What separates the good teams from the great ones? Ironically enough, few former NFL stars are as qualified to speak on this matter than Kansas City Chiefs legend Tony Gonzalez. During his 17 seasons in the NFL, Gonzalez won just one postseason game, and none of those came in Kansas City.
That's a stark difference from the modern day Chiefs, which have won three Super Bowls since Gonzalez departed the franchise in 2008. Now a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and an analyst on CBS' pregame show each Sunday, Gonzalez is in a unique position to analyze the rest of the league, and understand the difference between, say, the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks and his Chiefs teams that were always oh so close to making a postseason run, but couldn't break through the rest of the AFC.
What makes a Super Bowl team? Just ask Tony Gonzalez
Gonzalez played 17 seasons of incredible football. He finished his Hall-of-Fame career with a 143-127 overall record — plenty good enough to win a few postseason games. The Chiefs' failures are by no means on him, but much like any influential player who spent the majority of their career with one franchise, the lack of winning 'the big one' still haunts Gonzalez.
"Since it's Super Bowl time, this is when I'm in that most...I don't know, I wouldn't call it a sad mood, but it makes me, when I look back at my career in Kansas City, I'm like, jeez, you know, we never won a playoff game when I was there," Gonzalez told FanSided.
Gonzalez reiterated that his Chiefs teams had some really good players, including Trent Green, Derrick Thomas and Priest Holmes, but could never really get over the hump like the modern-day Chiefs. But what, then, is the biggest difference between Gonzalez's Chiefs teams and the Patriots and Seahawks?
Quarterback and coaching are key to success
Gonzalez cited coaching and quarterback play as the key factors for any teams hoping to make a Super Bowl run. That's not entirely surprising, and something Gonzalez had in abundance during his own career. Green was no Patrick Mahomes, but he was a two-time Pro Bowler back when that actually meant something. Dick Vermeil was a former Super Bowl champion with the Rams who coached Gonzalez in Kansas City. While he's not Reid, which Gonzalez points to below, it's easy to see why the Chiefs have been productive for the better part of the last three decades even prior to their dynastic run.
"You got to have good coaching," Gonzalez reiterated. "Obviously, Kansas City checks that box, maybe the best of all time, and Andy Reid, you gotta have a quarterback that can perform in underneath the lights."
But Gonzalez had plenty of regular-season success. To him, what separates the good teams (like his Chiefs) and the great ones are how those centerpieces perform in the playoffs. The Seahawks and Patriots have proven they can handle that spotlight. For main characters like Sam Darnold, that was a necessity after his failure with the Vikings in 2024-25.
"It's great if you can do well during the regular season. Obviously, that's hard enough, but it's all about...I want to see what you do when you get to the postseason, when the stakes are at the highest. And that's where Sam Darnold, obviously, he's answered a lot of questions."
Building a contender: What Tony Gonzalez has learned from Brett Veach and the Chiefs
The best teams in the modern NFL are built through the draft. That can include the quarterback position, though there are some exceptions to that rule. Gonzalez has a front row seat to the best in the business when it comes to adding late-round steals.
"As far as building a team, it's, you have to build through the draft. You got to hit on your draft picks," Gonzalez added. "I don't care how good your quarterback is or how good your coaching is, you have to build through the draft and, a lot of the teams that, that these teams in the final days, it's a lot of them, they're not big free agent."
Gonzalez, to no one's surprise, discussed Brett Veach's approach to drafting in his interview with FanSided.
"Brett Veach out there in Kansas City...they hit," Gonzalez said. "They know how to pick players and develop them in their system."
Player | Round selected |
|---|---|
Tyreek Hill | Fifth round |
Travis Kelce | Third round |
Chris Jones | Second round |
Creed Humphrey | Second round |
Isiah Pacheco | Seventh round |
Rashee Rice | Second round |
This doesn't even begin to touch on Patrick Mahomes, whom the Chiefs traded up to select in 2017. Kansas City has routinely hit on their picks. While they're by no means perfect, the best way to create and maintain a postseason contender is with cheap talent. It gives the front office flexibility in free agency and via trade, and also provides plenty of confidence that no one player is bigger than the system.
The Patriots and Seahawks have employed a similar approach, though Seattle added its missing piece in Darnold through free agency. Should either team hope to sustain its run, their best chance is to draft well while keeping their culture in tact.
Tony Gonzalez spoke to FanSided courtesy of Novartis. Novartis, a leading global innovative medicines company and the official pharmaceutical partner of the NFL, today announced the launch of “Relax, it’s a blood test,” a new national prostate cancer awareness initiative that kicks off with a commercial airing during Super Bowl LX on February 8, 2026.