KANSAS CITY, Mo. – At a 1999 concert, members of the group Creed created Higher, arguably their most prominent single, in impromptu fashion on stage in front of a live audience.
Mark Tremonti from Creed performed on the fouth and final day of the Louder Than Life music festival. Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021 / Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal and USA Today Network via Imagn Content Services, LLC
The same year, Creed Humphrey’s parents welcomed him into the world – with arms wide open – and named him after the world-renowned rock band. And 26 years later, the Chiefs might as well adopt that song as their season anthem.
Facing a brutal uphill path, the Chiefs (5-5) need to ignore those outside their building claiming their season has already ended and strive to reach a more idyllic state. Because from here on out, every week is essentially do or die. Their playoffs start Sunday against Indianapolis (8-2) at Arrowhead Stadium (12 p.m. CT, CBS/KCTV, Channel 5, 96.5 The Fan).
“Just being able to stay in the moment,” Humphrey told OnSI on Tuesday. “Don’t ponder on the past. Don’t look forward to the future. Be present, be where your feet are, and make sure you’re doing the right things in that moment.
“Make sure you’re focused on it being one game at a time, one practice at a time, one meeting at a time, and make sure you’re doing what you can to get better during those times.”
Inward focus
During those times this week, the Chiefs will lean on each other, Andy Reid said. The head coach has guided several teams, both in Kansas City and Philadelphia, to the playoffs after similar starts.
“We’re not quite as negative as the outside world is,” Reid said Monday afternoon. “So, we know that we need to clean up, and we need to do that, but the guys, they get it. I mean, some of these guys have been through some pretty good seasons. And this one, this isn’t like this one’s lost, so we just got to clean up a few of these things.
“And the urgency level, obviously, we need to make sure we take care of that now.”
A playoffs guarantee
Mitch Holthus thinks they will. The play-by-play man has seen all walks of life over his three decades as Voice of the Chiefs — good, bad and brutally ugly seasons. Will the Chiefs make the playoffs? Find him at a Hy-Vee grocery store this week, and he’ll be honest.
“Yes,” Holthus said Monday afternoon on The Drive with Carrington Harrison. “I don’t have any doubt right now they’re not going to make the playoffs. We’ve gone through this discussion so many times. I’ve seen this team pull it out. I’ve seen this team fight through it. It’s not sugar coated. It’s not like it’s all this is great. I just laid out what happened in the five losses; it has to get better.
“Yet, I’ve seen it time and time again. I’ve lived it. I get to be in the building. I see how they react to this, and they don’t panic, and they don’t flip out, and they don’t just lose their mind or go, ‘Hey, that’s it. I’m going to go to Cancun. That’s not the way these guys are wired. These guys will make the playoffs.”
July 29, 2012; St. Joseph, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs sports radio personality Mitch Holthus interviews players after training camp at Missouri Western State University. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images
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