Charles Omenihu has relived Super Bowl LIX again and again.
Advertisement
“I watched the film. I watched it three times…” the Kansas City Chief’s defensive end said recently. But no matter how many times the game tape is replayed, the result won’t change. There are no second chances in football. And the Chiefs learnt it the hard way.
And from the looks of it, Ominehu has taken the loss pretty hard, labelling it the “worst game” that the Kansas City played collectively and pointing out a very poignant difference between the NFL and other American leagues.
“It’s not the NBA Finals type of thing where you have multiple games… As soon as you put that shoulder pad on and lace it up, you have to be at your best. And unfortunately, we just weren’t,” Omenihu said on the Up & Adams podcast.
Omenihu quickly clarified he wasn’t suggesting the NFL should adopt series play for the postseason. He merely labeled the NFL playoffs as a tough-luck situation. And then went onto address a very important aspect of sport; processing big margin losses on the biggest of stages.
For better or for worse, the drastic margin actually helped him prepare for the outcome. He said;
“Is this really happening? But the game wasn’t going our way for a little bit of time. So you’re able to like, kind of low-key process that this isn’t going to be your night and history won’t be made… it’s tough,”
Falling short on the precipice of history can’t be an easy pill to swallow. Kansas City has three other Super Bowl rings in the past six seasons to fall back on. But the pain of reaching the final stage and not coming through is still real. Especially since Omenihu “hates seeing the Eagles win.”
How can one effectively deal with those emotions? For Omenihu, it involved drowning himself in the tape. But after that, a chat with head coach Andy Reid helped him put the result behind him.
“We had our exit meetings, talked to the coaches. You can’t go back in time [and] you can’t dwell. [Coach] Reid said it perfectly. ‘You can’t hang your head on this. You got to retool and refuel, and you can’t retool and refuel by thinking about the past. You just got to learn from it’,” said the 27-year-old.
Omenihu is set to enter free agency in March. The six-year pro has tallied 19.5 sacks in his career, seven of which came in 11 games for the Chiefs in 2023. He posted just one sack across six games in 2024. Spotrac has projected that he’ll earn a four-year contract, averaging $11.8 million annually in the open market.
