Are Kansas City Chiefs the most toxic fan base in all of sports?
Tyrann Mathieu lambasted the Kansas City Chiefs for having the most toxic fan base in all sports. It is an incredible broadside launched by a player against their own team.
Anthony Hitchens and Tyrann Mathieu call out #ChiefsKingdom for being a toxic fan base. Are they right for calling #football fans out? https://t.co/pnt1TJILD0
Surely there are other teams that are more worthy of mention? Are the Kansas City Chiefs as bad as, say, the New York Giants fans who gave Eli Manning monikers such as 'Peyton's adopted brother' before he won them the Super Bowl? Or are they as bad as the Philadelphia Eagles fan base that needed a court in their previous stadium and holding cells for their fans? Read on to decide for yourselves.
The case for the Kansas City Chiefs being the worst fan base
The Kansas City Chiefs have been to two Super Bowls in the last couple of years and have won one. In that span, they have also made it to the AFC Championship game three times. Prior to this span of sustained success, they had not won a Super Bowl for fifty years. Before they tasted post-season success in recent years, the Kansas City Chiefs had lost ten out of eleven playoff games between 1993 and 2017.
So one may hope that their fan base would be a paragon of patience as they would give time to the same core of players that brought them their recent success; that they would look at their current 3-4 record and consider it an aberration and get behind their players as they look to turn their season around.
Instead, they have been inundated with comments that are basically calling for the head of their coach and firing of their players. With such fans, it's no wonder that Tyrann Mathieu believes that the Kansas City Chiefs have one of the most toxic fan bases. While we do not have the space to put down every tweet down here castigating them, here is a baffled response from one Kansas City Chiefs fan who makes the same point as we do.
Fire Andy Reid? Bench Patrick Mahomes? You guys are crazy with that b.s. Ill remind you we just played in 2 straight SB’s after a half century absence and we’re winning playoff games which hasn’t happened in 21 years pre Andy. I think I’ll let them figure it out. #ChiefsKingdom
The case against the Kansas City Chiefs being the worst fan base
The previous tweet was a good place to begin this case, arguing against the Kansas City Chiefs being the worst fan base. One must never mistake social media as an actual marker of anything. The real fan base is not on computers; it is the one that turns out at the stadium.
In 2013, Kansas City Chiefs fans brought home a world record by making Arrowhead Stadium the loudest ever recorded at 137.5 dB. Turns out, it was not even their best effort. After losing their record to the Seattle Seahawks, in 2014 they reached an astonishing 142.2 dB in a game against the New England Patriots. Remember that these were during the fallow years when the Kansas City Chiefs were merely also-rans and were not giving their fans much to cheer about.
Consider also the fact that they regularly sell out their stadium and always have, even when they have suffered losing seasons. Since 2006, when the stats have been reported and made available online, they have never had less than 95% home and road following.
"It would be huge [for Kansas City]. ... Those fans, the die hard Chiefs fans that have been following through thick & thin, when we'd have losing seasons but they still sold out stadiums. That city is going to explode when we win that championship." — @TonyGonzalez88 https://t.co/bt1IvacgzB
Ultimately, it seems the fanbase is comprised of a mixed bag, just as it is with pretty much every other team. Some are fickle and some are loyal. Tyrann Mathieu should not have gone off on the Kansas City Chiefs fans the way he did and even he seems to realize that now.
#Chiefs Tyrann Mathieu apologizes for saying the #Chiefs have one of the most toxic fan bases in all of sports.
https://t.co/7Wp9MY7SZ3
But the fans should also remember that the players are human and can make mistakes. They should support their team through thick and thin.