KANSAS CITY, Mo. True to the cliche, football often amounts to a game of inches. The 37-31 overtime loss to New England in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium was vivid, wrenching testimony to that for the Chiefs and their fans.
We were this close, on an offsides, to being in Atlanta for the Super Bowl, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Monday, adding, With an interception. With the ball in our hand. Game over.
But while Reid quibbled over the fact that officials in a game of this magnitude normally first issue a warning about a player lined up over the line of scrimmage, as Dee Ford was with just over a minute left in regulation and the Chiefs leading 28-24, he acknowledged the ruling that offset Charvarius Wards interception was legitimate.
For that matter, it was just one of myriad reasons the franchises best season in 25 years ended in torment, just short of its first Super Bowl berth in nearly half a century.
Yet again, the Chiefs couldnt stop the run enough (176 yards) in a playoff game. In response to New Englands 15-play drive to open the game, the Chiefs in the first half amassed all of 32 yards and were shut out for the first time all season.
During that span, an off-kilter Patrick Mahomes overthrew an abandoned Damien Williams for a would-be touchdown. Tyreek Hill, draped in two defenders most of the game, had one catch for 42 yards … in the game. Travis Kelce had three for 23.
They were dissected on third downs (13 of 19), and they couldnt get within an area code of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Unless, that is, you count the phantom roughing-the-passer call on Chris Jones who swatted Bradys shoulder when Brady still had the ball in his hand that Reid publicly disputed and helped enable a fourth-quarter touchdown.
All distressing, all stuff that will linger.
But at least all of that, even the blown call, is part of the fabric of the game.
All of that, you just have to learn to live with, if not grudgingly accept.
What shouldnt be accepted going forward, though, is the illogical, unfair, unsatisfying and arbitrary premise this incredible game ultimately game down to: the flawed structure of overtime.
After a mesmerizing 60 minutes, which included the Chiefs coming back from a 14-0 deficit and four lead changes in the fourth quarter before Harrison Butker tied it with a field goal from 39 yards out with 8 seconds left, its absurd and downright brutal that a whimsical coin toss was so fundamental in the final result.
I saw heads … and I know what happens at the end of this one, Patriot safety Devin McCourty told reporters after the game. Any time we go to overtime and we get the ball, Im not really worried about anything. Im going to get comfy.
To be clear, the Patriots won this game fair and square under the established setup everyone understood: If the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown, game over.
The Chiefs in overtime were free to stop what proved to be a 13-play, 75-yard drive for a touchdown that instantly ended it when Rex Burkhead barged in from 2 yards out. They were allowed to break up any of Bradys three masterful third and 10 passes that put the Pats in position to create sudden death for the Chiefs.
