KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The future always looks bleak following a setback. Chiefs fans are sad, angry, maybe in denial after the team lost Super Bowl LIX Sunday night to the Philadelphia Eagles 40-22.
But Kansas City has a history of coming back from setbacks and finding success. There are several examples in sports and beyond.
In sports, the Kansas City Royals lost the World Series in 2014, only to come back and win it in 2015.
After the 2014 loss, pitcher Jeremy Guthrie promised the team would return to championship form.
"To have gotten here once, I think the guys will build off this. They understand what it takes. I think that hard work and that hunger will only grow more for all of us here in this clubhouse," Guthrie said.
Even this Chiefs team has examples of taking two steps forward after one step back. Patrick Mahomes and the squad lost Super Bowl LV to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Chiefs went on to win Super Bowls LVII and LVIII.
Mahomes drew on his past experiences after the Buccaneers loss in 2021.
"My dad lost in the World Series in his career and he continued to battle and continued to be who he was," Mahomes said then. "Obviously it hurts right now, it hurts a lot, but we're going to continue to get better."
The quarterback echoed those sentiments Sunday night, saying losing a Super Bowl "will motivate me to be even better the rest of my career."
Kansas City has a history of getting better.
In the 1990s, voters approved a tax to renovate Union Station. The train station had fallen into disrepair. Thanks to about $120 million raised through the initiative, Union Station is now the centerpiece of downtown.
"This is the people's house because the people saved it' our community saved it, they saved it for others," said George Guastello, president and CEO of Union Station.
Not far away, the West Bottoms has seen a comeback.
Floods in 1951 essentially wiped away the livestock industry that had called the area home for decades. In the 1970s, Hy-Vee Arena —-originally Kemper Arena — opened.
Not long after, artists started opening studios in the empty warehouses. Their First Friday events gathered crowds. In 2024, SomeraRoad broke ground on a $500 million redevelopment plan.
"The West Bottoms has had this coming for a long time and really needed the right set of circumstances," Grant Hromas of SomeraRoad said.
So Chiefs fans have reasons to keep their heads up high after Sunday’s loss. The city has a reputation for coming back.
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KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.