READ ALL ABOUT KANSAS CITY CHEIFS Established in 1959 as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL) Move to Kansas City in 1963 read more here

Established in 1959 as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL), the Chiefs started playing in 1960 as the Dallas Texans, owned by league founder Lamar Hunt.[12] In 1963, the team moved to Kansas City,[13][14] and adopted its current name.[15][16] The Chiefs joined the NFL in 1970 as a result of the AFL–NFL merger; entering the 2024 season, the team is valued at over US$4.85 billion. After Hunt’s death in 2006, his wife, Norma, and children became legal owners of the team. After Norma’s death in 2023, the Hunt children inherited her stake in the franchise. Clark Hunt, one of the Hunts’ children, has served as chairman and CEO since 2006 and is the ultimate authority over personnel decisions. He is also the team representative at league owner meetings.

The Chiefs were victorious and won three AFL championships, in 1962, 1966, and 1969,[17][18] and were the second AFL team (after the New York Jets) to defeat an NFL team in a Super Bowl when they defeated the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV, which was the final game before the league merger went into full effect. The Chiefs were also the second team, after the Green Bay Packers (whom they played in Super Bowl I), to appear in more than one Super Bowl (and the first AFL team to do so) and the first to appear in the championship game in two different decades. Despite this post-season success, the team failed to find success in the playoffs for decades, including losing ten of eleven playoff games from 1993 to 2018, which included an eight-game losing streak.

Since then, the Chiefs have risen to dynastic success under head coach Andy Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce, and defensive tackle Chris Jones, appearing in five Super Bowls since 2019 and being victorious in three: LIV, LVII, and LVIII.

American Football League
In 1959, Lamar Hunt began discussions with other businessmen to establish a professional football league that would rival the National Football League.[17][22][23] Hunt’s desire to secure a football team was heightened after watching the 1958 NFL Championship Game between the New York Giants and Baltimore Colts.[22][24] After unsuccessful attempts to purchase and relocate the NFL’s Chicago Cardinals to his hometown of Dallas, Texas,[17][25] Hunt went to the NFL and asked to create an expansion franchise in Dallas. The NFL turned him down, so Hunt then established the American Football League and started his own team, the Dallas Texans, to begin play in 1960.
Hunt hired a little-known assistant coach from the University of Miami football team, Hank Stram, to be the team’s head coach[22] after the job offer was declined by Bud Wilkinson and Tom Landry.[22] After Stram was hired, Don Klosterman was hired as head scout, and was credited by many for bringing a wealth of talent to the Texans after luring it away from the NFL, often hiding players and using creative means to land them.
The Texans shared the Cotton Bowl with the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys for three seasons. The Texans were to have exclusive access to the stadium until the NFL put an expansion team, the Dallas Cowboys, there.[22] While the team averaged a league-best 24,500 at the Cotton Bowl, the Texans gained less attention due to the AFL’s relatively lower profile compared to the NFL’s.[22] In the franchise’s first two seasons, the team managed only an 8–6 and 6–8 record, respectively.[26]
In their third season, the Texans tallied an 11–3 record and a berth in the team’s first American Football League Championship Game, against the Houston Oilers.[25][26] The game was broadcast nationally on ABC and the Texans defeated the Oilers 20–17 in double overtime.[25] The game lasted 77 minutes and 54 seconds, which, at the time, was the longest game in the history of professional American Football. It is still the longest championship game in American Football League history.[25]
It turned out to be the last game the team would play as the Dallas Texans. Despite competing against a Cowboys team that managed only a 9–28–3 record in their first three seasons, Hunt decided that the Dallas–Fort Worth media market just couldn’t sustain two professional football franchises.[25][27] He considered moving the Texans to either Atlanta or Miami for the 1963 season.[25] He was ultimately swayed by an offer from Kansas City Mayor Harold Roe Bartle.[25][27][28] Bartle promised to triple the franchise’s season ticket sales and expand the seating capacity of Municipal Stadium to accommodate the team.[25][27][28]
Hunt agreed to relocate the franchise to Kansas City on May 22, 1963,[13][14] and on May 26, the team was renamed the Kansas City Chiefs.[15][25][27][28] Hunt and head coach Hank Stram initially planned to retain the Texans name, but a fan contest determined the new “Chiefs” name in honor of Mayor Bartle’s nickname that he acquired in his professional role as Scout Executive of the St. Joseph and Kansas City Boy Scout Councils, and founder of the Scouting Society, the Tribe of Mic-O-Say.[25][28] Despite the historical use of Native American features, it has been acknowledged that the team’s naming was not a direct reference to Native Americans but only to Bartle’s nickname “Chief”.[29][30] Business Insider journalist Meredith Cash even stated in January 2020 that Bartle “insisted on the team being named after himself” and that “Bartle was known as Chief Lone Bear within Mic-O-Say circles, and eventually the nickname “Chief” caught on among people throughout Kansas City.”[31]
The franchise became one of the strongest teams in the now thriving American Football League,[17] with the most playoff appearances for an AFL team (tied with the Oakland Raiders), and the most AFL Championships (three).[25] The team’s dominance helped Lamar Hunt become a central figure in negotiations with NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle to agree on an AFL–NFL merger.[25][32] In the meetings between the two leagues, a merged league championship game was agreed to be played in January 1967 following the conclusion of the leagues’ respective 1966 seasons. Hunt insisted on calling the game the “Super Bowl” after seeing his children playing with a popular toy at the time, a Super Ball.[25][32][33] While the first few games were designated the “AFL–NFL World Championship Game”, the Super Bowl name became its officially licensed title in years to come.[34]

Marty Schottenheimer era (1989–1998)

The Chiefs under Marty Schottenheimer had the second highest regular season winning percentage (.646) in the NFL during the 1990s.[52]
On December 19, 1988, owner Lamar Hunt hired Carl Peterson as the team’s new president, general manager, and chief executive officer. Peterson fired head coach Frank Gansz two weeks after taking over and hired Marty Schottenheimer as the club’s seventh head coach.[45] In the 1988 and 1989 NFL Drafts, the Chiefs selected both defensive end Neil Smith and linebacker Derrick Thomas, respectively.[45][53] The defense that Thomas and Smith anchored in their seven seasons together was a big reason why the Chiefs reached the postseason in six straight years.[54]
In Schottenheimer’s ten-season tenure as head coach, the Chiefs became a perennial playoff contender, featuring offensive players including Steve DeBerg, Christian Okoye, Stephone Paige and Barry Word, a strong defense, anchored by Thomas, Smith, Albert Lewis and Deron Cherry, and on special teams, Nick Lowery, who was then the most accurate kicker in NFL History.[17] The team recorded a 101–58–1 record, and clinched seven playoff berths.[55] The Chiefs’ 1993 season was the franchise’s most successful in 22 years.[53] With newly acquired quarterback Joe Montana and running back Marcus Allen, two former Super Bowl champions and Most Valuable Player Award winners, the Chiefs further strengthened their position in the NFL.[53] The 11–5 Chiefs defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers and Houston Oilers on their way to the franchise’s first AFC Championship Game appearance against the Buffalo Bills.[53] The Chiefs were overwhelmed by the Bills and lost the game by a score of 30–13.[53] The Chiefs’ victory on January 16, 1994, against the Oilers remained the franchise’s last post-season victory for 22 years until their 30–0 victory over the Houston Texans on January 9, 2016.[56]
In the 1995 NFL playoffs, the 13–3 Chiefs hosted the Indianapolis Colts in a cold, damp late afternoon game at Arrowhead Stadium.[26][53] Kansas City lost the game 10–7 against the underdog Colts, after kicker Lin Elliot missed three field-goal attempts and quarterback Steve Bono threw three interceptions.[53] The Chiefs selected tight end Tony Gonzalez with the 13th overall selection in the 1997 NFL draft, a move which some considered to be a gamble being that Gonzalez was primarily a basketball player at California. During a 1997 season full of injuries to starting quarterback Elvis Grbac, backup quarterback Rich Gannon took the reins of the Chiefs’ offense as the team headed to another 13–3 season.[26][53] Head coach Marty Schottenheimer chose Grbac to start the playoff game against the Denver Broncos despite Gannon’s successes in previous weeks.[53] Grbac’s production in the game was lacking, and the Chiefs lost to the Broncos 14–10.[53] Denver went on to capture their fifth AFC Championship by defeating Pittsburgh, and then defeated the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXII. Coach Schottenheimer announced his resignation from the Chiefs following the 1998 season.[57]
Following Schottenheimer’s resignation, defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham took over coaching duties for the next two seasons, compiling a 16–16 record.[53] By the end of the Chiefs’ decade of regular-season dominance, Gannon had signed with the Oakland Raiders, Neil Smith signed with the Denver Broncos, and Derrick Thomas was paralyzed in a car accident on January 23, 2000.[53] Thomas died from complications of his injury weeks later.[53] After allegedly reading online that he would be relieved of duties, head coach Gunther Cunningham was fired.[58][59]
Dick Vermeil years (2001–2005)
Looking to change the Chiefs’ game plan which relied on a tough defensive strategy for the past decade, Carl Peterson contacted Dick Vermeil about the Chiefs’ head coaching vacancy for the 2001 season.[58] Vermeil previously led the St. Louis Rams to a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV.[59] Vermeil was hired on January 12.[60] The Chiefs then traded a first-round draft pick in the 2001 NFL draft to St. Louis for quarterback Trent Green and signed free agent running back Priest Holmes to be the team’s cornerstones on offense.[61][62] In Vermeil’s first season with the Chiefs, he led the team to a 6–10 record.[63] The team improved to a 8–8 record in 2002 but still missed the postseason.[64]