I Missed The Entire Game 

Being a Kansas City Chiefs fan living in Milwaukee means that I often times have to deal with the fact that I don't always get to see my team play on TV. That's ok, because I make due with the Internet radio feed that I have. This last Sunday though, the local CBS affiliate had the Chiefs game against Oakland, and I was thrilled.

It started out being mostly a defensive battle (as the Chiefs offensive line is still having issues getting it together), but I was enjoying the game a lot. Then at the end of the game, Oakland was driving to score a touchdown and take a 3 point lead. That's when the game went away. An announcement came on saying that due to contractual obligations, they had to switch to the beginning of the Green Bay Packer game which hadn't actually started yet. Instead I got to watch about 5 minutes of Packers pre-game while the last 2 minutes of Chiefs game was going.

As it turns out, the last 2 minutes of the Chiefs game was the entire game. Oakland did score, and then the Chiefs got the ball back and had an amazing drive down the field. Then in the last play of the game, with the Chiefs on the 1 yard line, Dick Vermeil decided to go for the win instead of kicking the tying field goal and going into over time. They didn't do anything fancy either. They went straight I formation, and right over top. It was like watching Marcus Allen play again.

It was an incredibly brave decision. I'm sure plenty of fans today are talking about how they would have done the same thing. Of course, had Larry Johnson not made it over the pile, those same people would be calling Dick a fool. I missed it all... and I'm pissed. I had to settle for watching highlights of it on NFL Prime Time on ESPN.

My one comment on Dick's call is this. That call shows the incredible amount of trust that they have in Larry Johnson. I think had Priest not been injured, the decision would have been 10 times easier to make. But the fact that Dick was just as willing to put the game in Larry Johnson's hands says everything about that running back, and his future with the team.