The inarguable seven most fun moments of the Chiefs 2023 season
Let's look at some of the special moments that made last year great, even as it was a slog at times.
There’s nothing like the quiet time of the NFL offseason to remind someone that they’ve shirked their duties.
That “someone” is me. And that duty is my annual piece on the most fun moments of the Chiefs’ previous season. It’s a celebratory article (or articles, plural) that I love doing every offseason, even the ones where Kansas City didn’t hoist the Lombardi Trophy. And following the most improbable Super Bowl run of the Mahomes era, there are plenty of fun moments to talk about (even following a regular season that was wildly aggravating thanks to the offense’s struggles).
If you’ll recall, last year I wrote a three-part series on the most fun moments of the 2022 season (honorable mentions, moments 12 through 7, and moments 6 through 1). The great fun of this is that it allows us to reminisce about moments, big and small, that perhaps fade from our memories during the course of a long season. Moments can be as large as a Super Bowl-winning catch to as small as a forgotten run in a frigid playoff game. There are no rules as to what makes a moment fun other than my own emotions.
With that in mind, let’s talk about the most fun moments of the Chiefs 2023 season. We’ll start with a bunch of honorable mentions, then look at the seven that stood out above the rest for me. Why seven? because once I had five I realized there were two I absolutely could not leave out, and it’s my list!
Honorable Mentions
-Wide right for the Bills-
Look, I’m not one to delight in the misery of others… generally. But in the case of sports rivalries, I’m willing to make an exception (keep this in mind for the top moment of last season). And watching the Bills ONCE AGAIN fall to the monster at the end of the book was just downright delightful, especially after a season in which the offense had looked mortal enough for people to try and argue that Josh Allen (a terrific QB) was Mahomes’ equal. The Chiefs might be more hated than the Patriots in Buffalo at this point.
-Rashee Rice becoming a DUDE on offense-
Leaving aside off-field stuff that’s been talked to death, it is not an exaggeration to say that Rice saved the 2023 Kansas City Chiefs. The offense was in desperate need of somebody besides Kelce to step up as a pass catcher. They’d tried featuring different guys with no success, and the offense looked like it would be the anchor that would pull the entire team into the abyss. But Rice (with a shoutout to Andy Reid for breaking tendency and altering his offense to fit the rookie WR a bit more as a featured guy) emerged midway through the season as a reliable target who could thrive in Reid’s scheme and be another 3rd down hero for Mahomes. Seeing that happen on the fly and watching the offense start to get a little bit right was the start of the “hey… they could maybe pull this off” feeling late in the season.