Round 1: '91-EAGLES SOAR BY '02-CHIEFS 39-24

On a cold blustery day where the temperatures only reached a high of 29 degrees, the Kansas City fans came out to support their beloved Chiefs at a jam packed Arrowhead Stadium. As they entered the stadium, all the talk among the fans was wondering just how good the Philadelphia defense really was. Every Chief fan knew that if they could just score 20 points that they would have a great shot of getting a first round victory in this tournament.

The talk among the Eagle fans was quite different. They knew that they had a great defense, but at the same time they also were quite aware of how explosive the Chief offense was. With an Eagle offense that many knew was not in the same league as Kansas City’s, a scoring fest was out of the question if they were to win.

On the very first play from scrimmage many Chief fans likely almost had a heart attack. Trent Green was intercepted by Andre Water and it appeared that the Eagles had the ball at the Chiefs 11 yard line. No one seen the flag down on the field though and the Eagles were called for holding giving the ball back to the Chiefs. “I told you someone held our receiver said a KC fan in the stands”. Even though the Chiefs got the ball back they were forced to punt plays later. Don Stryzinski’s punt would pin the Eagles at the 3 yard line.

Philadelphia would be the first to make a crucial mistake as Jim McMahon (23-35-319) would get intercepted by Duane Clemons who would race 17 yard to paydirt to give the Chiefs a quick 7-0 lead. “We are going to kill them” was heard from a fan. The Chiefs would add a 35 yard FG later to give them a 10-0 lead after one quarter of play.

Trent Green (14-38-241-2TD-4 INT) would find Johnnie Morton for a 14 yard strike early in the second to give the Chiefs a commanding 17-3 lead. Arrowhead was rocking and the fans seemed to forget that it was only 29 degrees outside. McMahon and the Eagles would answer quickly though as he would find Roy Green wide open for a 25 yard strike pulling the Eagles back within 7. Ruzek would add a 43 FG later to pull the Eagles within 17-13 and the crowd went from being booming loud to almost silent. It appeared that this would be the way it would end after one half of football. After a squib kick the Chiefs would begin at its own 24 with just over 25 ticks to go. Three plays later Arrowhead would erupt again as Green threw a perfect strike to Marc Boerigter who split the two defenders and raced 76 yards for a TD to put the Chiefs on top at the half 24-13.

The second half though would be all Eagles as McMahon would hit Calvin Williams for a 22 yard strike to begin the 3rd quarter and pull the Eagles within 24-20. On KC’s next possession, Green would be intercepted by Wes Hopkins at the KC 35 where he would be run out of bounds at the KC 9. McMahon though must not have like having the ball again this early as he returned the favor and threw a pick to Eric Warfield. Neither team was able to generate much the rest of the 3rd quarter but the Eagles did manage to add another Ruzek 30 yard FG to pull within 1 at 24-23.

Things unraveled for the Chiefs in the 4th. Philadelphia would add another Ruzek FG early in the 4th to take a 26-24 lead and for the first time all day the Eagle fans had something to cheer about. They would extend that lead less than a minute later as Green would once again be picked off and one play later McMahon would find Mickey Shuler for a 22 yard strike to go up by 8 32-24. The crucial PAT would be missed and with 6:10 to go KC was still within striking distance to tie the game. All hope ended though when with 5:19 to play KC was forced to punt and Jessie Small pounced on the blocked punt in the end zone basically putting the game away at 39-24.

Eagle fans were heard saying as they were leaving the stadium “how did our bum offense score that many points”. Eagle fans are never happy.

-contributed by Bill Vogt-