Alex Smith, Chiefs fall short of Super Bowl, but he owes a debt of gratitude – Kansas City Chiefs Blog

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — By the metric that matters most, Alex Smith has failed in his five seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs. He couldn’t take a talented, well-drilled team to the Super Bowl despite four trips to the playoffs, and as a starting quarterback, that’s on his record.

By all other gauges, Smith was a success. Smith stabilized what had been a precarious position for the Chiefs, with seven different players starting at least one game for them at quarterback in the six seasons before he arrived in 2013.

He also guided a desperate franchise, which had lost at least 12 games in four of the six seasons before it walked through the door, to the playoffs four times. The Chiefs have also won the AFC West for the past two seasons, the first time in franchise history that they have won back-to-back division titles.

The Chiefs couldn’t do much with those opportunities. They were 1-4 with Smith in the playoffs, their four losses being one, seven, two and one runs. They scored just 16 points in their playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2016 and were shutout in the second half of their playoff loss to the Tennessee Titans this season.

Those failures are a big part of why the Chiefs traded last year in the first round to sign quarterback Patrick Mahomes II, and why the Chiefs sent Smith to Washington on Tuesday in exchange for a third-round pick plus running back. Redskins corner Kendall Fuller in compensation, sources told ESPN.

Step back in time to 2013, however, and the Chiefs would then have happily accepted what Smith ultimately delivered. After six seasons of Damon Huard, Brodie Croyle, Tyler Thigpen, Matt Cassel, Tyler Palko, Kyle Orton and Brady Quinn, the Chiefs desperately needed a quarterback who could help them win games.

Smith did that. He won 50 of his 76 starts in Kansas City, for a team that had won 24 of its previous 76 games prior to his arrival. Smith threw 102 touchdown passes with 33 interceptions for the Chiefs, making him one of three quarterbacks with more than 100 touchdowns and fewer than 40 interceptions in the past five years.

The others are Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.

From a 2013 perspective, it’s great. From the perspective of 2018, this is no longer enough. The Chiefs, with the help of Smith, raised the bar. They will no longer be satisfied with what they would have five years ago.

It’s Smith’s legacy in Kansas City. For that, the Chiefs owe a debt of gratitude to their former starting quarterback.