1993 Kansas City Chiefs season

1993 Kansas City Chiefs season
OwnerLamar Hunt
General managerCarl Peterson
Head coachMarty Schottenheimer
Home fieldArrowhead Stadium
Results
Record11–5
Division place1st AFC West
Playoff finishWon Wild Card Playoffs
(vs. Steelers) 27–24 (OT)
Won Divisional Playoffs
(at Oilers) 28–20
Lost AFC Championship
(at Bills) 13–30
Pro Bowlers 5
AP All-Pros 2
  • DE Neil Smith (1st team)
  • LB Derrick Thomas (2nd team)

The 1993 Kansas City Chiefs season was the franchise's 24th season in the National Football League and the 34th overall. They improved on their 10–6 record from 1992 and won the AFC West and with an 11–5 record. Kansas City advanced all the way to the AFC Championship before losing to the Buffalo Bills 30–13, which started the Chiefs' 8-game playoff losing streak. It would be 22 years before the Chiefs would win another playoff game, and 25 years until they won another playoff game at Arrowhead.

The season marked the first for new quarterback Joe Montana, who was acquired through a trade with the San Francisco 49ers and running back Marcus Allen from the Los Angeles Raiders, both winners of five Super Bowl championships combined. This would be the last time until 2018 that the Chiefs would appear in the AFC Championship game or win a home playoff game.

Offseason

Montana and Marcus

Kansas City acquired two Super Bowl MVPs with one fell swoop--Joe Montana from the San Francisco 49ers and Marcus Allen. Allen arrived from Kansas City's most hated rival, the Los Angeles Raiders, in a move still talked about today when discussing football's most heated rivalry. Leading into the 1993 season, the Chiefs had not only a proven passer, but also a proven running game to complement their already powerful defense.

The previous season, the Chiefs' starting quarterback was Dave Krieg and their running back was Christian Okoye. Okoye suffered a knee injury prior to training camp in 1993, but keeping Krieg would prove to be a wise decision in the event of injury to the new starter Montana.

Allen was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 1993 after rushing for twelve touchdowns and 764 yards.

Draft

With their first pick in the 1993 NFL draft, coming in the third round, the Chiefs' selected future all-pro and Hall of fame guard Will Shields out of the University of Nebraska. Shields went on to start 223 of the 224 career games he played for the team and was selected to 12 consecutive Pro Bowls.

1993 Kansas City Chiefs draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
3 74 Will Shields *  Guard Nebraska
4 103 Jaime Fields  Linebacker Washington
5 130 Lindsay Knapp  Guard Notre Dame
6 159 Darius Turner  Running back Washington
7 186 Danan Hughes  Wide receiver Iowa
      Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Preseason

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap
1 August 7 at Green Bay Packers W 29–21 1–0 Milwaukee County Stadium 51,655 Recap
2 August 12 Buffalo Bills L 7–30 1–1 Arrowhead Stadium 73,550 Recap
3 August 21 Minnesota Vikings W 27–20 2–1 Arrowhead Stadium 73,080 Recap
4 August 27 at New England Patriots W 27–20 3–1 Foxboro Stadium 46,501 Recap

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap
1 September 5 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 27–3 1–0 Tampa Stadium 63,378 Recap
2 September 12 at Houston Oilers L 0–30 1–1 Houston Astrodome 59,780 Recap
3 September 20 Denver Broncos W 15–7 2–1 Arrowhead Stadium 78,453 Recap
4 Bye
5 October 3 Los Angeles Raiders W 24–9 3–1 Arrowhead Stadium 77,395 Recap
6 October 10 Cincinnati Bengals W 17–15 4–1 Arrowhead Stadium 78,493 Recap
7 October 17 at San Diego Chargers W 17–14 5–1 Jack Murphy Stadium 60,729 Recap
8 Bye
9 October 31 at Miami Dolphins L 10–30 5–2 Joe Robbie Stadium 67,765 Recap
10 November 8 Green Bay Packers W 23–16 6–2 Arrowhead Stadium 76,742 Recap
11 November 14 at Los Angeles Raiders W 31–20 7–2 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 66,553 Recap
12 November 21 Chicago Bears L 17–19 7–3 Arrowhead Stadium 76,872 Recap
13 November 28 Buffalo Bills W 23–7 8–3 Arrowhead Stadium 74,452 Recap
14 December 5 at Seattle Seahawks W 31–16 9–3 Kingdome 58,551 Recap
15 December 12 at Denver Broncos L 21–27 9–4 Mile High Stadium 75,822 Recap
16 December 19 San Diego Chargers W 28–24 10–4 Arrowhead Stadium 74,778 Recap
17 December 26 at Minnesota Vikings L 10–30 10–5 Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome 59,236 Recap
18 January 2 Seattle Seahawks W 34–24 11–5 Arrowhead Stadium 72,136 Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers Week 2: at Houston Oilers Week 3: vs. Denver Broncos Week 5: vs. Los Angeles Raiders Week 6: vs. Cincinnati Bengals Week 7: at San Diego Chargers Week 9: at Miami Dolphins Week 10: vs. Green Bay Packers Week 11: at Los Angeles Raiders Week 12: vs. Chicago Bears Week 13: vs. Buffalo Bills Week 14: at Seattle Seahawks Week 15: at Denver Broncos Week 16: vs. San Diego Chargers Week 17: at Minnesota Vikings Week 18: vs. Seattle Seahawks

Standings

AFC West
W L T PCT PF PA STK
(3) Kansas City Chiefs 11 5 0 .688 328 291 W1
(4) Los Angeles Raiders 10 6 0 .625 306 326 W1
(5) Denver Broncos 9 7 0 .563 373 284 L2
San Diego Chargers 8 8 0 .500 322 290 W2
Seattle Seahawks 6 10 0 .375 280 314 L1

Postseason

Schedule

Round Date Opponent (seed) Result Record Venue Attendance Recap
Wild Card January 8, 1994 Pittsburgh Steelers (6) W 27–24 (OT) 1–0 Arrowhead Stadium 74,515 Recap
Divisional January 16, 1994 at Houston Oilers (2) W 28–20 2–0 Houston Astrodome 64,011 Recap
AFC Championship January 23, 1994 at Buffalo Bills (1) L 13–30 2–1 Rich Stadium 76,642 Recap

Game summaries

AFC Wild Card Playoffs: vs. (6) Pittsburgh Steelers

Chiefs kicker Nick Lowery made the winning 32-yard field goal after 11:03 of overtime. The Steelers scored first on tight end Adrian Cooper's 10-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Neil O'Donnell. Kansas City then tied the game after backup quarterback Dave Krieg, who temporarily replaced injured starter Joe Montana, threw a 23-yard touchdown to wide receiver J.J. Birden. However, Pittsburgh scored 10 unanswered points in the second quarter: kicker Gary Anderson's 30-yard field goal and O'Donnell's 26-yard touchdown completion to wide receiver Ernie Mills. After Lowery made a 23-yard field goal in the third quarter, the Chiefs eventually tied the game in the fourth period with running back Marcus Allen's 2-yard touchdown. However, the Steelers marched 74-yards to take the lead on O'Donnell's third touchdown pass of the game, a 22-yard score to tight end Eric Green. In the final minutes of regulation, Keith Cash blocked a Pittsburgh punt and Fred Jones returned it to the Steelers 9-yard line. On fourth down, wide receiver Tim Barnett scored on a 7-yard touchdown reception from Montana to tie the game. Then after forcing Pittsburgh to punt, Kansas City drove 47 yards to set up Lowery's 43-yard field-goal attempt in the closing seconds, but the kick was wide right and thus the game went into overtime. Montana finished the game with 276 passing yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions.

AFC Divisional Playoffs: at (2) Houston Oilers

Chiefs quarterback Joe Montana threw three touchdown passes in the second half to give his team a 28–20 win. The Oilers jumped to a 10–0 lead in the first quarter with kicker Al Del Greco's 49-yard field goal and running back Gary Brown's 2-yard touchdown. Then after a scoreless second period, Montana threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to tight end Keith Cash in the third quarter. In the fourth period, Del Greco kicked a 43-yard field goal to give Houston a 13–7 lead. But aided by a 38-yard pass interference penalty, the Chiefs advanced 71 yards to score on wide receiver J.J. Birden's 11-yard touchdown reception from Montana. On the Oilers' next possession, Kansas City defensive lineman Dan Saleaumua recovered a fumble by Houston quarterback Warren Moon, setting up Montana's 18-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Willie Davis. The Oilers then drove 80 yards to score on wide receiver Ernest Givins' 7-yard touchdown catch, but the Chiefs responded with running back Marcus Allen's game-clinching 21-yard touchdown run that capped off a 79-yard drive. The Oilers had 1:51 left to score but failed on a 4th down attempt on their own 20 yard line. This would be the Chiefs' last playoff win until the 2015 season.

AFC Championship: at (1) Buffalo Bills

Running back Thurman Thomas led the Bills to the 30–13 victory by recording 186 rushing yards, 3 receptions for 22 yards, and three touchdowns. Buffalo scored first on Thomas' 12-yard touchdown run before Chiefs kicker Nick Lowery kicked two field goals. In the second quarter, Thomas scored on a 3-yard touchdown and Bills kicker Steve Christie made two field goals to extend the lead 20–6. With 21 seconds left in the first half, the Chiefs reached the Buffalo 5-yard line, but quarterback Joe Montana's pass was intercepted by Bills defensive back Henry Jones. Montana later suffered a concussion during the third play of the third quarter and left the game. Kansas City backup quarterback Dave Krieg then led his team on a 90-yard drive to score on running back Marcus Allen's 1-yard touchdown. However, Buffalo scored 10 unanswered points in the final period, an 18-yard field goal by Christie and a 3-yard touchdown by Thomas, to preserve the victory.

Notes

  1. ^ For the 1993 NFL season, all teams were scheduled two bye-weeks over the newly expanded 18-week schedule. This was the only time in NFL history that the season expanded to 18 weeks with 16 games. The format changed for the 1994 season.

References

  1. ^ "Chiefs pummel Texans in 30–0 shutout win". NFL.com.
  2. ^ "Will Shields NFL Football Statistics". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on October 9, 2014. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  3. ^ "1993 Kansas City Chiefs draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved December 4, 2014.

External links