5 Reasons the Chiefs Will Never Overtake Cowboys As ‘America’s Team’

Sorry Chiefs Kingdom, but your national spotlight might be fading soon. Andrew Perloff explains why.

The Kansas City Chiefs are coming for the crown. The NFL gave them seven primetime games, compared to six for the Dallas Cowboys. FOX’s Chase Daniel, a former Kansas City backup quarterback, said it with his chest out on X: “The Chiefs are the new America’s Team. Playing on Christmas & now on Thanksgiving…Ratings King.”

Maybe K.C. is royalty today. This is not a reign that’s built to last. The Chiefs are the NFL’s current fling. The relationship with Cowboys is built for the long term. Dallas isn’t going anywhere. The Cowboys were the league’s premier brand long before Patrick Mahomes arrived

Here are five reasons that Dallas is still America’s Team no matter how many stand-alone games the NFL gives Kansas City…

1. Super Bowl runs come and go

The Cowboys’ ratings obviously aren’t contingent on winning titles. Dallas hasn’t been to an NFC title game since 1995. It helps when they’re competitive. But even that’s not a prerequisite to record numbers. Last season, 38.5 million people tuned in to watch the 4-7 Cowboys take on the 2-9 Giants on Thanksgiving.

The Chiefs are closer to the Patriots. New England won six Super Bowls between 2000 and 2018 compared to K.C.’s three from 2019-23. They had the winning, the star quarterback, Gisele Bundchen in the stands. Once Tom Brady left, however, they quickly became just another team.

The NFL is fickle. If the Chiefs have a down year or two, their exposure would be slashed in a hurry. Last season, the Jets had six prime- time games, tied for league-high. This season — without Aaron Rodgers — they have two, and

they play in the biggest market in the nation.

2. The Taylor bump

Travis Kelce hooking up with Taylor Swift at the pinnacle of her fame is unprecedented. The NFL didn’t try to hide its Taylor obsession and the potential new fans it brought. It paid off, helping the Chiefs challenge the Cowboys in ratings. It just can’t last….

This season feels like a retirement tour for Kelce. His production has slipped and he is arguably spending more energy on building up his post-playing career than football. The Swift effect vanishes once he’s not on the field any more. Even if they stay together, she’s not showing up at Arrowhead to watch Mahomes throw to Noah Gray. Will the Swifties stick with K.C. just because she throws up an occasional social media post after a big win? No chance.

3. Chiefs’ run could be over soon

Head coach Andy Reid is 67. Kelce is 35. Their best defensive player, Chris Jones, turns 31 in July. And Mahomes could be closer to the end than the beginning. The Chiefs QB turns 30 on Sept. 17, a few weeks into his ninth season.

Kansas City also has a new set of competitors to worry about in the AFC. It was a lot easier to stack division wins before Sean Payton got to Denver and Jim Harbaugh landed with the Chargers. And at some point Lamar Jackson’s Ravens and Josh Allen’s Bills have to break through and find a way to beat them in the playoffs.

Kansas City deserves credit for rebuilding on the fly despite losing talented players because of the salary cap. But roster reconstruction is a lot easier because of Reid and Mahomes. If one of the two goes away, all of a sudden the warts on this team will be harder to hide.

4. Chiefs fatigue

National fans are already tired of the Chiefs being good and it’s been just seven years. Before the Super Bowl loss to the equally unlikeable Eagles, most neutral fans were rooting against Kansas City. The blowout loss to Philly in Super Bowl LIX dampened that animosity a bit. We’ll see if it comes back because of all the prime-time and holiday games.

The Chiefs’ new style of play doesn’t help. They went from a free-flowing aerial attack to a conservative ground-and-pound approach overnight. In 2022, they had the No. 1 offense in the NFL. Last season they ranked 17^th overall and failed to score more than 30 points in a regular-season game.

The Cowboys are in our face seven days a week and somehow it’s not enough. When they’re good, we tune in to see if this is the year they’ll break the Super Bowl drought. When they’re bad, we can’t wait to see the reaction from ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and other Dallas haters.

5. Generations of fans can’t be wrong

The Cowboys’ popularity seems to baffle media experts. The secret has to be the family connection. Team fandom is passed down like a gene from one generation to the next. The impact of the ‘70s Cowboys provided the fuel for the explosion in the ‘90s. We’re still feeling the effects of that dynasty three decades later.

The Chiefs won a Super Bowl in 1970 and then were relatively quiet for 48 years. No one outside of Kansas City jumped on the bandwagon until Mahomes came along. That’s not enough time to build up the kind of base Dallas has.

Every sport has its version of a title drought-proof team that is passed from parents to kids. Notre Dame hasn’t won a national championship since ’88 and it’s still a huge factor in college football. The Yankees have won just one World Series since in this century and their place in baseball has barely slipped. The Lakers won in ‘20 (although it was the bubble title), but they have ability to sustain interest between their successful runs.

No matter what happens on the field, there’s still something special about that star on the Cowboys’ helmets. It has an uncanny ability to elicit emotion. Sorry Chiefs Kingdom, the KC/arrow logo will never have that kind of power. There is only one America’s Team and it has a permanent home in Dallas.