1971 Kansas City Chiefs Season

it all began in sunny san diego where hanks rams chiefs opened the season by racing to a 14 to nothing halftime lead over the charges [Music] in the second half the aroused charges turned the game around as san diego quarterback john hadel produced three second half touchdowns to upset the chiefs 21-14 the kansas city chiefs have been very successful over the years because hank stram sees to it that the chiefs consistently surprised their opponents with formations deception and execution against the chargers the chiefs left san diego dazed and confused throughout the first half with an assortment of half back options and wide open receptions by the chiefs wonder horse otis taylor number 89. [Music] [Applause] the chief's lizard back scored two touchdowns warren mcvay slithered six yards for one of them but much to the chief's dismay that was it after a one-year layoff sid gilman returned to coach the chargers and he raised several eyebrows with many of his off-season trades and draft choices what the chargers have lacked in recent seasons is a consistent pass rush but john tanner number 85 a young draft choice and ron east number 77 part of the lance all worth trade with dallas seemed to provide immediate help for second year veteran tom williams number 87 and steve delong number 82. these men helped shut out the chiefs for the second half and while the crowd loved it there was much more to come [Music] with exciting running back dicky post traded to denver gilman is looking to rookie mike montgomery number 23 to take up the slack with four minutes gone in the third quarter montgomery took hagel's 39-yard pass into the end zone where he suddenly remembered what to do with the ball trailing 14-7 hadel teamed up with yet another newcomer veteran wide receiver jerry levias number 25. levias came from houston and he was publicly very unhappy at the time of the trade but after his 37-yard touchdown tied the score he looked anything but disgruntled but gilman was due even more plaudits as a chief during the glory years mike garrett number 20 was among the most popular players after being traded to san diego he threatened to quit to play pro baseball and during the game his friends on the chiefs defense must have made him remember that [Music] but after hadel converted a third and 15 situation on a pass to walker gillette number 84 mike garrett stepped up and discovered why he still plays football with first and 10 at the chiefs 26 he won the game [Music] the season is of course very young and the chargers newcomers have yet to perform for a sustained period of time but for garrett levios east and of course gilman it's a new beginning and coming from behind to beat the chiefs 21-14 is a great way to begin any way you look at it [Music] [Applause] the second week in houston two euler quarterbacks received equal treatment from the kansas city defense as the chiefs picked up their first victory of the season 20 to 16. as strange as it seemed home plate was the place to cross when the kansas city chiefs rolled into oakland's combination baseball football stadium last week unfortunately for the chiefs it was the powerful raiders who would do most of the plate crossing on this day ken stabler and fred baletnikov teamed up early on a 46-yard pass and go and from there the silver and black went [Applause] [Music] stabler to rookie tied in dave casper resulted in a juggling touchdown of the typical oakland miracle type [Music] on defense the raiders went unmolested as 58 monty johnson swooped in as an agent of harassment all afternoon [Music] the chiefs five and six man front challenged stabler to pass and kenny consistently bet the dare this time on a thread the needle catch by number 49 mike cianni who was a bit shaken up but otherwise all right throughout the day raider ball hawks were in full flight and this time number 26 skip thomas pulled the ball down thomas who had two steals for the day drives a white corvette with his nickname dr death painted on the side and last week the doctor called on the chiefs one of his interceptions set up pete banazzak's 20-yard scoring run and the raiders led 20 to nothing [Music] a repeat shows that although banazak went right up the middle he was virtually unscathed in his rock finally the chiefs got on the board when number 99 wilbur young batted down a pass caught it and lope 52 yards to the end zone in denver for week three the chiefs picked off four more interceptions and bronco quarterback don horn was unable to generate a single touchdown in fact the game's only touchdown came about when bobby bell blitzed and defensive end aaron brown found clear sailing all the way to the end zone as the chiefs rolled past denver 16-3 [Applause] [Music] during the 11 years he's coached the chiefs hank stram has lost to the denver broncos exactly twice in 22 outings lou saban has been the party of the second part for seven of those 20 losses and he's getting tired of it both denver and kansas city are very strong defensive teams the chiefs could manage but a total of 160 yards against saban's rocky mountains and cleats and the denver pass rush is legendary [Music] but the chiefs held denver without a first down rushing it was the kind of gain that would be won by the team that made fewest mistakes and for the 21st time it was kansas city [Music] denver seems to have all the ingredients to be a winner but for the second straight week saban has seen his quarterback don horn throw the key interception 10 in the last two games and you better believe he's getting tired of that too considering horn was supposed to be trumpeting denver out of the woods [Music] denver could also use just a little bit of luck they were leading three nothing in the first quarter when linebacker dave washington number 56 recovered a fumble of the chief 22. two plays later at the start of the second quarter horn was blindsided by bobby bell and aaron brown number 87 plucked the ball from the air and waltzed 68 yards to the game's only touchdown [Music] three interceptions and three field goals later the chiefs made it 21 of 23 games against denver and you never heard of any indians doing any better than that [Music] week four brought the kansas city home opener and although the chiefs had won two straight following their opening loss in san diego quarterback len dawson and the offense had not quite managed to get the attack together [Music] [Applause] [Music] trailing 10 to nothing in their rematch with san diego hank straham's offense came alive first with jim otis the recently acquired 220-pound fullback from ohio state then another otis came alive wide receiver otis taylor number 89. a third touchdown was added by warren mcvay as the chiefs exploded for 31 straight points and avenged their only loss by running away from the charges 31-10 it was the home opener for the kansas city chiefs a team which after three out of town previews was tied for first place on the strength of its defense and a team still in search of an offense the kansas city defense can do everything well but they're not invincible as former chief minibank mike garrett again proved garrett knows how to use every inch of kansas city's municipal stadium on opening day in san diego the chiefs had led 14-nothing before losing last week the chargers led 10-nothing before the chief shut them out for the rest of the day [Applause] [Music] at first san diego's new improved pass rush gave lynn dawson a rough time but dawson counteracted the rush with quick traps up the middle by wendell hayes number 38. the chief's first touchdown came as dawson faked a run rolled out and fired to jim otis in the end zone [Music] [Applause] kansas city control the rest of the game due in good part to the return of form of ed podlak number 14. [Music] hodolac's versatility is vital to the kansas city offense [Music] just as vital of the chiefs is the ability of wide receiver otis taylor to get open and for lynn dawson to find it [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] last sunday with all parts functioning perfectly the chiefs rolled to a 31-10 victory by far their best showing today but they still could take lessons from mike garrett on how to navigate beyond the end zone [Music] game five brought the pittsburgh steelers and the monday night national television audience lynn dawson threw for three more touchdowns including the 200th of his career and the first in the career of hankstram's top draft choice elmo wright [Music] but the story of the game was the phenomenal performance of otis taylor who caught six passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns as the chiefs won their fourth straight victory 38 to 16. washington has won the way of most winners by making few mistakes but on their first play of the game their fine running back larry brown fumbled and willie lanier recovered on the washington 28. [Music] this would be only the beginning for willie lanier mcvay but following the touchdown it backfired as kurt knight's kick was taken by robert holmes who returned it to the 45 giving his team excellent field positions on this series dawson burned by the pass twice stuck to the ground ed podolack got a first down in enemy [Music] territory [Music] but several plays later on third down podolak was hit for a loss by verland biggs and from the 39-yard line jan stenerud tried a field goal the nerveless norwegian had changed the score to seven to three and a nervous george allen urged his team to regain momentum and attempted a long field goal and what he succeeded in doing in kickoffs he failed to do on his field goal attempt or his short kick was taken by warren mcvay who weaved his way 51 yards to the 47. despite mcvay's big play kansas city again was unable to move the ball on george allen's defense washington had a reprieve the other way unable to pass it all in the first half dawson began to find the mark otis taylor made his initial catch of the game then dawson picked out his other wide receiver rookie elmo wright and fired a strike to the chief's first draft pick another view of this big gainer shows the dawson set up and through quickly he fired past a lunging defender right into wright's hands [Applause] though he was finally having success in the air dawson kept the skins defense honest with a run and podolac carved out another chunk of 20. and with it first intent on the redskins 25 lenny the cool got hot again with plenty of time to throw he fired another strike to otis taylor this time for a touchdown hank scram's big play attack had looked well oiled for the first time in the game and the chiefs now trailed 17-13 momentum is perhaps the key intangible in pro football you miss nine of ten but that one gets you on the board quick this is exactly what happened dawson kept going long and finally hit elmo wright for 50 yards [Music] [Applause] an isolated view of lenny dawson on the play showed the cool chief quarterback somewhat pleased at the result two plays later dawson went back to right and hit him for the score wright ran his own special pattern once in the end zone the elmo shuffle the quick striking chiefs had again turned momentum 180 degrees and the game was now tied at 20. with 10 minutes left kilmer was content to stick to game plan even though the chiefs had stifled their ground game haraway and brown soon found again there was no place to run no place to hide against curly kulp and company [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] without the threat of charlie taylor kilmer went for shorter passes but an isolated view of kilmer showed the results to be negative the chief's defense had held again surprisingly dawson went to his ground game for six straight plays this is another virtue of the big play attack he had the defense looking pass all day and he crossed them up with runs around the flanks six straight times with podolak and mcvay doing the work the defense now thoroughly confused dawson jumped on them for one final shocker a deep post to none other than otis taylor covered man for man by fischer it was no contest a perfect pass an amazing reception and the kansas city chiefs had taken the lead [Music] on a repeat watch dawson fake to wendell hayes to pull in the secondary and keep his eye on his target despite a charging lineman his pass was true thrown high and away from the defender taylor's beautiful one-hand catch was the capper to another great day for the seven-year man from prairie view taylor is not the chief's tallest man but he is the biggest chief of them all he has consistently made the big plays that have turned games around and he was on the verge of winning another one for kansas city or dropped kilmer [Music] on this final series of the game billy kilmer relives some of the frustration he had known in the past but had forgotten in his first five victories of 1971 [Music] fourth and fifteen the chiefs dug in for one last stand [Music] [Applause] billy kilmer dug in for one last try [Music] it was all over and cornerback jim marsalis let everyone know it as he watched his offense run down the final seconds coach hank scram must have been well satisfied little genius had done it again stram lenny the cool the big o and a rock hard defense had masterminded this victory stram's first ever over an nfc team in regular seasons [Music] week number six brought the red hot washington redskins the only unbeaten team in pro football coach george allen quarterback billy kilmer and wide receiver charlie taylor engineered a first half onslaught which had the redskins looking unbeatable with a 17-6 half-time lead [Music] [Applause] in the fourth quarter on third and 18 len dawson turned to a big playtailer of his own otis taylor dawson then showed his increasing confidence in elmo wright and wright came through to tie the score at 20 to 20. in the final minutes with the score still tied glenn dawson threw deep for otis taylor taylor's great clutch play climaxed his second consecutive great game hanks graham's chiefs had won their fifth straight and after six games their record was as good as any in-pro football [Music] time has passed and in oakland dolly was a year older her birthday wish was of course that the raiders would beat the chiefs and take over sold possession of first place in the afc west and last week at the party it was time to renew all acquaintances as ben davidson dropped in on lynn dawson and it was a time for raider rookie jack tatum number 31 to show what he's learned in half the nfl season [Music] and as always it was time for the otis taylor show taylor's big plays in ed podolak's second touchdown gave kansas city a 20-10 lead and oakland was in trouble all afternoon daryl lamonica was ineffectual against the chiefs and his play left the raiders uninspired [Music] and so midway in the last quarter it was time for george blanda [Music] and it took george just two plays to put oakland on the board [Music] raymond chester grabbed one pass despite double coverage and fabulous fred belletnikov grabbed the touchdown blanda later added a field goal that made the final 20 20. and the only present dolly got for her birthday was that george blanda became the all-time career scoring leader in the nfl [Music] for week seven the chiefs traveled to oakland where as usual with the raiders it was a story of three quarterbacks but this time none of the three was able to accomplish much it was a day for collecting bruises and not much more the game ended in a tie but the chiefs lost their top runner ed podolak with a leg injury [Music] new york shea stadium last week was the site of the untying of the afc west the injury rack jets had won only two games were last in offense next to last in defense and were able to start only three regulars on their defensive team the wind was gusting to 35 miles per hour and the stage was set for an upset on the game's first series league leading punter gerald wilson fumbled and the jets had the opening to their only touchdown rookie runner john riggins then rampaged 25 yards to the kansas city 4. jet touchdowns have been a rare sight this season emerson boozer scored the only one last sunday [Music] when kansas city regained possession lynn dawson looked for the nfl's leading yardage consuming machine otis taylor and the chiefs were on the way back for the tying touchdown kansas city used a tight formation with no wide receivers and dawson found rookie runner mike adamly for his first professional touchdown and probably no touchdown is ever remembered as well as the first [Music] for the rest of the game the chiefs roll out only three more points by the reconstructed but suddenly savage jet defense [Music] for both teams it was a day for defense the bob davis-led jets managed just nine yards through the air [Music] [Applause] [Applause] uh trailing by 1310 in the fourth quarter lynn dawson had to cut through the wind to win he managed the second and last completion to taylor but the jets came up with two fourth quarter interceptions to sew up their third victory [Applause] the loss dropped the chief's one-half game behind oakland in the afc west and the following week in new york the only kansas city touchdown was scored by rookie running back mike adamle number 32. the chiefs lost to the jets 13 to 10 and were suddenly out of first place for the first time since the opening week not only were the browns on an unaccustomed losing streak but their opponents the chiefs had not won since three weeks before the chief's running attack was due for a revitalization by the return of ed podolak number 14. [Music] only 15 of the 75 yards covered on this run counted because potalack had stepped on the edge of the sideline at his own 40. the chief's only real touchdown was set up when lynn dawson threw for 24 yards to the world's tallest receiver six foot ten inch morris stroud [Applause] [Music] the touchdown came on a well-executed quick screen to wendell hayes who careened 26 yards to the end zone [Music] with second year man mike phipps at quarterback the browns offense was inconsistent twice phipps was intercepted by cornerback emmett thomas number 18. just about the only bright spot for cleveland was the play of speedy former chief wide receiver frank pitts number 25 it was not until the fourth quarter when bill no knees nelson entered the game that the browns could mount a successful drive frank pitts quickly became nelson's favorite target as he pulled in five passes worth 129 yards against his former teammates cleveland's only score came with only 55 seconds to play when nelson hit tight end milt morin at the goal line despite their fourth straight loss the browns remained tied with pittsburgh for the lead in the afc central while kansas city still trails oakland in the afc west week number nine brought the cleveland browns to kansas city and len dawson managed just enough offense to give the chiefs their first win in three weeks as the chief squeezed by cleveland 13-7 and hank tram became only the fifth coach ever to achieve 100 regular season victories the denver broncos had a new coach jerry smith a new quarterback steve ramsey and a new way to beat the kansas city blitz [Music] number 80 jerry simmons accounted for 153 yards receiving on six catches but he could only set up one field goal for the offense starved broncos whose only other score came on a bolt up the middle by floyd little the rest of the day the new denver offense looked very much like the old denver offense as the chief's defense turned in one goal line stand and three key interceptions [Music] meanwhile the chief's offense was having one of its better days against the tough denver defense lynn dawson started the fireworks with a touchdown strike to tight end maurice [Music] stroud later in the first period wide receiver elmo wright had the best cause for celebration of his young pro career a 69-yard leap hop high step and victory dance [Music] all together lynn dawson bombed the broncos for three touchdowns and almost 300 yards through the air still another touchdown came on a picture-perfect power sweep with number 71 ed buddy leading ed podolak into the end zone ed podolak is an intelligent young man who always hastens to congratulate his escorts [Music] almost overlooked in the chief's offensive torrent was their biggest threat otis taylor who set up the final touchdown with a 40-yard bomb [Music] for the chief's fourth touchdown lynn dawson called on fullback jim otis who is no otis taylor but he gets the job done [Music] in one of the sport's fiercest but most lopsided rivalries the chiefs prevailed for the 22nd time and 24 tries final score kansas city 28 denver 10. next came the rematch with denver and this time it was bombs away for len dawson and the offense first to tight end maurice straud the tallest target in pro football next dawson found elmo wright for one of the fanciest touchdowns of the year dawson's third touchdown pass was also a fancy catch by jim otis as the chiefs dropped denver for the 22nd time in 24 tries days later on thanksgiving day in detroit ed podolak showed that his legs were completely healthy again as he ran for three touchdowns against the lion [Music] detroit quarterback greg landry had a potent weapon of his own in all pro tight end charlie sanders number 88 [Applause] sanders and the lions outscored codilaq and the chiefs 32-21 [Music] week 12 found the chiefs in san francisco for a monday night battle with the first place 49ers len dawson fired away for 263 yards against the tough san francisco defense and once again one man stood out above all others and that one man was otis taylor otis taylor scored both kansas city touchdowns as the chiefs rolled past san francisco [Music] 26-17 and then finally the showdown with oakland for the western division title and what better way to begin than by throwing to all pro otis taylor as usual the entire kansas city front four gave raider quarterback daryl lamonica a rough time so rough that oakland had to call on their old man of america much earlier than usual and george flander was ready with the experience of 22 years in pro football but the chief's defense was just as ready for george blander [Music] the chief led 13-7 until early in the fourth quarter when george blander and marv hubbard drove the raiders to the touchdown which gave oakland the lead 14 to 13. [Music] the last chance for len dawson and the chiefs came with five minutes left in the game trailing by 14 to 13 and 93 yards from the oakland goal [Music] on third and ten dawson found otis taylor in the crowd for 16 yards and the first down four more times darson went for taylor and four more times the chiefs advanced toward the oakland goal [Music] finally an interference penalty for tripping set the stage for place kicker john stenner road and after three runs into the line on fourth and one stenaroot converted one of the most important kicks of his career leading by two points the chief's last moments of doubt were dispelled as george blanda's final desperation pass was intercepted by jim kearney the chiefs had beaten the raiders 16 to 14. they had won their fourth division title in 12 years and as coach hanks ram stated after the game we have had a lot of great victories in our history but this has to rate as one of the greatest [Music] the kansas city chiefs had not won a division title since 1966 when they were the afl's first super bowl team since then their fiercest rivals the oakland raiders had won four straight western division titles last week the chiefs drew first blood with a lynn dawson touchdown pass to otis taylor pro football's top yardage receiver in the early going the oakland attack consisted mainly of a daryl lamonica handoff to marv hubbard who loves to run against the chiefs [Music] for the most part lamonica was ineffective and each of the chief's front four relished taking a shot at him [Music] trailing 10 nothing with 4 16 to go in the first half lamonica was derricked and then came an old guy who had been there before 44 year old george blanda immediately marched the raiders to their first touchdown which came on a sweep by marv hubbard with eight seconds left in the half lynn dawson threw to dennis holman to stop the clock but holman almost scored and almost used up the clock with just one second left the chiefs got a field goal and had 13-7 at the half early in the second half buck buchanan handled blanda like anything but the priceless antique that he is but old george was far from finished cooling the rush with his death screen passes to mar of hubbard planned to again move the raiders goldward on the first play of the fourth quarter blanda threw for rod sherman but johnny robinson interfered [Music] from the one hubbard scored again and the raiders were on top 14 to then with five minutes to play third and ten from his own seven lynn dawson went for otis taylor in one of the game's key plays [Music] three more passes to otis taylor had the ball on the oakland 41 and from there occurred another of the game's big plays jim warren number 20 was charged with interference and after three running plays jan stinner rude put the chiefs back in front 16 to 14 with a minute and a half to play a minute and a half for george planted to work his magic but this was to be kansas city's day to cheer jim kearney intercepted a fourth down desperation pass and hank stram's chiefs had won the west from the raiders for the first time in five years for the chiefs a real cause for celebration for the raiders a time to ponder an unbelievably abrupt conclusion to an unsuccessful run for a pro football championship [Music] at municipal stadium john stenerood used his instep to kick five field goals [Music] while buffalo's john laypoop exhibited the old-fashioned toe for three three-pointers besides the eight field goals both teams showed little offense number 83 willie frazier did his best to imitate the stampede spectaculars of teammate otis taylor but otis later proved there was no substitute for the genuine article buffalo quarterback dennis shaw was no match for roughhouse rookie wilbur young number 99 from tiny william penn college while young showed a rookie's enthusiasm for contact it was wise old pro bobby bell who did the most damage bell turned his interception of a shaw pass into the only touchdown of the game as kansas city overwhelmed the hapless bills 22-9. [Music] christmas day the first playoff game ever held in kansas city and the last pro football game ever held in municipal stadium the western champion chiefs against the eastern champion miami dolphins for once the chief's principal offensive weapon was not otis taylor but ed podolack who played the greatest game of his young career against miami ed podolak rolled up 350 yards in total offense the second best game total ever recorded in pro football history and with the aid of a crushing block by mo mormon number 76 potilak scored the game's first touchdown which gave the chiefs a 10 to nothing first quarter lead in the third quarter a second effort burst by jim otis set up another kansas city touchdown and in the fourth quarter a sensational endorsement elmo wright bomb set up a third kansas city touchdown [Applause] despite the heroics of portal act otis and wright bob griese kept bringing the dolphins back with his passing to paul warfield and with only a minute and a half to play greasy found marv fleming for the touchdown which tied the score at 24. ed podolak took the ensuing kickoff and headed up field [Applause] great play set up a chance for john stenneru to win the game with a field goal from the 32-yard line with only 35 seconds left to play [Music] kansas city and miami were now participants in only the fourth sudden death overtime in pro football history and to begin it the dolphins could not keep the kickoff away from ed potellag but beyond portalx return the chiefs could not move well and so it was up to the kansas city defense in the sixth period with both teams exhausted a counter play sprung larry zonka for his only good game of the day [Applause] and all of the miami dolphins a moment of for the chiefs a moment of horror for every witness to the event a moment forever crystallized in memory oh no no no in the longest pro football game ever played miami had defeated kansas city 27-24 but this could not tarnish the glory of a season of triumph a season in which hank graham had led his team to some of the greatest victories in their history on their way to a 10-3-1 record and the western division title 1971 had been a season of great plays great players and great victories and the chiefs could look forward to their new home at arrowhead knowing that the final season in their old home had truly been a year to remember