ARLINGTON, Texas — The Jumbotron in this building is enormous, 160 feet long and 72 feet tall, but tucked just beyond the centerpiece big screen are the banners. The Cowboys once enjoyed a dynasty, and the 1992, 1993 and 1995 world championship flags hang from the rafters to prove it.
A reminder of what once was.
The Chiefs have hung a few of their own recently, three in the past five years. I probably don’t need to remind you of how, and you’re probably not in the mood to be reminded of any of this, come to think of it, but allow me to at least recall the common thread.
They were unfazed.
They turned double-digit deficits into wins on the biggest stages, flipped offensive line struggles into scheme advantages and transformed quarterback frustrations into MVP trophies.
But the memories of those teams — and their most defining characteristic — belong in the same place represented by the Super Bowl banners inside AT&T Stadium.
What’s left: The Chiefs are 6-6 after a 31-28 loss to the Cowboys, on the outside of the playoff picture heading into December and leaving Texas on Thanksgiving Day the same way they arrived.
They are a team that has surrendered to adversity and utterly and inexplicably collapsed in the game’s biggest moments. Faith that their dominance will be restored — that they can suddenly flip the switch — is rooted in the same place as those banners.
In history.
For 12 weeks now, these Chiefs have shown us who they are.
It’s past time we believe them.
This team? It’s the one that has turned three fourth-quarter leads into losses in the past 52 days — after going 738 days without blowing a single one.
This team? It’s the one that has faced a second-half deficit in seven games this year and lost six of them, despite either holding the lead or being handed at least one fourth-quarter possession with the chance to tie or take a lead in every last one of them.
This team? It’s the one that grabbed a one-point advantage on the second snap of the fourth quarter Thursday in Arlington and then was out-gained 171-79 the rest of the way. Which doesn’t even include the penalties, by the way.
This team? Well, it does this every week, save one.
“Just like,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said, “all of the losses we’ve had this year.”
The Chiefs have lost six games by a combined 25 points. They look like a franchise trying to learn how to win, like a franchise just trying to turn the corner, like a deer learning to walk out of the womb that just can’t stop stumbling.
It’s unfathomable to think they once glided like a 12-point buck.
The pressure moments have swallowed them whole — whether it’s the star wide receiver dropping a third-down pass, waves of penalties in opposing territory or the five third-and-long defensive failures to get off the field.
Or some perplexing coaching decisions.
The Chiefs punted from plus territory on four consecutive drives. In a three-point game dominated by offense, Andy Reid opened the second half by punting on fourth-and-5 from the 49 and then on fourth-and-4 from the 44 the next drive.
Reid trusted his defense, he said, which had offered him zero reason for doing so in this game. Hindsight, he said, would suggest he go for it. The metrics actually overwhelmingly suggested to go for it in the moment.
Reid passed on the opportunity. He shied away from pressing the issue in a big moment.
His team was overwhelmed by big moments.
They have been all year. It is the most confounding theme baked into the story of an outlier Mahomes season. How can this team, with that experience, disintegrate with the game on the line? I only have the question, not an answer.
It turns out last week was a mirage. They lose with three-and-outs in Denver, with a pick-6 at the goal line in Jacksonville, with a future Hall of Fame tight end turning a touchdown into an interception against Philadelphia.
And maybe that’s the real point: A team that once found a way to win has found a way, someway, anyway, to lose.
For years, the Chiefs bailed themselves out of messes with fourth-quarter magic. They thrived in the perpetual spotlight. They were better than the rest of the league because they were better prepared for the most pressure a game could offer. If they were beating you in the fourth quarter, you weren’t coming back. If you were beating them in the fourth quarter, well, just wait.
That’s not this team. Hasn’t been all year.
And absent that trait, this is apparently what it all would have looked like. We no longer have to wonder. It is a quality football team that instead sits just 6-6 and, according to playoff models, will now more likely be sitting home in January.
The truth this was a game they could probably most afford to lose, if they were to lose one at all. There’s still a path, I believe, but it’s not the one this group has traveled. It would require they flip that switch and suddenly turn it on.
Speaking of which: You know, as the Chiefs spent the short week watching film of the Cowboys, I pulled up some clips from 11 years ago, back when Mahomes was a freshman at Texas Tech. It was the first game Mahomes played here, at AT&T Stadium, the closest venue to his hometown in East Texas.
There’s always been something strange about the Mahomes college years.
When you see what’s become of the NFL player, you couldn’t help but wonder: How?
The film explains some things. Mahomes threw six touchdowns in his first game at Jerry World. The final four came in a span of 15 minutes on the clock, those four all at least 40 yards. The Baylor Bears threw everything they had at him, but Mahomes kept firing. He was all but perfect.
And lost.
Baylor overcame his six passing touchdowns and 598 passing yards and won, 48-46.
Oh, so that’s how it happens.
He found the right fit, the perfect situation in the NFL. But eight years later, as he departs his home state having thrown four touchdown passes Thursday, you’re left with the same confusion: How is this guy 6-6?
Then you turn on the film. For a couple of drives, maybe a couple of quarters, the Chiefs look like world-beaters again. Like their old selves. But then you see the penalties. The third-down defensive failures. The fourth-down diffidence. The dropped pass.
You see, in short, who the Chiefs are.
