For Kansas City Chiefs Fans, Indianapolis Colts Bring Up Bad Memories

Kansas City Chiefs fans remember. I remember, at least.

The playoffs. The Indianapolis Colts. The bad memories.

That feeling after you lose is like nothing else. Nothing -- and I mean this -- nothing is worse than seeing your team prematurely lose in the playoffs.

That's what the Colts have done to the Chiefs. I remember three games in particular that, as a Kansas City Chiefs fan, still keep me up at night.

January 6, 2007 (Indianapolis, IN)

The Chiefs squeaked into the playoffs on the regular season's final day. They needed a ridiculous number of things to happen, and they all did, and the Chiefs made it. They were riding Larry Johnson second straight 1,700-plus yard season and the Colts were among the league's worst at stopping the run.

With the miracle finish to the regular season, the word destiny started to creep into my head. Looking back on it, it's silly. But at the time that's what I remember. A miracle happened to get the Chiefs into the playoffs. Now that miracle is lining up nicely in the rushing game.

You all know what happened next. Indy all of a sudden learned how to stop the run (thanks, Bob Sanders), shut down LJ and the Chiefs lost.

Colts 23 Chiefs 8

January 11, 2004 (Kansas City, MO)

This one hurts but maybe not as the others. We knew what we were getting with this Chiefs team. The offense with Trent Green and Priest Holmes was unreal. The only offense in the NFL that was better was perhaps the Colts.

All season we knew the defense was a problem. We knew it. Dick Vermeil knew it. Trent Green knew it (and said it again last week on KC sports radio). It was like ignoring a critical part of the story as the season went along. People mentioned how poorly the defense was playing but, hey, the Chiefs kept winning. That offense could overcome it, we would say.

I remember being in school in St. Louis -- world's worst Chiefs town, by the way -- and tailgating outside in our apartment parking lot before the game. No one else knew what we were doing. Grills, car doors open blaring the radio, throwing the football...like a mini-Arrowhead. It was me, my brother Chris and a host of other Kansas City folks.

The game started and, well I won't go through all the details, but let's just say that we saw the highest highs and the lowest lows that game. I'm not sure if I remember an emotional roller coaster like that day.

Colts 38 Chiefs 31

January 7, 1996 (Kansas City, MO)

The grand daddy of 'em all.

The Colts game.

The kicker.

This is perhaps the most frustrating loss in the history of my time as a Kansas City Chiefs fan. The January 4, 1998 game against the Denver Broncos rivals it but this one is painful.

I don't think I have to go into details of what happened that day. But it was perhaps the best Chiefs team I've seen assembled in my day (and, yeah, that team was lead by Steve Bono).

Colts 10 Chiefs 7