Ten years. That’s how long the Kansas City Chiefs dominated January football. Every season, it has been the same script: playoffs, deep runs, championships. But then 2025 happened. No postseason, no redemption arc, just heartbreak. And NFL analyst Colin Cowherd couldn’t resist the victory lap.

“NFL playoffs have been just fine without the Chiefs,” Cowherd fired off on his X handle.

Interestingly, Cowherd might have had a point. So far, Wild Card weekend has already delivered absolute chaos, with 4 of the 5 games coming down to the wire. Fourth quarters averaged a massive 25.7 points across four thrillers. First quarters averaged just 8.25 points. Third quarters averaged even lower, at about 4.5 points. Teams felt each other out early, then unleashed absolute mayhem when it mattered the most.

The Los Angeles Rams vs. the Carolina Panthers game epitomized this madness. Trailing 31-27 with under three minutes left, Matthew Stafford helped the Rams march downfield. He found Colby Parkinson on the seventh play for 19 yards with 38 seconds left on the clock. Final verdict: Rams 34-31.

The comeback orchestrated by the Chicago Bears against the Green Bay Packers was even more ridiculous. Down 21-6 entering the fourth, Caleb Williams went nuclear. The Bears quarterback threw two fourth-quarter touchdowns while his squad added 10 more points on the board. The game winner from Williams went to D.J. Moore with 1:43 left, a 25-yard bomb that capped off a 25-point explosion. The Bears became only the fourth postseason team to overcome a deficit of 15+ at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The Buffalo Bills and the Jacksonville Jaguars fought for four fourth-quarter lead changes, tied for the most in playoff history. Josh Allen kept delivering for the Bills despite multiple injuries, and sealed the 27-24 victory with a 1-yard rushing touchdown with 1:04 left on the clock.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco 49ers pulled off the upset that few could have predicted. The Philadelphia Eagles led 16-10 heading into the fourth quarter. Two lead changes later, Brock Purdy fired off a 4-yard pass to Christian McCaffrey with 2:54 left on the clock. Philly tried to fight back, but ultimately had an incomplete pass on fourth down from the 21-yard line. From there, the Niners took it home.

Only the New England Patriots vs. the Los Angeles Chargers game felt fairly predictable. The Pats held a lead throughout the game, and Drake Maye sealed it 16-3 with a single touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Cowherd may be catching heat for suggesting the NFL playoffs are “just fine” without the Chiefs, but the numbers back his point. Last year, with Kansas City in the mix, five of six Wild Card games were blowouts or decided early, with only Lions–Rams delivered real drama (ending 24-23). This postseason has flipped the script.

Aside from the Patriots vs. Chargers game, the entertainment value was sky-high, even without Kansas City. But no amount of Wild Card highlights could deter the Chiefs Kingdom. The fact is that the Chiefs are not in the playoffs for the first time since 2014, and Cowherd couldn’t resist taking a dig. When fans noticed his take, they just didn’t buy it.

Chiefs Kingdom claps back at Colin Cowherd

Colin Cowherd has been hammering the Kansas City Chiefs for years now. Back in 2016, he compared the team’s success to a “waste management.” Boring, but effective. More recently, during the last postseason, he accused franchise quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs of manipulating officials. “They leverage and manipulate referees,” Cowherd said after a playoff win. Even with this track record, his latest dig hasn’t been taken well by the Chiefs Kingdom.

One fan dropped context: “Wild Card round has frequently been fine without the Chiefs. In five of the last seven years, they were sitting on their couch, waiting to see who they’d play.”

The logic was that with the Chiefs owning the top seed of the AFC in recent years, they could simply enjoy their bye weeks. Those don’t count as “missing” playoffs.

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“Jason Mclntyre is working his way into your brain. You don’t need to hate the Chiefs for no reason. You should be able to enjoy a weekend of football and not think about the Chiefs,” a second comment read. 

McIntyre, Colin Cowherd’s co-host on ‘The Herd’, has often shared hot takes against the Chiefs. McIntyre had gone viral this offseason for predicting that the Chiefs would miss the playoffs. From there on, another fan took it a notch further, taking a shot at Cowherd’s show.

“Everyone’s life is more than fine without your boring a** show, but no one’s keeping tabs,” the comment said.

Meanwhile, the timing of this latest dig baffled many, since the Chiefs have been out of the playoffs since Week 15 of the regular season. One fan did not hesitate to point this out as a silver lining.

“Chiefs been out of it since Week 15 and here you are still talking about them. #Chiefs own the nfl,” the fan shared.

But the comment that cut through the heart of it all was also the one that encapsulated how the Chiefs Kingdom feels right now. They have an early offseason for the first time, and their franchise quarterback is on the mend from a brutal injury. Chances are that a massive rebuild awaits them.

“You don’t realize the Chiefs fans are sitting back, relaxing for the first time in seven years,” wrote the fan. “It’s nice and we will be back.”

Colin Cowherd may keep taking shots at the Chiefs, but the Kingdom isn’t on board. They know the reality of their franchise: even eliminated, Kansas City still dominates football conversations.