Blast from the past - week 3

December 10th 1989: Kansas City Chiefs 21 – Green Bay Packers 3

The mid-80s had been a testing time to be a Chiefs fan, with a series of uncompetitive seasons. As the decade drew to a close with consecutive 4-win seasons in 1987 and 1988, the Kansas City management decided to bring in the respected Cleveland Browns head coach, Marty Schottenheimer. It would prove to be an inspired hiring, as Marty proceeded to lead the Chiefs to nine consecutive winning seasons, seven of which resulted in a trip to the playoffs.

Things had taken a while to get moving in his very first year, but the Chiefs had strung together home wins against the Houston Oilers and Miami Dolphins to reach a level 6 – 6 – 1 record – however an away trip to Lambeau Field to face a Packers side with an 8 – 5 record looked daunting. In the event, an odd game would see every single point scored in the second quarter as the Chiefs stunned Green Bay with three quick fire touchdowns, before locking down the game in the second half.

Quarterback Steve deBerg opened the scoring with a pass to tight end Jonathan Hayes (one of his 12 TDs for the Chiefs over a seven year stretch), before the Packers pulled it back with a field goal. Another drive upfield by the Chiefs saw Christian Okoye punch it home from 3 yards out. The ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ was the biggest success of Marty Schottenheimer’s first year as head coach. After scoring 3 touchdowns in each of the past two seasons, Okoye exploded with 12 TDs this year, as well as 1,480 rushing yards which was enough to pip Barry Sanders to the rushing crown by a mere 10 yards. A further touchdown pass late in the quarter, from deBerg to wide receiver Emile Harry this time, saw the Chiefs lead 21-3 at the half.

A strong defensive performance then blocked any chance for Green Bay to fight back after the break. The Chiefs secondary made 4 sacks, 2 of them by start defensive end Neil Smith. Smith had been the Chiefs’ first round pick in the previous year’s draft and he racked up an awesome 85.5 sacks in his nine seasons at Arrowhead, including four consecutive years in double digits and one year as the NFL’s overall sack leader. He also has two SuperBowl rings – sadly both of them won as a Bronco after he was traded to our rivals in 1997.

The season ended on a flat note for both teams – as both finished second in their division, and failed to make the playoffs. However this was the start of a golden period for the Chiefs – and also a period of dominance over the Packers as this was the first of five consecutive wins over Green Bay stretching from 1989 to 2003.

Elsewhere in the NFL at the time:

Joe Montana made two late touchdown passes to bring the San Francisco 49ers back from the dead – from 27-10 down, they would beat divisional rivals the LA Rams 30 to 27.

The win lifted them to 12-2 and they would be undefeated the rest of the season, finishing 14-2 and going on to a massive 55-10 SuperBowl blowout win against the Denver Broncos

Elsewhere in the world:

The Cold war is coming to an end, as one East European state after another starts to dismantle its communist regime. But sadly, it’s not all good news – after a 26 year run, the BBC finally puts the Daleks into cold storage and cancels Dr Who.