When last we saw the Chiefs in a playoff game at Arrowhead Stadium, they were trudging off the field after bungling a 21-3 lead against the Bengals and falling 27-24 in overtime.
Instead of a third straight Super Bowl berth, instead of reassurance that such haunting postseason plummets from commanding leads had been purged in the Patrick Mahomes era, the Chiefs and their fans were delivered a nasty reality check.
Nothing is given and nothing is assured when it comes to the NFL playoffs. And the seemingly inexplicable always lurks.
“It’s sometimes unexplainable. Sometimes there’s a series of events that typically never happen…” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach told The Star during training camp at Missouri Western in St. Joseph. “But that’s the beauty of the game.
“And that’s why you can never take any of these seasons for granted, games for granted, opportunities for granted.”
So the Chiefs carried, even cultivated, what Veach called “a bad taste in our mouth” into getting back on the field. That game, defensive lineman Chris Jones said in November, “was a driving force for this offseason.”
Some combination of that inspiration, an offense ultimately replenished in the wake of trading Tyreek Hill and a defense resetting heavily with rookies paved the path to a 14-3 regular-season record and No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
All well and good, especially for what was widely perceived as a transitional season when Hill was traded ... and within the supposedly bulked-up AFC West that the Chiefs swept.
But now the Chiefs will confront that bad taste in earnest as they prepare to begin postseason play on Saturday by playing host to fifth-seeded Jacksonville (10-8), which the Chiefs defeated 27-17 on Nov. 13.
The Jaguars, coached by former Chiefs offensive coordinator Doug Pederson, enter the game as the most recent spectacular example of assuming nothing after they rallied from a 27-0 deficit to beat the Chargers 31-30 in their AFC wild-card game.
The Chiefs opened as 8.5-point favorites. They absolutely should win.
But they best bring it.
Something they haven’t done for 60 minutes much this season.
Given how last season ended and this team’s penchant for meandering — having won seven games by six points or fewer, grappled with putting away lesser foes and being prone to distressing special teams gaffes — it’s hard not to nitpick about that.
Or wonder if they might stray looking ahead to the looming more daunting obstacle of winning a potential AFC Championship Game against the Bills or Bengals should the Chiefs beat Jacksonville.
Especially since the Chiefs lost to both the Bills and Bengals this season … and the Bengals three times in a calendar year.
But we’ll get to that part if it comes to that part.
Because this is all about first things first and embracing the moment at hand.
In essence, this moment stands as a microcosm of how we should feel at all times in the Mahomes era, which surely has years and years to go but nonetheless is less than infinite. Every opportunity has to be vital even if we perceive many more ahead.
At 27 years old, Mahomes is the oldest starting quarterback in the AFC bracket of the playoffs. Young, to be sure, but also a reminder that “Forever Young” is just the name of a song Bob Dylan wrote.
Moreover, right here and right now is about demonstrating that the great lesson of last season, finishing the job, is a defining point of emphasis for this team.
With that mindset, this is a team entirely capable of playing in its fifth straight AFC Championship Game, ascending to its third Super Bowl in four seasons and winning a second one in that span — a second one it needs to truly distinguish itself in the annals of NFL history.
The belief here is that such urgency will prevail with a team guided by Andy Reid, the fifth-winningest coach in NFL history, and animated by prospective second-time MVP Mahomes at the helm of an offense that leads the NFL in points and yards per game.
The belief here is that those dips along the way, like the absurd loss at Indianapolis (4-12-1) and having to hang on at Denver (5-12) for a 34-28 win after leading 27-0, are more outliers than fatal flaws
We figure since we see the Chiefs more often than other teams we are more conscious of their blemishes than we are of those of the competition — something that was easy enough to remember watching all the games this weekend.
We also figure those regular-season let-down episodes against inferior opponents were more indicative of human nature in a marathon season than they are the signature of this team.
Then again, as the saying goes, watch your deeds because they tend to become your habits. And for as much emphasis as the Chiefs seemingly put on the notion of finishing after last season, it would have been encouraging to see them demonstrate the lesson more than a few times this season.
Still, all of that was just preamble to the proving ground now.
None of that will be remembered if the Chiefs are able to generate what Reid during camp referred to as “a certain attitude, a certain edge that you’ve got to maintain” that they let fritter away at the end of last season … and thus let last season be squandered.
If that hurt right, it shouldn’t hurt again.
Because for all the other changes they made between then and now, nothing will be more meaningful for a uniquely talented team than how it goes about the job in the crucible of the playoffs.
And nothing will be more telling about whether the agonizing but potentially pivotal lesson was absorbed than the state of mind they play with on Saturday.
The regular season, including their seventh straight AFC West title amid some disconcerting moments, was a fine start.
But if they really want to get that bad taste out of their mouth from last season, the Chiefs won’t take a minute of the postseason for granted.
