The Kansas City Chiefs, in the minds of most people, played with fire the entire 2024 season. And in the end, their run of close calls caught up with them. The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Chiefs 40-22 in Super Bowl LIX, squashing their dreams of the first three-peat in NFL history.
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Chiefs defensive end Charles Omenihu recently reflected on his team’s championship loss. He said Kansas City collectively played its “worst game” when the Lombardi Trophy was at stake.
He then highlighted that football doesn’t give a team a second chance, unlike America’s other big four sports. The Super Bowl is a one-and-done affair and there is no chance to regroup for additional games.
“They came out with a little bit more than what we did… 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 circumstance. And, the Chiefs have thrived under such conditions with Patrick Mahomes throughout his career but came up short this go-round.
For better or worse, the contest’s drastic margin made accepting the result more manageable. Omenihu expressed what went through his mind while watching the Chiefs lose.
“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,” said the DE.
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.
“I watched the film. I watched it three times… 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 projects he’ll earn a four-year contract averaging $11.8 million annually on the open market.
