Chiefs beat the Bears! Chiefs beat the Bears!

Of interest re: the Chiefs/Rams exhibition game September 1, 1967 – the Chiefs actually led the Rams 24-13 at halftime & that was with Pete Beathard at QB, Len Dawson reportedly held out due to the flu (Dawson previously ‘had’ the flu leading up to August 19 when KC beat the Bears, as did Beathard then.)

Reality was no flu: Stram said he wanted to ‘give Beathard some work’ – moreso KC was ‘showcasing’ Beathard vs the Rams for future trade and 5 weeks later he was traded to the Oilers. Too, Pete had starred at USC as had KC’s Mike Garrett, which was also a reason for playing Pete extensively the game – not to mention Pete was a better scrambler than Dawson & the Fearsome Foursome might have injured Lenny the KC starter before their season opener a week later .

Point being KC was winning vs the Rams in LA at their own stadium with their backup QB Beathard. The final score of 44-24 Rams was a case the Chiefs easing up & LA being embarrassed the first half. Too, KC backups were worked over in the 2nd half and many mistakes were made, if said be more mental errors, lack of motivation/letdown after being up big or Ram pride kicking in, debatable.

Stram always loved to play his vets/win every game, exhibition or not. Late KC LB Sherrill Headrick was quoted as saying Stram (paraphrasing) ‘played us too much in the exhibitions. Our legs would be shot before the regular season even concluded.’

Still, leading 24-13 and coming on top of the Chiefs beating the Bears 66-24 & the Raiders 48-0 previous 2 weeks & having outscored their opposition 138-37 in just 2 1/2 games, I felt KC was the best team in pro football at that point in time. That was dis-proven for whatever reason, course the regular season.

As the regular season unfolded it has been speculated the Chiefs ‘stepped back to admire their work’ as one scribe said. The Raiders went on to the Superbowl with just a single loss, Rams lost just 1 game as well till they met GB an playoff game… the Chiefs meanwhile were beaten 5 times that year. I still can’t believe it because the ONLY game all season that they probably would’ve lost anyway was a late season Thanksgiving Day game in KC. By then, an confident Raiders team wasn’t going to be stopped by anyone, till they met GB in the Superbowl.

Thus 1967 is the most disappointing season Chiefs history for me, due to their under-performing after their great ’66 season. They went through five Centers 1967 due to injury, shot themselves in the foot all year long & to some extent were the victim of improvements by other AFL teams & as referenced earlier a bit of the ‘all we have to do is throw our shoes out on the field to win’ attitude. These sentiments were expressed to me by various persons then involved. The normal in season ‘drama’ each team lives through was a factor as well; I won’t elaborate on said here reference the Chiefs.

Upshot: the better AFL teams 1967, KC, OAK, SD and NY could play with ANY NFL team thence. By 1968 & ongoing the difference in talent level between the two leagues was essentially a wash on any given Sunday, all teams each league considered.

Sorry to ramble, but how I love(d) and remember the AFL! (and my Chiefs… today’s ‘game’ pales in comparison, my opine.)