MARTY’S CHIEFS
KANSAS CITY FROM 1989-97
When Marty Schottenheimer came to Kansas City in 1989, the Chiefs had been an irrelevant franchise for nearly two decades. For the next nine years, Schottenheimer made Kansas City a consistent contender.
Those Chiefs teams Schottenheimer produced had one of the game’s great outside linebackers, the late Hall of Famer Derrick Thomas and a top pass rusher in Neil Smith. They ran the football behind backs like Christian Okoye, Barry Word and Marcus Allen. They overcame what was often pedestrian quarterback play—with one big, temporary exception–by intelligent play and a good system.
All of which is the long way to say they were well-coached. They were fun to watch. And, as Kansas City fans know all too well, they suffered a lot of playoff heartbreak.
Marty’s Chiefs captures it all. From the overachieving regular seasons to the disappointments of January. From the big wins and consistent regular seasons to some of the aggravating defeats that cost them playoff position.
Read about big games with playoff contending division rivals in the Raiders, Broncos and Chargers. There were Monday Night battles against high-profile teams from Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Watch the arrival of talented young players like Dale Carter on defense and Greg Hill on offense.
Each season from 1989-97 has an individual game-by-game narrative published on TheSportsNotebook.com. Those nine articles have been pulled together for this download and edited to eliminate the most obvious redundancies. Taken collectively, Marty’s Chiefs takes you back to a different time in the NFL.