Most of the pieces of the team which won
Super Bowl IV two years earlier were still in place. Left
defensive end Jerry Mays retired after the 1970 season, with
Marvin Upshaw taking his spot, but the other ten defensive
starters were the same as they were two years prior. Middle
linebacker Willie Lanier was a unanimous
All-Pro selection following the season, and would likely have been named
NFL Defensive Player of the Year had not Viking
defensive tackle Alan Page become the second defensive player to win the league's
Most Valuable Player award. Outside linebacker
Bobby Bell, defensive tackles
Buck Buchanan and
Curley Culp, and
cornerback Emmitt Thomas joined Lanier on the
AFC Pro Bowl squad following the season. Bell, Buchanan, Culp, Lanier, and Thomas are all members of the
Pro Football Hall of Fame. On offense,
Robert Holmes was traded to the
San Diego Chargers midway through the season, leaving
Wendell Hayes to assume the
fullback duties next to third-year pro
Ed Podolak, who had become the starting
halfback when
Mike Garrett was traded to San Diego in 1970.
Morris Stroud, the tallest player in NFL history at , and
Willie Frazier, acquired from San Diego, alternated at
tight end for the retired
Fred Arbanas, but the rest of the offensive line, save for
center Jack Rudnay, remained the same from the Super Bowl winning team. Rudnay assumed the starting center spot in 1970 over veteran
E. J. Holub. At
wide receiver, rookie
Elmo Wright, the Chiefs' first-round pick in the
1971 NFL draft from the
University of Houston, assumed the slot opposite all-pro
Otis Taylor, as
Frank Pitts had moved on to the
Cleveland Browns. Taylor earned selection to the Pro Bowl, along with guard
Ed Budde,
quarterback Len Dawson, and
tackle Jim Tyrer. Kansas City's
special teams remained among the league's elite units, thanks to the combination of
kicker Jan Stenerud and
punter Jerrel Wilson, both of whom were named to the Pro Bowl. Podolak and
Warren McVea handled the bulk of the
return duties. The season was the last for the Chiefs in
Municipal Stadium; owner
Lamar Hunt and general manager
Jack Steadman were overseeing the construction of
Arrowhead Stadium, located at the junction of
Interstates 70 and
435 in
Jackson County, at the eastern edge of the
Kansas City city limits. Arrowhead, along with
Royals Stadium, being constructed for the
Kansas City Royals of
Major League Baseball, comprised the
Truman Sports Complex, bucking the trend of
multi-purpose stadiums in vogue at the time. The season ended as the Miami Dolphins won the longest game in
National Football League history on
Christmas Day, defeating the Chiefs 27–24 in double-
overtime on a 37-yard
field goal by
Garo Yepremian in the last football game in Municipal Stadium, who was an original member of the franchise as a rookie on the
1960 Dallas Texans. Head coach
Hank Stram often called the 1971 Chiefs the franchise's best-ever squad, and the home playoff loss haunted Stram for the rest of his life, even after his induction into the
Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003; Stram died in 2005 at age 82. Others in the Hall of Fame from this squad are owner Hunt, quarterback Dawson, and kicker Stenerud. The loss to Miami began a nosedive in the Chiefs' fortunes. Kansas City backslid to 8–6 and 7–5–2 in
1972 and
1973, before falling to 5–9 and a tie for last in the AFC West in
1974, leading to Stram's firing following the season. Kansas City did not reach the playoffs again until
1986, did not host (or win) another playoff game until
1991, and did not win the AFC West division title again until
1993. == NFL draft ==