Super Bowl champion hopes fans appreciate Chiefs’ greatness, not hate on it

The Kansas City Chiefs haterade is being served triple this year after reaching their third consecutive Super Bowl.

The back-to-back reigning champions are one win away from becoming the first team to ever three-peat, and despite putting their name among the greatest dynasties in sports, a large majority of football fans can’t wait for it to end.

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However, one former NFL great has no issues with the Chiefs’ success, knowing how difficult it is to do what the Chiefs have been doing.

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Clay Matthews, who won a Super Bowl, says it’s easier for him, as opposed to the average fan, to appreciate the Chiefs’ greatness rather than hate on it.

“I don’t think people understand how difficult it is. Unlike maybe in some other sports where there’s no salary cap, and certain teams dominate football, because of the salary cap, because of the parody within the league, it’s so difficult to stay on top,” Matthews told Digital in a recent interview. “And for [Tom] Brady to do that for so long, and now [Patrick] Mahomes to do that within his first seven years, it’s remarkable.

“So I look at it as just enjoy the show, and I hope everybody is as well.”

Matthews knows how difficult it really is, and how grateful the Chiefs should be, considering fans in the early 2010s thought the Aaron Rodgers-led Packers would be the next great dynasty. Matthews called Rodgers “arguably the greatest talent” at the quarterback position, but even they couldn’t get over the hump more than once.

Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews, left, points to Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers after defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV in Arlington, Texas, on Feb. 6, 2011. (USA TODAY NETWORK-Wis. via Imagn Content Services LLC)

“We were only able to make one Super Bowl. … So I firsthand know how difficult it is to get back to the Super Bowl. So for him to be able to do this year and year out, it’s almost like a cheat code, but the reality is it takes so much more than just us at home saying it’s unfair,” Matthews added.

Green Bay Packers Clay Matthews is shown during a game on Sept. 9, 2012. (John Biever/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)

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“I grew up in the Kobe [Bryant] era, the Lakers era where they were winning championships, and I’m sure everybody was hating. When the Yankees were winning, I was hating on them because I was a Dodgers fan,” the Southern California native continued. “So whereas I wasn’t involved in professional athletics, it’s a lot easier to hate on the couch as a fan. 

“Being a former player and, you know, football as well is just such a difficult sport. I mean, the physicality of it, the war of attrition, everything that goes into it to get to this point right now, it’s truly remarkable. So, yes, I do appreciate it a lot more than perhaps others who haven’t played the game do.”

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Maybe it will be a different story, though, if the Chiefs go to four in a row.

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