KANSAS CITY, Missouri, USA (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs were once the NFL’s Cinderella story, led by the kind coach who couldn’t win in the Super Bowl, the brave quarterback with a voice similar to Kermit the Frog, and the star tight end with great charisma.
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Five years after their first trip to the Super Bowl in five decades, things have changed for the Kansas City team.
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As the Chiefs now prepare to face the Eagles next Sunday in New Orleans with the opportunity to achieve a record with their third consecutive Vince Lombardi Trophy, fans can't stop watching commercials featuring Andy Reid's bushy mustache. They hear Patrick Mahomes' voice practically everywhere. And Travis Kelce? He's now dating the biggest pop star on the planet.
Do NFL fans prefer the Eagles over the Chiefs?
All of that and more has contributed to a deep sense of fatigue that has caused many NFL fans to turn against them.
"The fatigue of the Chiefs was inevitable," explained Mike Lewis, author of "Fandom Analytics" and marketing professor at Emory University. "Before Mahomes, the Chiefs were a secondary team, a small-market team that was never a consistent champion. As the Chiefs became a dynasty, they became the team to beat. Now they are the team that prevents other fans from reaching the promised land."
"All dynasties inspire fatigue and hatred of good character because it is exhausting to lose against the same guys over and over again," said Lewis.
The Chiefs are the new Patriots
In that sense, Lewis said, the Chiefs have taken on the role that Bill Belichick and Tom Brady's Patriots had for more than two decades: another franchise that once struggled but found the right combination of coach and quarterback and became a dynasty.
Mahomes and Kelce are the most visible members of the most successful franchise in the NFL, so of course they hear what fans say about them, especially when the quarterback and tight end team up for celebrity golf tournaments and other events.
They have their share of fans. Everyone still wants their photo or autograph. But they also hear a lot from their detractors.
Mahomes is aware and even this week leading up to the Super Bowl he acknowledged that he felt the same way during the New England dynasty. "It's funny because I was that guy. As a kid, I was a fan of the Cowboys and hated the Patriots. Now I appreciate the greatness of the great Patriots more because I see how difficult it was to do what they did."
Even when those who believe in conspiracies claim that NFL officials help Kansas City win.
That was one of the prevailing stories from the recent American Conference final, although almost all the data, whether the number of penalties, penalty yards, or the timing of when the flags were thrown, proved otherwise.
However, all of those detractors seem to have galvanized the Chiefs, as well as their fan base. Take the urban clothing brand based in Kansas City, Made Mobb, which sells a line of t-shirts and hoodies in Chiefs colors that simply say: "Villains." Another clothing company, Charlie Hustle, has shirts that say: "Kansas City Versus The World."
Fascination and saturation
Turn on the TV and there's Reid, eating chicken nuggets or designing the "bundlerooskie" for State Farm insurance company. Or Mahomes, promoting Subway, watching TV with the Coors Light bear, or throwing a ball across the field with his Oakley glasses on. Or Kelce, hosting game shows and appearing on "Saturday Night Live".
None of that is surprising when you consider that a study by the digital marketing agency Hennessey Digital at the end of last year found that Kelce was the most marketable player in the NFL. Mahomes was right behind him.
Part of that saturation is a byproduct of Kelce's relationship with pop star Taylor Swift, which has created thousands, if not millions, of new Chiefs fans, but has also alienated other NFL fans.
Over the past 18 months, there have been complaints about game broadcasts constantly showing Swift in the stadium suites, often with famous friends like WNBA star Caitlin Clark.
With all that, the tendency of the rest of the NFL fans is to support the Eagles' victory over the Chiefs. It's not that the Philadelphia team is very likable, but it's because on the other side there is the new "villain."