Kansas City Chiefs: A Look At Their History Of Trophy Wins, With More Likely On The Horizon

 

The Kansas City Chiefs are one of the more storied and iconic NFL franchises, and yet, we still most likely haven’t seen the club’s greatest stretch run.

The Chiefs formed a dynasty in the American Football League (AFL) that lasted from 1960 to 1970. They won three of the 10 league’s championship games (1962, 1966, and the last one in 1969). The 1962 championship came while the franchise was based in Dallas, where they went by the “Texans” team name.

 

 

Kansas City would lose the first ever Super Bowl game to the Green Bay Packers in the 1966 season. However, the franchise finally reached the undisputed mountaintop of football when they defeated the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl 4. It would be 50 more long years until the Chiefs finally won their second Super Bowl in the 2019 season.

Though sports betting has yet to launch in Kansas, Chiefs fans should know that soon they will be able to bet in Kansas with the different apps. It’s widely expected that sports betting will go live in Kansas by the fall of this year and likely no later than New Year’s Day 2023.

The Chiefs will open their 2022 season with a road game against the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 11 (4:25 p.m. EST). Kansas City has the third-best odds of winning Super Bowl 57 at mayor Kansas sports betting apps; their odds are around +950, and they share the third-highest odds with the Los Angeles Rams and Green Bay Packers (+1000) at DraftKings. Furthermore, only Josh Allen has higher odds of winning the MVP than Patrick Mahomes (+800 at FanDuel, +900 at DraftKings) at both sportsbooks.

The Franchise’s Current Trophy Room

Kansas City is the only franchise that has won multiple AFL Championships and a Super Bowl. The Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) and Buffalo Bills each won two AFL titles, but neither club has won a Super Bowl up to this point.

To date, the franchise holds three AFL Championship banners, two Super Bowls and a pair of AFC title victories.  The Chiefs were oh-so-close to winning a third straight Lamar Hunt Trophy (given annually to the AFC champion) last season, only to fall to the Cincinnati Bengals in overtime at Arrowhead.

The Lamar Hunt Trophy is named after Lamar Hunt, who founded the AFL as well as the Chiefs franchise. Lamar passed away in 2006, and the franchise was passed down to his family. His son, Clark Hunt, is the team’s Chairman and CEO.

This trophy was first awarded in 1970, one season after KC won its first Super Bowl. Fans would have to wait 49 painful years until the franchise finally got its hands on the trophy in 2019, when Mahomes led the Chiefs to a 35-24 victory over Tennessee.

With Mahomes, Chiefs Are In Great Position To Add To Trophy Room

In Patrick Mahomes’ first four seasons as a starter, the Chiefs won four AFC West division titles, two AFC Championships, and one Super Bowl. They’ve advanced to the conference title game every year under his watch, with all four games taking place at Arrowhead.

With Tom Brady no longer operating in the AFC, the Chiefs have replaced the New England Patriots as the new conference powerhouse. 

New England reached eight straight AFC title games from 2011 to 2018 and won five of them. The Chiefs are only halfway to tying the Patriots’ incredible streak, but the bottom line is that Brady’s departure from New England has left the door wide open for KC.

Mahomes is arguably the best quarterback in the NFL right now. Tyreek Hill may be out of the picture, but Travis Kelce, Skyy Moore, and JuJu Smith-Schuster give Mahomes enough weaponry. The offensive line is arguably a top-five unit, and the rebuilt defense brought in promising rookies George Karlaftis and Trent McDuffie.

 

 

It’s true that the AFC is loaded with elite young quarterbacks and championship contenders. But until another club can reach the Chiefs’ level of consistency, Kansas City will remain the team to beat in the conference.

It takes a lot of luck to win multiple Super Bowls in this day and age, but the Chiefs are a few small bounces away from coming off a fourth straight trip to the Super Bowl. 

Mahomes is a proven winner and elevates his game when it matters most, and the league has rarely been successful in figuring out Andy Reid’s offense.  Indeed, it only feels like a matter of time until the Chiefs bring more hardware to Kansas.