FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — After the final Chiefs player had run through the tunnel leading to the visitors’ locker room, one team employee in a bright red polo said out loud, to no one in particular, “Long time coming! Shake that monkey right off our back!”
There might not have been a better way to describe this stunning, 42-27 defeat of the Patriots on the night they raised their fifth championship banner at Gillette Stadium. Before last night, the Chiefs hadn’t won in Foxborough this century. Their previous trip here, last January, resulted in a disappointing playoff loss that left questions swirling about how they’d surmount New England in the AFC, and what the future held for quarterback Alex Smith.