Kansas City Chiefs: Top Five Monday Night Football Games

5. September 28, 1970; defeated Baltimore Colts 44-24

The first one. Well, the second Monday Night Football game ever, but the first in Chiefs’ franchise history. A tip of the cap to all Chiefs loyals who were watching this one back when.

That’s right, the Baltimore Colts.

Mind you this Unitas-led Colts team would lose just one other game that season en route to becoming Super Bowl Champions.

A 35-year-old Len Dawson versus a 37-year-old Johnny Unitas. Lenny The Cool versus The Golden Arm. The defending Super Bowl champs versus the eventual Super Bowl champs. Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

The Chiefs started early on the Colts and controlled the game to the tune of 31-0 in the second quarter. The Chiefs wouldn’t stop there, eventually building a 41-10 lead powered by four Dawson touchdown passes and two Jan Stenerud field goals.

There’s not a quarterback in the world who was going to come back from that deficit against such a nasty Chiefs defense. Jim Lynch. Bobby Bell. Willie Lanier. Johnny Robinson. Emmitt Thomas. Curley Culp. Jim Kearney. A walking, stalking Ring Of Honor.

The Chiefs turned the Colts over seven times. They picked off five passes and posted seven sacks. Dawson finished 9-of-12 for 152 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.

Mind you this Unitas-led Colts team would lose just one other game that season en route to becoming Super Bowl Champions. The Chiefs obliterated a team that would finish 11-2-1, on their own field, on Monday night.

Here’s a Bobby Bell sack from that game (via YouTube.com):

The Chiefs would finish 7-5-2 that season, and I’m not old enough to tell you why or how, but they made a fine first impression on Monday Night Football.

Next: 41-14