Bummed Chiefs head into offseason full of optimism
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs came within a heartbeat of returning to the Super Bowl for the first time in 49 years, taking the greatest dynasty in NFL history to overtime in the AFC title game.
Instead, they are stuck with more heartache for an entire offseason.
Yet with All-Pro quarterback Patrick Mahomes under center for the foreseeable future, and a bevy of young talent around him, the Chiefs believe the foundation is set for a run of continued success not unlike what the New England Patriots have accomplished under Tom Brady.
Perhaps their loss to the Pats on Sunday night was merely the start of something special.
“Every team’s going to be different year-toyear,” said Mahomes, who capped his phenomenal first year as the starter with 295 yards passing and three touchdowns against the Patriots.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys on this team. It hurts. It hurts everybody,” he said. “We knew we had opportunities in that game and throughout this season. We put in the work. We know this can be a building block. It could be something that carries us into the future.”
The Chiefs will have some big decisions to make this offseason. Topping the list is whether to extend the rookie contracts of wide receiver Tyreek Hill and defensive tackle Chris Jones and whether to sign pass rusher Dee Ford to a long-term deal or place the franchise tag on him.
They also need to upgrade a defense that struggled all season, then failed to stop the Patriots in the second half and overtime with a shot at the Super Bowl hanging in the balance.
Dolphins waiting on Flores
While the 2018 NFL champion has yet to be crowned, much of the league is already looking ahead to the 2019 season, and so far the Miami Dolphins are in last place.
Las Vegas oddsmakers recently made the Dolphins a 300-1 choice to win the Super Bowl in Miami a year from now, by far the league’s longest odds.
And because Brian Flores’ team is headed for the Super Bowl, the Dolphins must wait another two weeks before they can seal a deal with the New England Patriots’ defensive play-caller to become their coach.
The Patriots sent the Dolphins’ wait on Flores into overtime by beating Kansas City in overtime Sunday in the AFC championship game.
The Dolphins interviewed Flores on Jan. 4, targeted him as their choice for the job on Jan. 11 and are expected to meet with him this week. But no agreement can become final until after the Patriots play the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl on Feb. 3.
Also on hold are the Cincinnati Bengals, the only other team still with a vacancy among the eight NFL teams making coaching changes.
The Bengals are interested in Zac Taylor, the Rams’ quarterbacks coach. It has been three weeks since Cincinnati fired Marvin Lewis after his 16th season and third consecutive losing record.
International games scheduled
The NFL will play four games in London next season but did not say which would be at Tottenham’s delayed new stadium and which would be at Wembley.
The league also said Monday one game will be in Mexico City — Kansas City vs. the Los Angeles Chargers at Azteca Stadium, which hosted games in 2016 and 2017. The Rams and Kansas City were to have played there Nov. 19 but the game was moved to Los Angeles because of poor field conditions.
In London, the NFC champion Los Angeles Rams will play Cincinnati. The other games are Houston-Jacksonville, Carolina-Tampa Bay and Chicago-Oakland. Jacksonville is owned by Shahid Khan, who also owns the Premier League club Fulham.
Two games will be at Wembley and two at Tottenham’s new stadium, which was to have opened last summer but faced construction delays. The stadium’s opening has been delayed six times. A game between Oakland and Seattle was to have been at Tottenham last Oct. 14 but was moved to Wembley.
The NFL has played annually in London since 2007 — 21 games at Wembley, three at Twickenham.
AFC gets high ratings
Sunday night’s game between the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs was the second-most watched and rated AFC championship game in 42 years.
The overtime thriller on CBS averaged 53.219 million viewers, just shy of the 54.850 million that viewed Pittsburgh’s victory over the New York Jets in 2011. The 27.5 household rating fell short of the 2016 matchup between New England and Denver that had a 29.3 rating.
Sunday’s game is also a 22 percent increase over last year’s game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and New England Patriots, which averaged 44.145 million.
Fox’s telecast of the NFC championship game between the Los Angeles Rams and New Orleans Saints had a 24.6 rating. The game averaged 49.299 million, which is up 14 percent over last year’s game in which the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Minnesota Vikings (42.408 million).
Both games had 13 percent rating increases over last year. This year’s 10 playoff games have averaged a 19.1 rating and 34.584 million viewers. The rating is up 11 percent over last year.