The 1998 season was the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

' 39th in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) and their 29th overall. The season began with the team hoping to not only improve on their 13–3 campaign the previous season but to also avenge their loss in the 1998 playoffs against the eventual

Super Bowl champion The Super Bowl is the annual American football game that determines the champion of the National Football League (NFL). The game culminates a season that begins in the previous calendar year, and is the conclusion of the NFL playoffs. The winn ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. However, instead, the Chiefs failed to succeed in the highly competitive

AFC West The American Football Conference – Western Division or AFC West is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division comprises the Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Las ...

. Kansas City began the season on a bright spot, with a 4–1 record and three wins against division rivals; however they then endured a 6-game losing streak, dropping their record to 4–7, and the team finished with a 7–9 record and 4th place in the

. The biggest low point of the season was during a Week 11 matchup against their division rival

, in which the Chiefs defense were penalized five times on the same drive, including three penalties by linebacker Derrick Thomas, topping off an embarrassing 30–7 loss. Following the season,

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Marty Schottenheimer announced his intention to resign after ten seasons with the team, and

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

Gunther Cunningham Gunther Cunningham (June 19, 1946 – May 11, 2019) was an American football head coach. He served as the Kansas City Chiefs head coach for two seasons. He also had two stints as the Chiefs' Defensive Coordinator. He served as an assistant coach ...

assumed coaching duties for

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

. This was the first time Derrick Thomas was not named to the Pro Bowl roster.

Offseason

On April 9,

Marcus Allen Marcus LeMarr Allen (born March 26, 1960) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the greatest goal line and short-y ...

announced his retirement.

NFL draft

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Preseason

Regular season

The Chiefs began the season well on September 6 with an impressive performance and easily defeated the Oakland Raiders at Arrowhead 28–8.

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

sacked the Raiders quarterbacks 10 times, with Derrick Thomas collecting 6 by himself. On September 13, Kansas City fell to the Jacksonville Jaguars on the road, 21–16. On September 27, the Chiefs visited the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

for the first time in franchise history. On October 4, Kansas City conquered the Seattle Seahawks and the rain at Arrowhead, 17–6.

Rich Gannon Richard Joseph Gannon (born December 20, 1965) is an American former football quarterback who played 18 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Subsequently, he was a sports commentator with CBS Sports for 16 years. Gannon was born in ...

hit Andre Rison for an 80-yard touchdown pass after a 54-minute rain delay caused by a violent storm. The two teams combined for nine turnovers, five by Kansas City. The win improved the Chiefs' record to 4–1, however a 6-game losing streak following this game dropped the team to 4–7. On November 16, against the Denver Broncos, the Chiefs defense was penalized five times on one drive, three of the penalties coming from legendary linebacker Derrick Thomas. The game is known now by Chiefs fans as the "Monday Night Meltdown". After that it was all downhill as the Chiefs suffered their first losing season since 1988.

Schedule

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Oakland Raiders

Week 2: at Jacksonville Jaguars

Week 3: vs. San Diego Chargers

Week 4: at Philadelphia Eagles

Week 5: vs. Seattle Seahawks

Week 6: at New England Patriots

Week 8: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 9: vs. New York Jets

Week 10: at Seattle Seahawks

Week 11: vs. Denver Broncos

Week 12: at San Diego Chargers

Week 13: vs. Arizona Cardinals

Week 14: at Denver Broncos

Week 15: vs. Dallas Cowboys

Week 16: at New York Giants

Week 17: at Oakland Raiders

Standings

Awards and records

The team was penalized 158 times for 1,304 yards, an NFL record that stood until the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

surpassed it in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1998 Kansas City Chiefs Season

Kansas City Chiefs seasons

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...