"Also, it seems that somebody in the N.F.L.'s league office likes them, because the Chiefs are scheduled to play in more high-profile games this season than any other team. They started the season in São Paulo, Brazil, playing the Los Angeles Chargers, on the vanguard of the N.F.L.'s imperial ambitions. They played the Eagles in Week Two, in a rematch of the Super Bowl on Fox. They play in the prime Sunday-night slot three times, and on Monday Night Football twice."
"There had been a time when a lot of people loved the Chiefs. They were the fun, thrilling underdogs that ended the long, joyless dynasty of the New England Patriots. They had a quarterback who could improvise the way Michael Jordan could dunk. But, as the Chiefs tried for an unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat last season, they became the team that people loved to hate."
The Kansas City Chiefs reached the Super Bowl in 2024, 2023, 2021, and 2020, and nearly achieved five straight before blowing an eighteen-point lead in the 2022 AFC Championship Game. They finished the 2024 regular season 15-2, a record that suggested excellence but also provoked claims that they were not actually very good. The team received heavy national exposure, opening the season in São Paulo and appearing in multiple prime broadcast slots, including a record Fox audience against the Eagles. Early affection for the Chiefs as thrilling underdogs has shifted toward resentment driven by overexposure, celebrity associations, and media saturation.
Read at The New Yorker
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