As Kansas City Chiefs CEO and Chairman Clark Hunt delivered the franchise’s third Lombardi Trophy to its rightful place next to those earned in Super Bowl IV and Super Bowl LIV, he told fans that he was thankful that this championship title didn’t take another 50 years.
He only meant it as a joke, but it’s also a reminder that they’ve built this team into a perennial winner. Seven consecutive AFC West wins, hosts of five consecutive AFC title games, and three Super Bowl appearances in the past four seasons, including their two wins. In a season where the team traded away an All-Pro receiver and replaced several aging veterans from their Super Bowl LIV and LV runs, there were a lot of questions and doubt about whether the Chiefs’ run of success could be sustained.
“We started the season with 24 new faces and 11 of them are rookies,” Chiefs GM Brett Veach said on Wednesday. “And many people thought this was a retooling year.”
Hoisting the Lombardi Trophy high, Veach told the crowd looking upon the stage at Union Station the following: “This is what a rebuilding year looks like, right here.”
He’s said it before and at that moment he was saying it again — so long as Patrick Mahomes is their quarterback, they always feel like they have a chance. The star quarterback himself seems to be just as bought into the notion too.
As he celebrated the Super Bowl LVII win with his teammates, he was thinking about those doubters, but he was also looking ahead to the future.
“Before we started this season, the AFC West said we were rebuilding,” Mahomes shouted at the crowd. “I’m going to be honest with you, I don’t know what rebuilding means. In our rebuilding year, we’re world champs. . . I just want to let y’all know that this is just the beginning, we ain’t done yet.”
And Travis Kelce, in his usual candor, delivered this same message in the most impactful way of all.
“Everybody’s asking if this is a dynasty,” Kelce proclaimed. “It’s been a dynasty. Y’all just ain’t noticed it until now.”
Get used to it Kansas City, because this team, they’re still only at the beginning of a long journey.
