This past week the Kansas City Chiefs faced an unprecedented tragedy, the likes of which an NFL team has never faced, when their linebacker Jovan Belcher murdered his girlfriend before taking his own life at the Chiefs facilities.
Kansas City has had a very difficult season and what happened with Belcher only made things worse for the franchise.
The Chiefs have been struggling to get wins this season, coming into this week they were 1-10 and have had eight straight losses. Their lone victory came in week three when they beat the Saints 27-24 in overtime.
Their offense has struggled to score points and their defense has not done the best job at stopping the other team, it has been a difficult season to say the least.
But all of that was on the field, what happened this week made the Chiefs rough season more than just an on the field difficulty. This became something so much bigger than football.
It is always difficult for a team when they lose one of their teammates, especially in the middle of the season, but in this case it was even worse. It’s not every day that a professional football player takes his own life, a very sad situation for a team that has had to deal with plenty of issues this season.
While all of this was going on, Kansas City still had to prepare for their game that was played this past Sunday against the Carolina Panthers at home, just one day after the tragedy.
The Chiefs had gotten through all of their weekly practices and have prepared for this game and then they come to find that one of their teammates has taken his own life, one can only imagine how difficult it must be to play a game under those conditions.
But still, the Chiefs did play their game against the Panthers, and for the first time in over two months, the Kansas City Chiefs came out on top.
They defeated the Panthers 27-21 at home, marking only their second win of the season and their first win at home, which is uncommon of the Chiefs as they are usually one of the toughest teams to beat when playing in their own stadium.
Now the Panthers aren’t much better of a football team, they themselves have struggled this season with a 3-9 record. But what mattered on this day was not the game between Kansas City and Carolina, what mattered on this day wasn’t even football.
Even if the Chiefs had lost by 40 points on Sunday, that is not what mattered; what mattered was that they were able to come out and actually continue to play the game after everything that had transpired.
Of course, the win makes everything a whole lot better, and in a season like the Chiefs are having a simple win is huge. But the fact that the Chiefs were able to rally together and play the game is what should be remembered.
What happened with Belcher was a terrible crime and it is a shame that it took place, but the Chiefs were able to bring a little bit of hope to their city in such a dark time.
Tyler Rollason is a Winder-Barrow High School graduate and mass communications major at the University of West Georgia. You can e-mail comments about this column to tyrollason@yahoo.com.
