Kansas City Chiefs emerge from months of criticism, challenges

A blowout loss to Tampa Bay in Super Bowl LV was part of a cascade of bad news for the Kansas City Chiefs, including seeing their star defensive end faced with a felony gun possession charge; an assistant coach (and head coach's son) let go after drinking prior to a car accident that critically injured a young girls; and an offensive line in dire need of a full rebuild.

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Sports

August 27, 2021 - 12:50 PM

Outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett, left, sacks Kansas City Chiefs Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes during Super Bowl LV. Photo by Dirk Shadd / Tampa Bay Times / TNS

Katy Jackson, a 29-year-old Kansas City native, spent more than a year in quarantine, afraid to catch coronavirus and pass it on to her ailing mother. As days in isolation became weeks and the weeks became months, Jackson relied on the Chiefs as a form of remedy.

Shortly into a season dubbed “Run it Back,” she began a scrapbook by the same title, printing out Chiefs articles and gluing them to decorative pages. Inside the book, the final week of the season remained blank for a month — it was March before she finally sat at the kitchen countertop and completed the project.

“There are some articles,” she said, “that I still wish weren’t in there.”

After the Chiefs spent 50 years mostly immaterial in the national pro football conversation, a transcendent quarterback positioned them on the doorstep of a second straight Super Bowl — and as the NFL’s next dynasty.

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