We won the Lombardi Trophy!
Well, who’d a
thought it? How much easier is the end-of-season report when the
Super Bowl is sitting in a display cabinet at Arrowhead!
Still there are
issues to discuss/resolve. Firstly, there is talk of a Chiefs
dynasty. I’m sure we’d all like that, but is it possible,
likely, realistic, inevitable? I’m going for just barely possible.
Then again, with St Patrick at the helm just about anything seems
possible.
So, we must look
forward. On the positive side, the tribe have a lot of talent in
contract already for next season. This group includes Allegretti,
D-Tardif, and Swartz – in other words the backbone of what turned
out to be a very good offensive line. At QB we have Mahomes. His
new contract will be the talking point for the whole off-season until
it is signed and delivered. He will cost what he will cost. End of.
Kelce, Thompson, Hardman, Hill are on longer contracts and will form
the core of the winning offence. I see Pringle has already signed a
new contract. Others will follow, but Sammy Watkins probably leaves
– he’s just too expensive. Damien Williams gets a new contract.
Defensive players to watch are Frank Clark (expensive but contracted
till 2023) Saunders (2022), Nnadi (2021) and my favourite Kpassagnon
(2020). This is the core of the Super bowl defence, Okafor and
Ogbah return from injury. Chris Jones, Mike Pennel, Xavier Williams
and Terrell Suggs are free agents. Chris Jones is a lock provided a
contract can be done. Suggs takes his Super Bowl ring and rides off
into the distance with the cheers of the Arrowhead crowd ringing in
his ears. The linebackers Hitchens, O’Daniel, Neiman and Wilson
should be on-board. Lee and Ragland are UFA linebackers. Lee
probably goes. In the secondary, Thornhill returns after injury,
Sorenson stays (his demise has been foretold more often that that of
Trump), Breeland and Fuller are UFA but both get new contracts.
Clairborne and Lucas probably leave.
So, we have to get
used to an off-season where the Chiefs are not constantly looking
over their shoulders to see what went wrong, but confidently building
on what we have and moving ever upwards. This will take some getting
used to!
The importance of
the General Manager and the Coaches can not be over-inflated. They
take the blame when it goes wrong and they now look like genii. The
fact is we got more than a few breaks on the way to the win.
Grabbing the top seed from the Pats was crucial. Coming back after a
multitude of mistakes against teams with poor defences ( Titans and
Texans ) and, most importantly, wearing out the 49-ers so that the
last eight minutes could happen and march us into history, are just
the high-lights. Next year starts now. History has been made ans
some of us are privileged to have been around for both wins –
against the Vikings and now the San Fran mob. It is just possible
that the future will be talking about a Chiefs dynasty, possible but
not entirely likely. Who cares.
Let’s bask in the
glow and give thanks were here to see it!
