake Maye, their 23-year-old phenom who has taken the league by storm this yr. (In additional proof that we can’t bear in mind our personal historical past, there are even individuals who think about him, the Patriots quarterback, a plucky and likable underdog himself.) The Chiefs, as we’ve got identified them, are this near ending.
However there’s not the Sturm und Drang of the tip of the Patriots dynasty, not one of the Belichick drama, no Brady storming off to win his personal championship in Tampa Bay. It simply feels … properly, regular? Can it really feel like no large deal? For all the hate of the Patriots there was on the finish, they remained extremely widespread and watchable, a dependable scores juggernaut: Folks would tune in even when they hated them — particularly in the event that they hated them — simply to root for them to lose. (Dynasties have proved fairly worthwhile on this method.) This led to a respectable concern that when that dynasty ended, the NFL would battle to interchange Brady, Belichick, and the Patriots as important characters. However the fall of the Chiefs is inflicting no such fear. The league is booming in recognition — rising, once more, one way or the other, yearly — and appears to mint new boldfaced names each week; it was simply six weeks in the past that the best-selling jersey within the sport belonged to Giants rookie Jaxson Dart. The league has all the time prided itself on being larger than any particular person participant, however now it doesn’t even appear to want ongoing year-to-year story strains: The most effective groups this yr are out-of-nowhere insurgents just like the Colts, the Broncos, and the Bears, and the league hasn’t missed a beat. That want to knock off the Patriots (or, beforehand, the Rams) drove the league’s narratives for 20 years, and it continues into the Chiefs’ period. However now none of that’s crucial. There may be all the time a brand new star as a result of there aren’t actually new stars: The one star is the NFL itself.
It’s additionally potential the reply to “Why aren’t individuals rejoicing on the finish of the Chiefs?” is straightforward: Folks don’t hate Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, and Travis Kelce almost as a lot as they hated Tom Brady and Invoice Belichick. Nevertheless it seems that the NFL doesn’t want dynasties any longer. Or, extra precisely: The one dynasty that issues is the NFL itself.
