What it means to be a part of Chiefs Kingdom

In the past couple of years, the Chiefs Kingdom has grown exponentially, thanks in part to Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his part in leading us to back-to-back Super Bowls and a victory in one of the two.

Plenty of new faces have joined the bandwagon, but the newbies on the squad don’t fully understand what it truly means to be a part of the Chiefs Kingdom. It hasn’t always been glorious comebacks and amazing quarterback play. To be a true part of the Kingdom, you have to promise to stick by this squad through thick and thin, and in the past, it seemed like there was a lot more thin to go around than thick.

Until a magical day eight years ago, January 5^th, 2013, when the Chiefs hired Andy Reid to be the next head coach, coming off an abysmal 2-14 season. Coach Reid immediately turned the Chiefs’ fortunes around by acquiring Alex Smith and leading the team to a 9-0 start for just the second time in franchise history.

They finished the season with an 11-5 record, a sign that things were headed in the right direction for the Chiefs and their kingdom. They still could not get it done when it mattered most, the playoffs. They couldn’t get a playoff win for 23 seasons straight, despite numerous opportunities.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like we were the Lions or Browns, who would’ve been overjoyed to even make the playoffs, we had multiple opportunities to put this abysmal streak to rest but couldn’t seem to get over the hump for whatever reason. When we finally did get a playoff victory in the 2015 wildcard game against the Texans, we snapped a then NFL record eight-game playoff losing streak. This was a sign of things to come; we had a future Hall of Fame head coach and in two years would draft the quarterback of the future, Patrick Mahomes. 

This is where the Chiefs Kingdom expands exponentially in numbers, and for good reason. No one has seen anyone like Patrick Mahomes before, the things he does on the football field have never been seen before. Every game he plays in, he’s likely to do something that no one has ever done; the way he plays the game is truly amazing. The last two seasons have been like a dream to the long suffering Chiefs Kingdom, and while we certainly welcome all comers with open arms, barbeque, and wild tailgates, it’s hard to shake the feeling that we suffered for these few seasons of glory.

Chiefs Kingdom is truly that, a kingdom. It knows no boundaries, no arbitrary borders that seem to rule the rest of the free world. The Kansas City Star wrote an article sharing stories from international Chiefs fans, showing just how far the Chiefs Kingdom stretches, and the Kingdom is truly multinational.

From Ricardo Ribiero based out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil who got his start watching the Chiefs when the 49ers traded his favorite player Joe Montana to the Chiefs in the early ‘90’s all the way to Takao Matsui in the “Land of the Rising Sun,” Kawanishi, Japan who became of a Chiefs fan during the spring of 2017, the Chiefs Kingdom truly knows no borders or age restrictions.

And this, at its core, is what makes the Kingdom great; there are no restrictions on who can join. All you need is a love of barbeque and an even stronger love of amazing football. Come one, come all, because the Chiefs Kingdom is taking all comers!