Why a random Dolphins-49ers game last week speaks volumes about the Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs had the day off Sunday, absent from the NFL’s slate of 12 games a day after beating the Texans.

Yet the best example of their long-standing supremacy — or the clearest example of the difficulty in achieving it, at least — arrived during the Sunday afternoon window.

The Dolphins beat the 49ers, 29-17.

Huh?

Let me explain. We know the Chiefs’ peaks are unmatched over a generation — they’re the first team in 20 years to repeat as Super Bowl champions. They’ve won three of the last five Super Bowls. Participated in four of the last five. We don’t need to argue the trophies. There are enough of them to make the argument for us.

But what else is difficult — which the 49ers proved once more Sunday — is the absence of the valleys.

A loss to the Dolphins on Sunday eliminated the 49ers from playoff contention. They’re 6-9 and will finish the season with two meaningless games.

A year ago, they were playing the most meaningful game in sports.

Against the Chiefs.

Against the team that, one year later, remains 14-1 and can clinch the AFC’s No. 1 seed and a playoff bye with a win in Pittsburgh on Christmas Day.

Against a team squarely in the Super Bowl mix.

Still.

It’s a model of consistency, which you know. But its singularity is what makes it remarkable.

The Chiefs have won three Super Bowls during this era, and they followed the initial two by returning right back to the big game the following year. (We’ll see what this postseason brings.)

But to the contrary, the three teams the Chiefs beat in those Super Bowls (the 49ers, Eagles and then 49ers again) have combined for zero playoff wins the following season.

Zero.

The 49ers haven’t even made the playoffs either season after losing to the Chiefs in the NFL’s championship game.

For all of the chaos and unpredictability that makes the NFL an inviting product — the 49ers entered this season as division favorites and third favorites to win the Super Bowl, after all — the Chiefs have absorbed a description to the precise opposite.

Consistency, and without fault.

They’ve made the playoffs in 10 straight seasons. They’ve won the AFC West division crown in the last nine of those and reached the Super Bowl in four of the last five.

But more to the specific point here: Their worst season in the last six years is an overtime loss in the AFC Championship Game.

They’ve not trailed once at the end of regulation in any of those six. It’s not only the best running streak in the NFL; it’s the best in the history of the league.

Heck, all but five NFL teams missed the playoffs in one of the last two years alone (and the Chiefs account for one of those five).

The peaks and valleys are built in the fabric of the NFL — it serves as campaign poster for the league itself. Where else can you find success passed from city to city with regularity?

Well, the success has stuck in Kansas City.

And it’s ongoing. This week, some Vegas oddsmakers returned the Chiefs to the top of the list for Super Bowl odds. (Some still have the Lions slightly favored to win the Lombardi Trophy.)

The 49ers’ failure is yet one more reminder, the most recent reminder, of how this thing typically goes — of how the league’s rules have actually intended for this to unfold. The 49ers are not an outlier. There are entire Wikipedia pages devoted to tracking the shortcomings of Super Bowl encores.

The list is not a compilation of coincidences. There is a reason for the trends.

It’s hard to keep elite players together, the existence of a salary cap serving as a prevention tool. Even when you do, unbalanced schedules are designed to make first-place teams face uphill battles before they even leave for training camp.

The how is relevant. It’s Patrick Mahomes, of course. It’s Andy Reid. It’s Travis Kelce.

Those are good places to start, none better than the quarterback. But it’s not the entirety of it.

The Chiefs have made tough decisions to let Pro Bowl talent walk. They’ve traded best-at-their-position kind of talent. They’ve drafted well, though this last April is not the most shining of examples.

They’ve never removed the future from the equation of the present.

A lot can go wrong.

The 49ers have battled injuries. A year earlier, the Eagles lost momentum.

It happens to the Chiefs, too, though. Mahomes is playing through injury. Chris Jones will probably miss Wednesday’s Christmas Day game in Pittsburgh. The offense played without its top two receivers for three months.

And they’re 14-1 — and back where the 49ers are not.

The playoffs.

Again.