Kansas City Chiefs: Ranking every season from 2010-2019
RANKING EVERY SEASON FROM 2010-2019
NUMBER 10 (WORST SEASON): 2012
- Regular Season Record: 2-14
- Playoff Result: None
- Biggest Win: Week 13 vs Panthers (27-21)
- Worst Loss: Week 17 vs Broncos (38-3)
- Team MVP: Jamaal Charles
- Rookie of the Year: Dontari Poe
- Notable Achievements: 6 Pro Bowlers
Oh jeez. Where do we even start when discussing just how horrible the 2012 season was for the Kansas City Chiefs? It was bad all around, but somehow only winning two games wasn’t even the worst part.
For the first 11 weeks of the season, the Chiefs failed to hold a lead in regulation in a single game. They won a week three game against the Saints, but forced the game into overtime and didn’t take the lead until the overtime final. Kansas City didn’t win another game until week 13 and that game happened to come the day after a tragedy.
On December 1st, Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher murdered his girlfriend and then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and turned the gun on himself in front of head coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Scott Pioli.
The Chiefs considered forfeiting the game being held the next day, but instead opted to go forward with it. It ended up being just the second win they’d get all year.
Wins were hard to come by because the offense was an absolute joke, sitting near the bottom in nearly every offensive stat that year. Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn failed to do much at the quarterback position and in turn, their receivers couldn’t get much done either.
Jamaal Charles was the only bright spot on offense, rushing for 1,509 yards (his career high) and five touchdowns while also hauling in a receiving touchdown as well. He deserved so much better that year; He had just five carries for eight yards in a 26-16 loss to the Raiders early in the season. Crennel had no logical explanation for the lack of Charles’ involvement either, which only made the situation worse.
It’s crazy how bad both sides of the football were considering the Chiefs had good players on their roster. We’ve already touched on Charles, but overall the team had six total Pro Bowlers that year, including Charles, Eric Berry, Dustin Colquitt, Tamba Hali, Justin Houston, and Derrick Johnson.
Throughout the 2012 season, Chiefs fans were very vocal with their displeasure of how the team was being run. Planes flew over Arrowhead Stadium urging the front office to relieve Pioli of his duties and in another game, fans cheered when Cassel went down with an injury, which led to all kinds of national scrutiny.
With all of the bad that came during the 2012 season, it did lead to some good moments for the Chiefs in the long run. The 2-14 record gifted them the number one pick in the 2013 NFL Draft where they selected offensive tackle Eric Fisher, who has blossomed into a solid left tackle for the franchise.
The biggest silver lining from the abomination that was the 2012 season was that it paved the way for the Chiefs to hire Andy Reid as their next head coach. Reid took over in 2013 and turned things around immediately.
So yes, while the 2012 season was a terrible time for Chiefs fans, it had to happen in order for things to get turned around. It was the last losing season Kansas City had and fans know that things can always be worse with their team because we all sat through the misery that was the 2012 season.
2012 was not only the worst season of the decade for the Kansas City Chiefs, but the worst season of all time.