The Chiefs hadn't lost inside Arrowhead Stadium in December since 1996. Significant? Absolutely. The loss signifies that it's time for the Chiefs to go a different direction in terms of player personnel and, quite possibly, the people acquiring the personnel.
The Chiefs, the franchise that owned this city in the 1990s, have grown terribly stale.
We've seen this same act for 10 straight years. The Chiefs, 7-6, are always just good enough to make us believe that they might be able to sneak into the playoffs. Eight times out of 10 - and I mean this literally - the Chiefs aren't good enough to back into the playoffs, and they're certainly no threat to win a Super Bowl.
You're tired of it. I'm tired of it. And, when the players are being bone honest, they're tired, too.
"I wouldn't be bitter if they let me go," perennial Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez told me when the locker room cleared out.
Gonzalez is headed for a contract showdown with the Chiefs. He's analyzed the roster, considered KC's inability to take the next step, looked at all the young ascending players who need to get paid - Larry Johnson, Kawika Mitchell, Jared Allen - and reached the conclusion that this could be a volatile offseason in Kansas City.
Gonzalez stressed that he'd like to remain in KC.
"But right now, to me, winning is more important (than staying in KC)," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez sounded the way Marty Schottenheimer sounded at the end of his 10-year run in Kansas City. For a decade, Gonzalez has given the Chiefs everything, and he's been rewarded with two one-and-done playoff seasons and eight years of false hope.
He sounded like a confident professional open to the idea of trying it somewhere else before his skills decline. Gonzalez's good friend, Shannon Sharpe, left Denver after 10 years and won another Super Bowl in Baltimore.
You can't blame Gonzalez for pondering the thought of playing in New Orleans, Seattle or Denver.