No words spoke better to a generation-plus of Royals’ futility than manager Buddy Bell’s immortal cautionary quip amid a 19-game losing streak in 2005:
“Don’t ever say it can’t get worse.”
The notion became a prevailing mind-set until it was finally purged by the exploits of the Royals the last two seasons.
But the residue of that thinking and shaky faith still waits to be exorcised among fans of the Chiefs, whose colorful catalogue of playoff misery would have seemed impossible to eclipse … until it was, two years ago, in their epic collapse against the Indianapolis Colts.