Blast from the past - Week 7

January 8th 1994: Kansas City Chiefs 27 – Pittsburgh Steelers 24

The early 1990’s were a hell of a good time to be a Chiefs fan. Under the leadership of head coach Marty Schottenheimer, the team put together four consecutive seasons with double-digit wins and playoff appearances in each. After going 11-5 in 1990, then 10-6 in both 1991 and 1992, the team made headlines by securing the services of two huge names – as running back Marcus Allen joined us from the Raiders, and quarterback Joe Montana moved from the San Francisco 49ers. These stars players were the catalyst for an 11-and-5 season which saw us win an incredibly competitive AFC West title (two AFC wild cards also came from the West that year).

As the post-season started, the Chiefs welcomed the Pittsburgh Steelers to Arrowhead on a freezing cold day. Bill Cowher’s Steelers would give us a stern test, in a game where Kansas City did not lead at any point until the final kick of the game. With no fumbles or interceptions by either team, the game was one of high quality.

Pittsburgh got the ball rolling early with a touchdown pass to Cooper, but the Chiefs replied quickly with a score by J.J. Birden – the pass coming from veteran back-up Dave Krieg as Joe Montana was temporarily off the field with an injury. The Steelers then regained their lead with a field goal and a touchdown to go into half-time 17-7 ahead. A Nick Lowery field goal closed the gap but the Chiefs were still 7 points behind entering the last quarter. To the cheers of Arrowhead Stadium, Marcus Allen punched one home from short range to tie up the game – but within a matter of minutes the Steelers had gone back down the field and scored another touchdown.

Having saved the tie once, we now had to do it again – but this was looking unlikely as Pittsburgh had possession as the clock ticked on. Then Tight End Keith Cash was the team’s hero as he blocked a punt which would have pinned us deep in our own territory – the ball was picked up by Kansas City and taken back to the 9 yard line to give us 1st-and-goal. Joe Montana failed three times, but made a fourth down pass to Tim Barnett to make the score 24-24. Amazingly, after a lightning fast three and out by Pittsburgh, the Chiefs had enough time for one last possession and got into field goal range – but Nick Lowery couldn’t make the 43 yarder and the game went to overtime.

Both teams failed to make progress with their first set of downs, but Montana struck with an 18 yarder to tight end Cash to get into Pittsburgh territory. Lowery was set up with a makeable 32-yard field goal, which he converted to seal the game.

Keith Cash had actually started his career with the Steelers, but had spent most of his career as a Chief. In his 65 games for Kansas City he scored 10 touchdowns – the only one in the post-season came the very next week, as we went on the road and defeated the Houston Oilers in the divisional round.

With the success the Chiefs were having at the time, it wouldn’t have seemed believable, but over 20 years later, this win against Pittsburgh remains our last playoff success at Arrowhead.

Elsewhere in the NFL at the time:

On the same day, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit, the lead changed hands six times in another thriller. The last time was a touchdown pass by Brett Favre to Sterling Sharpe, to secure a 28-24 win for Green Bay.

Elsewhere in the world:

The main sporting headline was the attack on ice skater Nancy Kerrigan by a hoodlum acting on behalf of her rival Tonya Harding.