The Chiefs and Patriots have never met in the playoffs, but they have played in several memorable games, including their last three meetings. So take a trip down memory lane with me and relive some of their great games.

2002 Regular Season
Patriots 41, Chiefs 38 OT
September 22, 2002 – Gillette Stadium

Eddie Kennison caught two touchdown passes for the Chiefs but otherwise blew the game at its crucial moment by calling heads for the overtime coin flip. The coin came up tails, leaving the Chiefs to rely on their defense to stop New England.

The result was all too predictable. The Patriots never gave the Chiefs a chance, marching with precision for Adam Vinatieri’s 35-yard field goal and a 41-38 victory.

There was little reason to think the Chiefs would stop the Patriots, not after allowing 29 second half points.

Had the Chiefs won the coin toss, there’s good reason to believe they would have emerged victorious and with a 2-1 record rather than 1-2. They scored three fourth quarter touchdowns, rallying from deficits of 31-17 and 38-24 and sent the game into onvertime on Priest Holmes’ 1-yard touchdown run with no time remaining.

The Chiefs put a serious scare in the undefeated and defending Super Bowl champion Patriots with a big game from Holmes, who rushed 30 times for 180 yards and two touchdowns and also caught a touchdown pass.

But Holmes’ production and the Chiefs’ 38-point outburst went to waste because the defense caved in.

The Patriots began the game with their no-huddle offense and an empty backfield but couldn’t make much of a dent in the Chiefs and eventually went to a more conventional approach.

The Chiefs battered Tom Brady, sacking him four times and hitting him on numerous other throws. He still threw for 410 yards and four scores against an ailing secondary that played much of the game without injured nickel back Ray Crockett, and with Eric Warfield hobbling because of an injury of his own.

Nine different Patriots caught at least one pass, and four had a touchdown reception. Troy Brown set a club record with 16 receptions.

The Chiefs stopped nobody in the passing game. They did a decent job against running back Antowain Smith except for one play, a 42-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that gave New England a 38-24 lead.

Smith’s touchdown run was another in a never-ending parade of big plays allowed by the Chiefs. The list included 38-yard receptions by Brown and David Patten, who burned William Bartee with a one-handed grab for a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

The offense saved the Chiefs, in only temporarily, with three touchdowns in the final 9 minutes, 23 seconds. The rally could have breathed some life into the sagging defense but didn’t.

The Chiefs never threatened to stop the Patriots on the winning drive. The big play was a 22-yard catch and run by Patten, who beat Bartee and advanced the ball to the Chiefs 22-yard line.

New England began setting up for Vinatieri’s game winning field goal at that point.

2000 Regular Season
Patriots 30, Chiefs 24
December 4, 2000 – Foxboro Stadium

It was billed as a meaningless match-up between two teams going nowhere, but the Chiefs and Patriots combined to put on a show for a world-wide audience on Monday Night Football.

Drew Bledsoe’s sore thumb didn’t stop him from having one of his best games, throwing for a season-high 282 yards. He completed 33 passes, third-most in his career, in 48 attempts for two touchdowns.

The Patriots opened the scoring with a 48-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri on their opening possession, but the lead didn’t last as the Chiefs quickly marched down the field and tied the score on Todd Peterson’s 42-yard field goal.

The Patriots, who had just two touchdowns in their previous three games, quickly responded with a 1-yard run by Kevin Faulk.

But the Chiefs would respond again, as Elvis Grbac connected with wide receiver Derrick Alexander for an 81-yard touchdown pass to tie the score at ten apiece.

The Patriots would answer right back with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Bledsoe to Troy Brown and a 53-yard field goal by Vinatieri that gave the Patriots a 20-10 halftime lead.

The Patriots took control of the game in the third quarter behind Bledsoe, who connected on all seven passes during the drive that was capped with a 1-yard tochdown pass to tight end Jermaine Wiggins, giving the Patriots a 27-10 lead.

The Chiefs marched back, reaching the New England 27-yard line, but Otis Smith intercepted Grbac’s pass at the 4-yard line and returned it 56 yards. The Patriots couldn’t capitalize as Vinatieri missed a 37-yard field goal attempt.

The Chiefs quickly got back in the game when Grbac connected with Tony Gonzalez on a 4-yard scoring pass, cutting the lead to 27-17 with 13:43 left in the fourth quarter. But Sylvester Morris’s fumble on the Chiefs next possession was recovered by Tony George and led to another field goal by Vinatieri, giving the Patriots a 30-17 lead.

That’s when things got really interesting.

The Chiefs again responded, cutting the lead to 30-24 on Grbac’s 19-yard pass to Kevin Lockett with 3:58 left. The Chiefs defense was able to force a punt, setting up a dramatic finish.

Grbac led the Chiefs down to the Patriots 12-yard line and then burned their last timeout with 11 seconds remaining. On the next play, Grbac hit Gonzalez over the middle for five yards, but he was quickly tackled inbounds by Tebucky Jones. The Chiefs couldn’t get another play off before time expired.

Grbac threw to Gonzalez, who had 11 receptions for 147 yards, as a last desperate attempt.

“I probably should have thrown the ball into the end zone,” said Grbac, who was 25-for-46 for 350 yards and three touchdowns. “But I saw Tony was open and I got him the ball. Any time I get the ball to Tony, he can score.”

This time, Gonzalez didn’t.

The Patriots improved to 4-9 with the win, while the Chiefs dropped their fifth straight, falling to 5-8.

1999 Regular Season
Chiefs 16, Patriots 14
October 10, 1999 – Arrowhead Stadium

The Patriots entered the game with a perfect 4-0 record, but they had won to of their games on late field goals by Adam Vinatieri and had been living on the edge most of the season. They had not led at halftime in any game but did manage a 7-3 edge at the half against Kansas City.

But the Chiefs put together a 14-play, 76-yard drive to open the second half and took the lead for good. Donnell Bennett had a pair of 12-yard runs and caught two passes for 16 yards before plunging over from the one with 6:54 to go in the quarter.

Trailing 10-7, the Patriots took the ensuing kickoff and moved into field goal range. But Vinatieri was wide left with a 48-yard attempt and the Chiefs took over at their own 39.

Bennett continued to plow away and Elvis Grbac found Joe Horn for 16 yards. After a five-yard run by Bam Morris put the ball at the New England 23, kicker Pete Stoyanovich converted a 41-yard field goal for a 13-7 lead.

Bledsoe ended the Patriots next drive with an interception at the Kansas City 32 and again the Chiefs converted. Morris and Bennett hammered away at the interior of the New England defense. Five straight runs between the tackles, including a 23-yard burst by Morris, set up Stoyanovich’s 23-yard field goal with 4:52 left.

Bledsoe and the Patriots responded with an eight-play, 76-yard drive that chewed up just over two minutes off the clock. Bledsoe found Shawn Jefferson with an eight-yard scoring toss to cap the drive and draw the Patriots within 16-14.

Kansas City did its best to kill the clock on their next possession, but was forced to punt the ball away with 30 seconds left.

Bledsoe drove the Patriots 23 yards in 26 seconds, setting up a 32-yard field goal attempt by Vinatieri with 4 seconds remaining. The kick had plenty of distance, but hit the right upright allowing the Chiefs to escaped with the win.

1998 Regular Season
Patriots 40, Chiefs 10
October 11, 1998 – Foxboro Stadium

Looking more like a last-place club than a Super Bowl contender, the Chiefs were blown out and embarrassed by the New England Patriots, 40-10. Mistakes and exposed weaknesses combined to make the game a laugher for the home team, who capitalized over and over from Kansas City’s poor play.

“We made enough errors to last a season,” Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer said afterward. “I didn’t think we could play poorly. We clearly did not play to the level we expect to play.”

Here’s the Chiefs carnage left by the Patriots: 438 total yards to 134, 31 first downs to nine for Kansas City, 41 minutes and 45 seconds of possession time to the Chiefs’ 18:15. New England struck quickly and held a 27-0 lead at the half. The Chiefs never challenged, and worse, apparently quit trying.

“They quit out there,” New England linebacker Chris Slade said of the Chiefs play. “They didn’t play hard. They just quit. By halftime, they were out of it.”

The game was so bad for Kansas City that no player can be said to have had any kind of decent performance. It was truly a team loss, and one that had Schottenheimer personally shouldering the blame.

The loss dropped the Chiefs to 4-2, and raised serious questions about how good a team they really were.

“I’ve seen this happen to us before, and we bounced back,” Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas said. “We’ll bounce back from this one… I don’t anticipate us doing anything less.”

This was the first loss of the Chiefs six-game losing streak during the season.

1961 Regular Season
Patriots 28, Texans 21
November 3, 1961 – Boston University Field

In one of the most bizarre endings ever to a game, the Boston Patriots, with the help of an over-zealous hometown fan, stopped the Texans bid to tie the score on the game’s final play. After surrendering a 91-yard kickoff return late in the fourth quarter to fall behind 28-21, Cotton Davidson and Chris Burford hooked up on a 72-yard pass play that put the ball on the Patriots three-yard line.

Davidson’s last-chance pass into the end zone on the game’s final play was knocked down by a spectator, who had run onto the field during the play. Surprisingly, the officials let the play stand and the Texans took the loss, 28-21.

The game was the Texans fourth defeat in a row and dropped them from contention for the AFL West title.

The Texans lost their next two games, running the losing streak to six games before stopping the Raiders at the Cotton Bowl.