Is There Room in Chiefs Kingdom for (former) Bears Fans?

Pro sports teams like any sports team at any level have ups and downs. Good seasons, so-so seasons and awful seasons. They have scandals with players, management and even fan bases.

Success tends to cover up a-lot of issues and it also draws people to the team’s brand. People like winners. Even more, people like to be affiliated with winners.

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With the beginning of the NFL 24/25 season can the Kansas City Chiefs in a quest to do something previously never achieved in NFL history bring more fans into “Chiefs Kingdom”?

It would seem impossible to increase the Chiefs Q rating. Back to back Super-bowl champions. The biggest songstress on the planet dating the leagues recently crowned most popular player. How do you build onto that?

Do you know people who have hopped on board the Chiefs brand over the last 20 months? Pretty sure the answer is yes. Even being regionally close to Arrowhead there has been an uptick in casual fan awareness of the teams winning ways. Outside the geographical “kingdom” the Chiefs undoubtedly have seen a surge in profile nationally.

How many of these Kansas City converts were fans of other NFL teams before the last couple seasons?

Is it okay to drop your team to hop on board the bandwagon?

People are weird when it comes to this question. There are a variety of conditions and stipulations to this occurrence. Fans will in some cases allow for a secondary team fandom. You still keep your primary team support. But, simultaneously root for team B unless they are playing your primary. Your primary team could move (Yes, St. Louis. I know…twice). You can’t bring yourself to root for your team after they literally break up with you for a new city/region. You move to a new area and adopt said regional team even though your primary is still playing in the area you moved from.

Then there’s the bold move.

Your team devolves in stagnant mediocrity. Consistently losing after teasing that the potential for growth is imminent. Think Cleveland Browns, and more recently the Chicago Bears. There are former Bears fans out there regionally who took off their Urlacher jerseys to put on a Mahomes.

The rub here is the Bears have a buzz about them they haven’t had in a while. While former Chicago fans don’t want to hear it there are positives this preseason from the midway. Keep a side eye on Soldier Field this fall. Even without winning the division or getting to the NFC Championship game there is upside to be had for the Bears.

Meanwhile in “Chiefs Kingdom” one of the ways to show your years of devotion is to sport a jersey from a player from a previous era of Chiefs history. Derrick Thomas, Len Dawson, Jamaal Charles and Tony Gonzalez are gimmes. You want to express Chiefs fan bona-fides? Don’t get an #87 jersey with “SWIFT” on the back…..flex instead to Deron Cherry, Kimble Anders, Tony Richardson or Will Shields. The names of the guys who toiled away in excellence for the fans while the team never lived up to its promise.

Welcome 2024 NFL season. Welcome to “Chiefs Kingdom” (keep a side eye on those Bears).