Kansas City Chiefs Rewatch: 2010 Wild Card Round vs Ravens

The Kansas City Chiefs made it to the playoffs for the first time since the 2003 season. Winning the AFC West meant that Arrowhead Stadium got to play host in the Wild Card round, where the 12-4 Baltimore Ravens would be rolling in.

Year two of the Todd Haley era was a much better one than his inaugural season. By bringing in offensive coordinator Charlie Weis and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel, the Kansas City Chiefs were a much improved team in 2010.

They went 10-6 in year two under Haley and won the division. This made Chiefs fans feel good about the direction of the team moving forward.

How would the first playoff game under Haley go? Find out in the latest rewatch.

WILD CARD ROUND VS RAVENS: JANUARY 9TH, 2011

Jim Nantz and Phil Sims were on the call, as the Kansas City Chiefs hosted their first playoff game since 2003. Right away, Nantz noted that they hadn’t won a playoff game since 1993. Really glad I don’t have to hear that stupid stat anymore.

Baltimore got the ball first and had a nice drive that ate off over five minutes of clock time and ended with a field goal. After a three and out followed by Joe Flacco fumbling with Tamba Hali recovering, the Chiefs got the ball back and Jamaal Charles broke off for a 41 yard touchdown run to make it a 7-3 game.

That was it as far as offensive production went for the Chiefs in this game, as they’d fail to put up anymore points in what became a Baltimore blowout win. It was only 10-7 Ravens at the half, but they exploded in the second half, scoring another 20 points and winning it with ease at Arrowhead, ending the KC Chiefs’ resurgent season.

Aside from the Hali recovered fumble and the Charles touchdown, there was very little to enjoy in the Wild Card game. Matt Cassel was atrocious, completing only nine passes for 70 yards while getting picked off three times and sacked another three times.

Charles rushed for 82 yards off of nine carries and had the touchdown, but half of his yardage came on that long touchdown run. Thomas Jones‘ season continued to peter out, as he had only 15 yards on five carries.

After what had been a nice season, the Kansas City Chiefs bowed out of the playoffs early once again. The Ravens truly were the better team and it wasn’t a close competition. Just imagine how much worse this game would have been had it been in Baltimore. Yikes.

REMEMBER THAT GUY?

• Tony Moeaki led the Chiefs in receiving with 22 yards. Twenty-two yards…
• Tyson Jackson had half a sack.
• Willis McGahee rushed for 44 yards for Baltimore.
• Todd Heap absolutely torched the Chiefs secondary, tallying ten catches for 108 yards.

Even though the 2010 season had been an enjoyable one for Chiefs fans, this game showed us what this team truly was. They were so inconsistent and despite playing well at home for nearly all of the season, they dropped their final two home games of the season and crumpled under pressure.

Winning the division and making the playoffs in only his second year as the head coach made fans believe Todd Haley could be the guy this team needed, but the playoff performance really did bring to light a lot of the team’s issues. Not many Chiefs fans honestly probably thought KC would win this game, but they also probably didn’t think they’d lose 30-7 while their quarterback would complete just nine passes.

After a great season, Cassel reverted back to his 2009 form and we’d see in the coming seasons that the 2010 season was a result of Weis’ play calling. He was not a good quarterback, but somehow his 2010 season was one of the best in franchise history to that point (and still is considered one of the best honestly).

With the 2010 season rewatches wrapped up, I’ll be taking the next week off to cover the 2020 NFL Draft before I start on the 2011 season. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed these to this point and the 2011 season will be covered, but I need a week off from doing these. Plus, the first two games in 2011 were blowout Chiefs losses, so I can’t say that I’m too sad about putting those off for another week.

Final thoughts on the 2010 Kansas City Chiefs season: It was fun to see the team win games and make the playoffs even if the team we saw get blown out in the playoffs was probably a better indicator as to who they were. Charles and Jones made for a fun running back tandem and Dwayne Bowe had a season for the ages.

It’s a bummer it ended on such a sour note, but it’s still regarded as one of the more fun Chiefs seasons. The team started the decade off on a winning note and we all know that they would end the decade on a winning note as well (and started the 2020s on a winning note too!).