Notable Chiefs/Dolphins matchups

[74_75_78_79_]

In regards to today's anticipated game in Frankfurt, I thought I bring the history of these two franchises to light.

Plenty of real obvious games between these two to pick from! Whether one on a specific Holiday, or one that would be between two very Legendary QBs - it being the losing QB's very last game (and the game being 120 months after he would beat this very QB in a quite important contest on a northern California college stadium).

But I'll take the path less traveled - their Week #16 meeting in '89! Yes, any excuse to bring up a certain team having to win their finale as three others would have to lose in order for them to make it to the playoffs.

Well, either the 7-7-1 Chiefs or the home-team, the 8-7 Dolphins, not only had to win in their finale against each other, and not only did those same three teams also have to lose, but those 1989 Steelers also had to lose - and to a bad Tampa Bay team QB'd by a now-39-year-old Joe Ferguson.

Steelers beat both of them early on. Their real close win over KC at Three Rivers can be seen as the closest we ever got to a Chuck Noll/Bill Cowher head-to-head coaching match-up! And their win at Miami in which a 2nd-Q monster monsoon may have been the very phenomenon that helped them gain momentum after being down, 14-0, early. The sun was out everywhere else, but just not over JRS!

Both KC & Miami, quite historically uniquely, played each other twice in '89! Of course this is because both finished 5th in their respective divisions the year before. Three weeks prior to the finale was their first meeting; and at Arrowhead. A competitive 26-21 win by KC, but this finale at Joe Robbie was even more competitive. It was 27-24 in favor of KC, completing the sweep thus making Schottenheimer a winner in his KC debut!

But the Steelers averted the upset at 5-10 Tampa Bay and that was that.


Others? Obvious or not so?

[Brian wolf]

Of course the 1972 opener in Arrowhead Stadium, that got the undefeated Miami season going. Once the Dolphins could run on that rugged Chiefs defense in an easy win, they basically dictated the rest of the year other than close games against the Vikings, Bills and Jets before the postseason.

Tough WC playoff game in 1990/91 that Martyball couldnt close out. A good game for DeBerg before Marino got hot to pull it out.

[racepug]

Of course the 1972 opener in Arrowhead Stadium, that got the undefeated Miami season going. Once the Dolphins could run on that rugged Chiefs defense in an easy win, they basically dictated the rest of the year other than close games against the Vikings, Bills and Jets before the postseason.

Tough WC playoff game in 1990/91 that Martyball couldnt close out. A good game for DeBerg before Marino got hot to pull it out.

I remember that game! What I remember is that MIA pulled the game out near the end but things might've finished in K.C.'s favor had Steve DeBerg not dislocated a finger late in the game.

[74_75_78_79_]

How about Week #15, 1981? Despite Steve Fuller clearly outplaying Wood-Strock, KC at home loses their fifth in seven games thus essentially get eliminated from playoff contention. Both offenses, Joe Delaney included, struggled in a 17-7 final.

[7DnBrnc53]

How about Week #15, 1981? Despite Steve Fuller clearly outplaying Wood-Strock, KC at home loses their fifth in seven games thus essentially get eliminated from playoff contention. Both offenses, Joe Delaney included, struggled in a 17-7 final.

Delaney got hurt in the first half after rushing for 23 yards on six carries. They may have won if they had him.

I have wondered if this loss was the beginning of the end for Marv Levy in KC. That jerk of a team president (bean counter Jack Steadman) didn't want him to get another season after the strike year of 1982, and Lamar Hunt went along with it. It wasn't fair. Hunt should have given him another year and let him draft his own QB in the 83 draft (Dan Marino? Jim Kelly?) if he wanted to. Steadman basically forced the crappy Steve Fuller down their throat in 1979 because he was obsessed with getting a franchise QB.

[74_75_78_79_]

How about Week #15, 1981? Despite Steve Fuller clearly outplaying Wood-Strock, KC at home loses their fifth in seven games thus essentially get eliminated from playoff contention. Both offenses, Joe Delaney included, struggled in a 17-7 final.

Delaney got hurt in the first half after rushing for 23 yards on six carries. They may have won if they had him.

My bad.

The game is accessible, I see. Commercials as well.

[7DnBrnc53]

How about Week #15, 1981? Despite Steve Fuller clearly outplaying Wood-Strock, KC at home loses their fifth in seven games thus essentially get eliminated from playoff contention. Both offenses, Joe Delaney included, struggled in a 17-7 final.

Delaney got hurt in the first half after rushing for 23 yards on six carries. They may have won if they had him.

My bad.

The game is accessible, I see. Commercials as well.

Yep. There are more 1981 Dolphin games accessible now as well.

[CSKreager]

How about 2008? Coldest game ever at Arrowhead

[Bryan]

1983 = 12 turnovers, 20 points in the historic Woodley v. Kenney matchup.

[Jay Z]

How about Week #15, 1981? Despite Steve Fuller clearly outplaying Wood-Strock, KC at home loses their fifth in seven games thus essentially get eliminated from playoff contention. Both offenses, Joe Delaney included, struggled in a 17-7 final.

Delaney got hurt in the first half after rushing for 23 yards on six carries. They may have won if they had him.

I have wondered if this loss was the beginning of the end for Marv Levy in KC. That jerk of a team president (bean counter Jack Steadman) didn't want him to get another season after the strike year of 1982, and Lamar Hunt went along with it. It wasn't fair. Hunt should have given him another year and let him draft his own QB in the 83 draft (Dan Marino? Jim Kelly?) if he wanted to. Steadman basically forced the crappy Steve Fuller down their throat in 1979 because he was obsessed with getting a franchise QB.

I guess the Chiefs eventually gave up their obsession with having a franchise QB, because they went with strictly rentals for the 30 years before Mahomes. Which I find bizarre.

Mike Livingston actually lasted for a while after his long wait as an heir to Dawson. Then you've got the bustish Fuller and Todd Blackledge, with FA Bill Kenney (drafted low by the Dolphins) getting most of the work. But that's done by the late 1980s. They had a couple of 2nd round picks, Mike Elkins, and Matt Blundin, in the early 1990s that basically never saw the field. And that's it until Mahomes. A constant stream of rented vets with zero effort to find a young QB. No 1st or 2nd round picks from Blundin to Mahomes. The rentals weren't all bad by any means, just bizarre that a team would go that long without having a young prospect.