1971 Kansas City Chiefs

All right belong to the NFL. For preservation and entertainment purposes only.

[@user-dt8vy2yb3d]

A milestone for Kansas City Chiefs fans in 1971. Then, they moved to Arrowhead Stadium a year later. CHIEFS KINGDOM 4EVA!!!

[@MGAF688]

5 playoff appearances, 5 10+ win seasons, 3 division titles, 5-3 playoff record, 3 AFL Championships, 2 Super Bowl appearances, 1 Super Bowl Championship, (11 winning seasons/1 .500 season/3 losing seasons). Yeah, Hank Stram knew how to coach. What amazed me was that the HOF did not induct him for almost 25 years after he was out of coaching.

[@jonburrows8602]

Because Stram did all his damage in the old AFL. No playoff victories and only one appearance after the 1970 merger.

[@bufnyfan1]

The Chiefs only played one playoff game in their history in Municipal Stadium and it was this Christmas Day 1971 loss

[@almartinez3690]

Otis Taylor is the reason I became a lifetime Chiefs fan.

[@bigsygma6829]

I used to get in trouble playing boy's club football for doing the Elmo wright touchdown dance after I scored

[@jimlampert2897]

OTIS my fav Chief & greatest ever!

[@tedlee2861]

What a game. I will never forget that game😮😆💪🏈🏹👍👀

[@tedlee2861]

Wow those 70s chiefs💪🏈🏈🏹👍👀

[@user-dt8vy2yb3d]

Just love Elmo Wright's TD shuffle!!!

[@tedlee2861]

There that old music again😆💪🏈🏹👍👀

[@purplesword3800]

Lost a brutal playoff game to an up & coming miami team. Classic game. One of the greatest imo.

[@JeffreyBue_imtxsmoke]

I remember that game well... the game that wouldn't end.

[@barbaracaroll]

The last good chiefs team until recently

[@rayjr62]

@@barbaracaroll Those early 90s teams with Joe Montana were pretty good.

[@barbaracaroll]

Your bar for success is real low then what did they win 1 or 2 playoff games combined 2 years mmm

[@rayjr62]

@@barbaracaroll Not really. If memory serves me they went either 10-5 or 11-6 back then when Montana was their QB.

[@brucedavis3816]

Watching the chiefs really turned me on to football. Unfortunately I think of all the time spent watching football instead of educating myself. It was fun and great but if I could do it over again I would really concentrate on learning.

[@rcthomas6925]

Otis Taylor unreal

[@standarddef8769]

Thanks for posting this. I can never get enough of 70's NFL. And those commercials are only 20 years old but man they feel much older.

[@tombednar9078]

I'm the kid on the sidelines after Elmo Wright's TD catch at 26:55

[@joeseddit]

To be able to tell sports fans all your life you were on the sidelines for that game must have been cool. That game would easily be top ten on a list of greatest games of all time, I would think. I remember the Elmo Wright catch while watching the game on TV as a youngster. It was notable to me at the time that the catch was big enough to warrant Elmo's TD dance even though it wasn't a TD.

[@tyrondavis6727]

And then the next year (1972).. The Kansas City Chiefs moved to Arrowhead Stadium.... and has been there, ever since.........many years later in the present day of 2023, you got Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and Company...❤️💛🏈🇺🇸

[@bufnyfan1]

The fans seen at 5:40 wore red Chiefs blazers--Len Dawson has said in a documentary that those fans were the ones who had sold a specific number of season's tickets and as an added incentive were given these red blazers and were allowed to form a line on the field before games to cheer the KC players as they were introduced by the public address announcer

[@purplesword5536]

The dolphins-chiefs playoff game was imo the best NFL playoff game of the decade of the 70s..

[@radar0412]

When I was 13 in 1971, I became a fan of the Chiefs because of a Waxing the Chiefs gave the Steelers, and my Idol Otis Taylor had like 190 receiving yards in that game. At the time I had no idea that the Chiefs were an old team that had already won a Superbowl. The following year the Chiefs run as perennial playoff contenders was over. I learned early never to hitch my Horses to any bandwagon.

[@jeremyasbenettor8859]

nice. Thanks for the video. :D

[@eddielester3589]

Boy Otis Taylor had an MVP Season.He was so reliable that they threw to him seven straight times during the drive against Oakland. The one he caught between all of the Raiders on third and ten ,deep in their own territory was one of his biggest during the Season along with the one against the Redskins. And this was the so called Mel Blount Rule Era...which says a lot.

[@petrofor3430]

Joke Otis isn’t in the hall. He was torching a young Mel Blount

[@liecrusher3506]

AGREED.

[@laming2006]

It's hard to understand why Otis Taylor is not in the HOF. Exceptional player.

[@marvinclay4476]

Why isnt Otis Taylor in the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

[@michaelleroy9281]

Ask whoever does the voting for it

[@graciemaemarie11jones16]

otis beating mel blount hell yeah!

[@davidcobb2693]

Personally, I loved it when Cliff Branch torched Mel Blount and when anyone else torched Blount, I liked it!

[@haroldmccoy6748]

@@davidcobb2693 Didn't happen too often ,was so dominant the he had his name attached into a rule pertaining to limiting defensive resistance against wr's release into routes ,labeled the Mel.Blount Rule .Mr Blount won a defensive player of year award ,56 career ints,, all decade team member ,numerous times probowl ,all pro teams ,NFL hofer a,NFL top 100 all time player, his team a 4 time SB champion .Mr Blount handled himself quite well in the face of a few on field mishaps ,a pitfall all truly elite CB's will experience a few times ,it's the nature of the CB position ,it's bound to happen , that includes the Chiefs hof CB Emmitt Thomas.eho had himself a few bad games .Blount had himself a heck of career .

[@thomaswolf723]

As you can see from the film, Otis Taylor is a hall of fame caliber receiver. Could have been great in this era. I think he never has been selected because he only has 410 receptions over an 11 year career. That is very low compared to contemporary wide receivers of his era such as Charley Taylor (649), Don Maynard (633), and Lance Alworth (542), although Paul Warfield (who played on run oriented teams at Cleveland and Miami) is not much ahead of him with 427 and Bob Hayes had considerably fewer receptions (371) but more touchdowns. I don't know why Dawson couldn't get the ball to him more often in some years. I understand that Taylor has been very ill for many years.

[@frankgifford207]

Otis had some injury-plagued seasons. He was a marked man in the AFL because of his abilities. Dawson doesn't get enough credit for being the best AFL QB because of Namath

[@joeseddit]

Yeah, Taylor should be HOF. I didn't know he wasn't. In fact, all the players you mentioned should be.

[@massvt3821]

The season in which the Chiefs lost an extraordinary playoff game to Miami that is still talked about today. The Chiefs never recovered their swagger for the rest of the decade..

[@murdough208]

yep I was a big chiefs fan and I can honestly say no other loss more devastated a franchise than the overtime loss.Still to this day the chiefs havent recovered.

[@gatesbrown26]

+MassVt that game was a real changing of the guard. The end of the Chiefs glory and the beginning of the Dolphins. I actually ran into Ed Podalak in a bar and we talked about that game 15 years later.

[@chrisbacos]

I am sure placekicker Jan Stenerud has since gotten over it.

[@gatesbrown26]

+chrisbacos one would hope so.

[@depaola63]

He's the only kicker in the HOF! He missed that easy kick, but made so many great one's over his career!

[@jessejazz3023]

A champion among champions Otis Taylor. Quote by John Facenda !

[@JeffreyBue_imtxsmoke]

I came here to watch the Elmo Wright end zone dance celebrations and wasn't disappointed

[@johnnysmoke612]

Jan Stenerud stat wise had a off year in 1971. I will give the 69 team the nod over the 71 team. The 71 team didn't have a good pass rush and was a bit weaker against the run. Ironically, after 50 years neither the Jets or Chiefs have re-appeared in a Super Bowl after being the only AFL teams to win one before the merger, go figure.

[@JeffreyBue_imtxsmoke]

and then in 2020... the chiefs and Mahomes win the SB for KC.

[@johnnysmoke612]

@@JeffreyBue_imtxsmoke Won last year and who knows maybe a repeat Chiefs vs Packers this year.

[@yourroyalhighness7662]

Many of the Chiefs hated moving to Arrowhead stadium for much the same reason why some of the Dallas Cowboys hated moving from the Cotton Bowl into Texas stadium. Too sterile and seemingly far removed from their fans.

[@JosePerez-vz1qq]

Ditto for the Orange Bowl to Joe robbie pro player landshark hard rock whatever stadium

[@yourroyalhighness7662]

@@JosePerez-vz1qq Exactly.

[@bufnyfan1]

the 1971 season was the last season the Chiefs played at the old Municipal Stadium (before the move to Arrowhead)-Otis Taylor (#89) in his book "The Need to Win" had stated that the move to Arrowhead was the beginning of a long period of mediocrity for the franchise---the intimacy of Municipal Stadium had been lost and even the switch to Astroturf seemed to greatly hurt the Chiefs--within a few years the Chiefs declined to the point that Hank Stram was ultimately fired

[@scottwolf497]

Yep. But what an era they had. These highlights never get old.

[@kareemmoreland9119]

Congrats to Johnny Robinson getting elected into the HOF. Think at least half of that defense is gonna be in there.

[@G0Chiefs]

Otis Taylor needs to be in the Hall of Fame, without a doubt.

[@styxfan4022]

The good ole days.

[@eddielester3589]

I remember well too...I feel the same way Brian Fitzpatrick.

[@j109joell]

@ 3:55 Elmo Wright. I remember people talking about his touchdown dance. The 1st one I saw.

[@carlbenson6412]

I was 7 years old & that Chiefs team still makes an impression on me 45 years later...it wasn't meant to be...their best team...they got old fast as all teams in those days because the good & great teams pre-free agency couldn't replenish by adding free agents (they had to draft & the Chiefs didn't draft well then & they paid for it) who were still in their prime to replace their nucleus of players which all got old in a hurry in '72.

[@murdough208]

well said this was their last great team i know they had some successful teams in the mid 90s this team really to me is the last great kc team

[@graciemaemarie11jones16]

the 69 team was farbetter....proof? they WON the super bowl........

[@stephenramsey7930]

GracieM- As you stated the 69 Chiefs team was vastly superior to 71. I would probably say that 69 Chiefs team would have beaten the 71 Cowboys team. All those guys on Chiefs D were seemingly at their peak in 69 and the talent on the D was amazing. But not the at the same level in 71.

[@robertsettle2590]

@THE ORIGINAL PROFESSOR CHAOS because of equipment!?? Your out of your GAWD DAMN mind. Obviously you don't know a thing about the 1969 SUPER CHIEFS!!!!

[@Irished58]

Otis Taylor- needs to be in HOF.

[@commanderwatchman9994]

This is professional football. This is the NFL. It was a day of collecting bruises and not much more.

[@INJURYCOMP]

ELMO WRIGHT TD/Catch dance: @ 3:48 and @ 5:24 and @ 9:40 and @ 26:20.

[@rokyericksonroks]

The Tickle Me Elmo character was created by Sesame Street when they saw these film clips.

[@greghoyes1877]

Otis Taylor and Elmo Wright were a 1 2 punch like Elmore war dance

[@michaelleroy9281]

Like Facenda said the final season at Municipal Stadium and one last classic game

[@tedlee2861]

Elmore wright was smooth 😆💪🏈🏹👍👀

[@dolomiteblue]

Elmo Wright started the end zone dance with his Goose Stepping!!! Remember That!!

[@Daisyno2]

As of a few weeks ago Otis Taylor was being fed through a tube. Very sad.

[@markprice2225]

Len Dawson is the reason why I always hit them in the hands. Most Accurate Passer in the NFL, look at 69-71, and in a Time where you had HOF QBs to defeat to become champion

[@user-tn5yj9qn6h]

It's too bad that the closing of the doors to Municipal Stadium and the opening of the doors to Arrowhead Stadium marked the exact pivot point where the Chiefs switched from one of the consistently dominant teams to decades of erratic play.

[@michaelleroy9281]

I doubt Municipal Stadium would be standing by the time 2024 came around

[@brianfitzpatrick3340]

This Chiefs team should have won the Super Bowl....missed opportunity....very sad....

[@gatesbrown26]

+Brian Fitzpatrick don't think they would have beat that Cowboys team.

[@brianfitzpatrick3340]

It would have been close....but the Chiefs would have beat them....Dallas had never won prior to that and Miami was there for the first time and just finding their way...This Kansas City team was experienced and talented....they would have won.....

[@gatesbrown26]

Brian Fitzpatrick but they couldn't beat Miami on their own field. Dallas beat em on a neutral field. I do agree that they probably would have done better than 24 to 3 though.

[@massvt3821]

71 Chiefs were good, perhaps very good, but not great. They lost games they probably should have won, and their offense was a bit uneven all year. A 7-6-1 Lions team did quite a number on them, and they needed a few breaks to get past Oakland in the season finale. Dallas was the best balanced team in the NFL that year ( not a fan, but have to acknowledge)..

[@markprice2225]

I love seeing them dump on the steelers! Otis Taylor doesn't get enough love/props

[@haroldmccoy6748]

Pittsburgh and Mel Blount returned that favor during the 70's in full galore numerous times to the chiefs .

[@greghoyes1877]

Don't forget they had a good quarterback as a back up in mike liveingsten

[@eddielester3589]

The Field goal that was missed by Stenerud was supposed to be a fake field goal.Bobby Bell was suppose to snap the ball to Jan...and instead snapped the ball to Dawson because he thought Stenerud did not get the signal that it was going to be faked.He did know but he bluffed it so well that he had Bell confused...so Bell hiked it to Dawson instead...and Dawson yelled Kick it..and that is when Jan hooked it to wide...wow!

[@tedlee2861]

There's. Warpaint. 😆🏈🏹👍👀

[@TommyLeVrier]

the chiefs team that played packers in super bowl was best team of all time. Curtis McClinton, the best. good offensive line, good everything

[@69FOSTER]

1969 Chiefs were WAY better than the 1966 Super Bowl team. 1969 added Curley Culp and Aaron Brown, Willie Lanier at MLB, Gloster Richardson and Frank Pitts at receiver, Robert Holmes and Wendell Hayes at running back. Not even close.1969 Chiefs would've beaten Green Bay or at least had a better chance.

[@TommyLeVrier]

culp, lanier brown were good additions. especially lanier both were great teams.

[@turnonstan]

Chiefs played the Packers even until Dawson started turning the ball over, and Bart Starr, probably the most underrated quarterback in NFL history, went to work. Those two things turned an even game into a rout.

[@rokyericksonroks]

Did Hank Stram agree with that? Their victory in SB IV over the Vikings seems like their finest hour to me.

[@martinwhite3354]

Dynamite!!!!

[@wateriswet0510]

3:50 Elmo Wright performs the first "Touchdown dance" in NFL history, if a Wikipedia tidbit sourced from the New York Times is to be believed

[@liduck52]

I was at the Jets game. Chiefs lost 13-10 but would have won if the punter hadn't dropped a snap.

[@RichMBraithwaiteFive]

Too bad! If the Chiefs had won, I believe they would've beat the Colts in the AFC Championship Game!

[@gregford2103]

+Richard M Braithwaite Actually, if the Colts had won their regular-season finale against New England, they would have played the Chiefs in the first round, and Miami would have played at Cleveland. Who knows, if that had happened, then maybe Miami visits for the AFC Championship.

[@massvt3821]

I remember the controversy about that issue. There were some who were convinced that the Colts "threw" the last game to avoid the Chiefs in the playoffs. It didn;'t matter in the end, as both KC and Baltimore lost in the playoffs...to Miami.

[@Mryrhodesian]

What is the name of that music track played between 18:50 and 19:30 ?

[@G0Chiefs]

Wish I knew sorry.

[@bufnyfan1]

the late Hank Stram (Chiefs HC) felt the 1971 team was more talented/complete a team than the Chiefs team that won Super Bowl IV-the Christmas Day loss to Miami in OT even to this day is a bitter memory for many of the Chiefs who played in it--apparently Jan Stenerud (who missed several critical FG's in that game) will not talk about this game to this day

[@graciemaemarie11jones16]

no way they were better than the 69 team...they missed jerry mays, the best defensive lineman they EVER had. he retired after the 70 season to run a construction business, without him, their pass rush was diminished, and aaron brown was a non-factor as opposed to 69 when he was a playoff terror, thanks to mays. they couldn't stop the pass in 7, and thats what hurt them vs miami.

[@bufnyfan1]

@@graciemaemarie11jones16 I'm just quoting what Stram said in his book--"They're playing my game"-he did say that the 1971 team was more talented up and down the lineup

[@johnnysmoke612]

The 1971 Chiefs link is broke.

[@G0Chiefs]

Sure is. Not sure why.

[@christopherdelgaudio9484]

Should have been a chiefs Dallas super bowl!!

[@eddielester3589]

Miami an up and coming team....and Dallas an experienced and hungry long overdue team....Well you saw the outcome. Chiefs would have beaten Dallas I felt...and put Dallas another year away

[@eddielester3589]

@Dog Breath Yes they did..The 1971 team had a better year It would have been interesting!

[@davesmith8877]

Do you have the 1966 Chiefs highlight film?

[@G0Chiefs]

+Dave Smith Sorry no I don't.

[@bigjoe4110]

It is here on KZbin.

[@davesmith8877]

bigjoe4110 I found it thanks!

[@lambert581]

Wasn't Ernie Big Cat Ladd on the 71 Chiefs? He also was a pro wrestler.

[@davesmith8877]

Paul Z He retired because of bad knees after the 1969 season

[@almartinez3690]

I used to do the Elmo Wright touchdown celebration.

[@classicjukebox]

I am a die hard Chiefs fan, and hate the raiders for the dirty play of Ted Hendricks....BUT....THAT SACK BY BUCK BUCHANON ON THE VERY OLD GEORGE BLANDA WAS FILTHY DIRTY AND CRUEL!!!!!! See it at 12 min, 30 seconds... Blanda was a 22 year veteran at that point....extremely disrespectful and unnecessary to do to an old man.... I would like to know if Hendricks saw this and was motivated by to for revenge against Dawson when he speared him.

[@brianfitzpatrick3340]

You are thinking of Ben Davidson....Hendricks didn't play against Dawson...As far as that hit goes...maybe that was retaliation for Davidson spearing Dawson the year before......

[@classicjukebox]

Brian Fitzpatrick oh yes...you got me...I mixed up the two...

[@MA-vd3ln]

Who cares Dawson was an old guy QB in his mid 30s he took many licks its called football bunch of cry baby pussys boo hooin over a player gettin taced or gettin a big time lick its football dont play the game if ypu aint prepared for the big hits that comes with it

[@classicjukebox]

Mark Adcock weirdo

[@brianfitzpatrick3340]

That Chief team beat Washington...San Francisco..Oakland....the loss to Detroit put Detroit at 7-3-1...no slouch there....this team was basically the Super Bowl lV team....Dallas was good but not great...no doubt in my mind they beat the Cowboys...I remember this season well....it was their last hurrah....should of ended with another Super Bowl.. I'm still sick about it.....

[@chrisbacos]

It was a disappointment the final game at the old municipal stadium was a heartbreaking loss.

[@brianfitzpatrick3340]

+chrisbacos I agree

[@bigjoe4110]

The Chiefs and Cowboys would have been a classic.

[@brianfitzpatrick3340]

Oh....I agree...a Chief -Cowboy Super Bowl would have been great....

[@chrisbacos]

It would have been interesting because remember the Chiefs from 1960-1962 were the Dallas Texans and shared the Cotton Bowl with the Cowboys. Both teams began playing in 1960.

[@damianjackson6924]

19:37

[@bufnyfan1]

Otis Taylor #89 now suffers from progressive Parkinson's Disease-likely the result of all the hits he took during his career

[@murdough208]

man lynch bell and lanier aaron brown curly culp how did they lose

[@depaola63]

Exactly 350 total! Still an NFL record!

[@ericgarner1000]

No dominant running game like the eventual seventies dynasties of the Dolphins and Steelers. The Chiefs running game program was in virtual chaos. That was KC's only weakness. Every year at the beginning it was a toss up as to who would be runningback

[@tedlee2861]

Against Miami 😆💪🏈🏹👀👍

[@brianfitzpatrick3340]

Jan Stenerud missed a 31 yd FG....then had one blocked in OT....Chiefs should have won it...but those things happen....

[@bufnyfan1]

Stenerud (and many of the Chiefs from that 1971 season) will not talk about the playoff loss to Miami on Christmas Day--the memory of that game still haunts them to this day

[@brianfitzpatrick3340]

It haunts me too...i was 9 years old and it ruined my Christmas....that team could have won the Super Bowl...oh well

[@MA-vd3ln]

Mike Adamle was once breifly a GM for WWE Raw

[@frankgifford207]

He was a co-anchor with Bryant Gumbel on NBC's pre-game shows in the late 70's after playing

[@murdough208]

marsalles

[@graciemaemarie11jones16]

they show highlights of the game vs the lions, as if the chiefs defense was so big and bad....they got killed by the lions, i mean, come on....

[@douglasbagshaw807]

Oakland was a much better team during that period

[@murdough208]

jim.kearny emmit thoomas