The backstory
In 1997, the Kansas City Chiefs were the best team in the NFL. Their offense was headlined by a declining, yet still productive running back in Marcus Allen, veteran wide receiver Andre Rison — who found a second life in Kansas City — and a rookie tight end named Tony Gonzalez.
However, the spine of that 1997 team was its defense. Headlined by Hall of Fame linebacker Derrick Thomas, and supported by guys like Dan Williams, Donnie Edwards, James Hasty, Dale Carter, and the often forgotten about, Mark “Mighty Mouse” McMillian.
The 1997 Chiefs had 21 interceptions and 20 forced fumbles, and boasted the NFL’s top-ranked defense.
Kansas City opened the season with a Week 1 loss to the Denver Broncos, but rebounded by winning six of the next seven games, and rolled into Week 10 with a 6-2 record, ready to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers at home.
The Steelers jumped out to an early 10-point lead in the first quarter, but it was all Chiefs in the second quarter, who came back thanks to a pair of Pete Stoyanovich field goals and a 14-yard touchdown pass on a trick play from Allen to wide receiver Danan Hughes.
That was all the defense needed. Kansas City pitched a shutout in the second half and won 13-10.
But that’s not why we are talking about this game. Late in the fourth quarter, starting quarterback Elvis Grbac suffered a brutal hit that broke his collarbone and sidelined him for the remainder of the regular season.
Enter Rich Gannon
Gannon was a ten-year veteran, on his third team and had been with the Chiefs for a few seasons. Little did Gannon and the rest of Chiefs Kingdom know that his life was about to change forever.
Gannon didn’t do much in Pittsburgh: He went five for five for 23 yards. His real coming-out party happened the following week, when, despite losing on the road to the Jacksonville Jaguars, he threw for a team season-high 314 yards.
That was the last game the Chiefs lost for the rest of the regular season. With Gannon at the helm, the Chiefs’ defense tore through the remainder of their schedule, holding opposing teams to an average of just 10.8 points per game.
If you’re old enough to have lived through this story, then you know how this story ends.
The Chiefs finished 13-3 and secured a first-round bye in the playoffs. The stage was set to face off against the John Elway-led Broncos in the Divisional Round at Arrowhead Stadium.
Leading up to the game, the team doctors cleared Grbac to return to football, which left head coach Marty Schottenheimer with a conundrum. Do you revert to your starting quarterback, or do you ride the hot hand?
Ultimately, Schottenheimer elected to give the reins to Grbac. The result was that the offense sputtered, Grbac struggled, and the Chiefs came up short. Losing a nailbiter 14-10.
Gannon’s perspective
Gannon spoke with “The Zone” with Jason Anderson on 810 Sports Radio WHB, live from Radio Row at Super Bowl LX this week, and was very candid about his opinion of Schottenheimer’s decision to go with Grbac.
“As much as I love Marty, I thought that was probably the worst decision he has ever made as a head coach,” Gannon told Anderson. “You just don’t change when you have momentum like that.”
Don’t take Gannon’s comments as a shot across the bow at his former coach. Gannon told the radio host, “I loved playing for Marty. I had a great experience in my four years in Kansas City. Two of those three years, we go 13-3, but lose to the Colts in a home playoff game and lose to the Broncos… that team that lost to the Broncos was a team that was really, really good enough to win a Super Bowl.”
“I’ve talked to some Broncos players that were on that team,” Gannon continued. “And Mike Shanahan said to them, ‘Hey, we have to prepare… Gannon’s going to be the guy.‘ Then found out Marty was going to go with Elvis Grbac, and he said, ‘hey, we have a chance.’”
It’s not that Gannon thought he was better than Grbac. It’s that Grbac wasn’t ready to start. “In fairness to Elvis,” Gannon explained. “He wasn’t even in football shape. He had been rehabbing, he wasn’t ready to play the game…”
The ‘97 Chiefs defense was good enough to win the Lombardi with just about any healthy quarterback. And they proved it by holding the eventual champs to just 14 points.
“John Elway and Terrell Davis, those guys scored 14 points against our defense. Now think about that: if you would’ve said before the game, ‘all you have to do is score more than 14 points,’ you would’ve taken it all day…”
“I played on a lot of good football teams, I’ve played against a lot of good defenses, and that was a phenomenal defense… all we had to do is not throw up on ourselves, and we would’ve won, and of course, we would’ve won the following week. That was a good football team.”
And that’s the true shame of it all. It was one of the best teams Kansas City ever put on the field, and they squandered a legitimate chance at greatness.
All they had to do was tell Gannon they believed in him and trust him with the keys to the ship.
”That’s the one thing I never got in Kansas City. It was never my team. Carl Peterson and Marty Schottenheimer, they went out and signed Steve Bono after Joe Montana left. Then, after two years of that, they went to sign Elvis Grbac, another 49er guy. No one ever put their arm around me and said, ‘You know what, you’re our guy, we’re going to run with you until I got to Oakland with Jon Gruden and Al Davis.”
