The Kansas City Chiefs' unlikely story of redemption

Nearly a year after the murder-suicide by Jovan Belcher, about one-third of the players who were inside the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice facility when the young linebacker killed his girlfriend and took his own life in the parking lot at Arrowhead Stadium are no longer with the franchise.

The Chiefs, who won an NFL-worst of only two games last season, have a new coach and general manager. The coordinators on both offense and defense are also in their first season with the team. There’s a new quarterback as well, and nine new starters, eight of whom weren’t even with the club in 2012.

And for the Chiefs, undefeated heading into Sunday’s showdown at Denver with the AFC West-rival Broncos, there is a new attitude — even if some old and difficult memories remain.

“It’s not like we bring up the Belcher thing a lot, but guys definitely remember,” said standout inside linebacker Derrick Johnson, who has spent his entire nine-year career in Kansas City. “How could you not? He was a part of us, and he always will be in our thoughts … but this is a new team. We’ve tried to put a lot of the stuff from the past — the (Belcher) thing, the losing — behind us. There have been some rough times, believe me, on and off the field. But it’s a different time here now.”

Indeed, it is a season of redemption of sorts for the Chiefs, who posted only one winning season in the previous six campaigns and won just one division title in the past nine years, and whose nine victories thus far in 2013 equal their combined total of wins for 2011 and 2012. And that redemption theme extends beyond the players who have been a part of Kansas City’s ignominious stretch in recent seasons.

The two most conspicuous symbols of the remaking of the Chiefs, head coach Andy Reid and underappreciated quarterback Alex Smith, are in the midst of a season in which their respective careers have been resurrected as well.

After Reid had spent 14 seasons in Philadelphia — a tenure that included more than twice as many victories (140) as any other coach in franchise history, nine postseason appearances, six NFC East championships and a Super Bowl XXXIX appearance — the Eagles unceremoniously canned him.

Smith, the first overall choice in the 2005 draft by San Francisco, but an inconsistent starter during much of his eight-year run with the 49ers, was traded to the Chiefs in the spring.

Both men have thrived in an NFL precinct with a mostly rich history, but in which the Chiefs have not been to a league championship game since a Super Bowl IV win that concluded the 1969 season, and where the famed “Red Coaters” booster group that proudly lines the field at Arrowhead before every home game hasn’t had its incredible loyalty rewarded with a postseason victory since 1993. The surprising thing is that, as both Reid and Smith have insisted, they’re really not doing things a whole lot differently than they did in their previous incarnations.

“I think the thing is that you want to be consistent and professional in all the things that you do,” said Reid, who was hired in January, a little over a month after Belcher murdered his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, and later turned a gun on himself in front of then-coach Romeo Crennel and then-general manager Scott Pioli. “You don’t want (ambiguity). Treat players like professionals. Bring in the right sort of people.”

In Smith, replaced by the 49ers with Colin Kaepernick at midseason in 2012, Reid got the right kind of person, a quarterback he hand-picked to provide a steadying influence for a club that had lacked stability at the game’s most critical position. Most of the veteran players acquired by general manager John Dorsey in his first position heading an NFL franchise were solid, even if unspectacular, performers, such as defensive lineman Mike DeVito and linebacker Akeem Jordan. Reid veered a bit from character in his choices for coordinators — the head coach had no previous background with defensive coordinator Bob Sutton, and offensive coordinator Doug Pederson had never been more than a quarterback coach — but was impressed by both men's belief in their systems.

And Reid, from the very earliest days with the team, spoke more of the present than the past.

“He talked about what we could do, not what we had done, or the things that had happened to us,” said third-year outside linebacker Justin Houston, part of an aggressive, blitzing pass rush that leads the NFL in sacks. 

Smith, who has lost only eight of his last 40 starts and hasn’t dropped a game in more than 13 months, is nonetheless regarded more as a “game manager” than a quarterback who grabs headlines with gaudy statistics.

“I can’t speak to what went on last season or the past few years, because I wasn’t here, but I know this is an environment that is about winning and learning from the past, but not dwelling too much on it,” Smith said. “The guys who have been here talk about a different kind of culture, so I guess that it is. But it’s definitely a winning, steady culture. We’re not the most glamorous team, I guess, but that’s not important.”

Some critics have suggested that the Chiefs, who had never before won their first nine games in any season, might be the worst 9-0 team in league history. The slight is probably a tad overstated, but Smith, who has never thrown more than 18 touchdown passes in a season, acknowledged that the Chiefs aren’t exactly poster boys for the high-tech, high-octane way the game is played these days.

Kansas City is only 17th in the league in offensive scoring, is just 24th statistically in total offense, and doesn’t rank among the top 10 teams in rushing or passing. But the Chiefs thrive on defense, where they have given up fewer points than any other team in the league. They have not allowed more than 17 points in a game, tying an NFL record for the longest such streak, and have held three opponents under 10 points. Their offense is best noted for the fact that the same man, tailback Jamaal Charles, is the only player in the NFL to lead his club in both rushing and receptions. What most defines the team, though, are two things: resourcefulness and resilience.

The Chiefs lead the NFL in takeaways (23), fewest turnovers (eight) and turnover differential (plus-15). The defense has scored four touchdowns on interception returns and another two on fumble recoveries. More than one-third of the team’s points (78 of 215) have come on takeaways. Almost as impressive: The Chiefs have outscored opponents in the fourth quarter, “winning time,” as star free safety Eric Berry calls it, 70-17. 

Of the 15 franchises that opened a season 9-0 over the past 30 years, 10 went to the Super Bowl and six won it. The modest Chiefs aren’t about to make predictions about hoisting the Lombardi Trophy for the second time in team history, but they acknowledge this has been a year of redemption.

“To be where we’re at a year after (Belcher’s death),” Berry said, “says a lot about the character here. It could have gone toxic, with the memories, all of the (bad) stuff that had happened to us. Instead, it’s a healthy, great environment. It’s quite a recovery and turnaround.”