When the Kansas City Chiefs packed their bags and headed to the Kingdome in Seattle on that warm November evening back in 1983, they could hardly expect a good outcome–nobody knew how special this Chiefs vs Seahawks shootout in 1983 was going to be.
They didn’t expect the highest-scoring contest in franchise history, with a combined 99 points in a frenetic, 51–48 overtime loss. (That record stood until 2018 when the Chiefs lost to the Los Angeles Rams 54-51)
Seattle had just returned from a nightmare in Denver the week before. They lost 38-27 on the back of eight turnovers. Steve Largent was reported to have uttered, “We slit our own throats.”
The Chiefs weren’t doing great either. Their 1983 season was already in peril when on the 4th of January they fired their head coach Marv Levy after a disappointing last season. The new head coach would be the old Dallas Cowboys – John Mackovic, which gave the team a little spring in their step and a little bit of hope for what might be a better year.
His counterpart that night would be the ever tough, Chuck Knox. A man who would become a member of the exclusive Seattle Seahawks Ring of Honor.
Unfortunately, hopes of a fresh start under Mackovic were dashed on the 29th of June, when running back Joe Delaney drowned attempting to save the lives of three children in Critters Creek Amusement Park, Louisiana.
Delaney was posthumously awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by President Reagan in July of that year.
Things took a slight turn for the better, when Bobby Bell had become the first Chiefs player to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame that July. Still, it didn’t take away the pain of losing Delaney.
Delaney made a tremendous impact on the Chiefs, leaving 4 franchise records that would stand for nearly two decades.
That bad fortune was about to change despite losing on that electric evening at the Seattle Kingdome. They played a game that even now, with the Kingdome demolished, still gets people talking.
56,793 fans huddled together to watch the Chiefs battle it out. Less than a month later against the Denver Broncos, that figure fell to just over 11,000.
The Chiefs kicked off with two impeccable runs by Theotis Brown, which surprised everyone since the Chiefs were last on the leaderboard in rushing, just 77 yards per game. Even funnier, he’d just been cut from the Seahawks lineup earlier in the year.
Talk about payback.
A couple plays later, Seattle put the Chiefs in a nice enough 3rd and 15. But Mackovic yanked a trick play out of the bag, a double reverse to Carson. The drive is eventually snapped off with an 11-yard touchdown pass by Bill Kenney to Henry Marshall.
Possession went awry for Seattle for a while, a bounce out left gains Curt Warner 11-yards. Somehow, out of the blue, Seattle managed to lock Kansas City inside their 10-yard line.
A clumsy 3rd and 10 holds the Chiefs back under the concrete shadows of the Kingdome. Paul Johns fumbles another pass, now 3rd and 11. Ron Essink spins to his belly trying to block defensive end Mike Bell.
A few nervous looks between the men.
Curt Warner freezes two defenders with a lightning-bolt stop move, he gets 12-yards for his trouble. Cullen Bryant gets a quick run up the middle that ends in a 28-yard touchdown by Warner.
It’s an interesting start for two teams with a lot to prove.
Kansas City falls back into the wide-open passing offense they’re known for. Seahawks try to combat this, now it’s Carlos Carson vs Dave Brown, racking up the yards, 13, 10, then 14.
Relentless.
Seattle blitz against a cumbersome Chiefs defense of three rookies, courtesy of Bruce Sholtz. Now at the 34-yard line. The Chiefs fight back – a deep seam throw miss, leaves the Seahawks scratching their heads, and the fans worried.
Too late, same bat time, same bat channel – the play repeats and this time Stephone Paige launches a 17-yard touchdown pass assault.
Chiefs get ahead, 14-7.
A shook Seahawks lineup puts Curt Warner in the hot-seat. Ron Essink and Reggie McKenzie trounce Mike Bell and open a massive gap. Warner gobbles up another 25-yards, but it’s all for nothing. The passing offense can’t keep up and eventually, it fizzles out with a missed Norm Johnson field goal.
Seattle still held off two smart Theotis Brown sprints and force the Chiefs to punt from the 47-yard line. Another set of poorly executed downs goes awry as Dave Krieg is slammed by linebacker Calvin Daniels. The official blows – dead ball.
The Chiefs take a penalty for illegal use of hands at the hands (pun intended) of Robert Pratt. Seattle now pinned down to the 6-yard line.
A sloppy hand-off to Warner sent the ball bobbing along the astroturf. From the video, it looked like Krieg tried to throw it, but choked and instead scooped it forward. Bill Kenny fists it into a first down play.
21-7 Chiefs.
The Seattle defense looked like a dumpster fire.
Kickoff, Zach Dixon returns a 32-yarder from the 1-yard line, gaining momentum as Largent catches a 25-yard pass. Paul Johns fumbles again, although an eye poke was to blame this time.
Then it’s a 23-yard pass to Byron Walker – his 8th catch of 1983. They double-down and Walker ends up with a tasty 18-yard touchdown.
21-14 to the Chiefs.
The Seattle boys held Kansas on their own 15-yard line. Unfortunately, Kerry Justin and Carlos Carson open that door up, only long enough for Mackovic to call a shoddy screen pass, killing momentum and allowing Seattle to peek behind the curtain again.
Krieg forces the ball into triple coverage and an interception ensues, the defense fails and Kansas City force a late touchdown.
Chiefs lead 28-14 at the halfway mark.
Kansas City comes right out of the gate with a kick that pops high, David Hughes gets it all wrong – misjudges the flight and nearly fumbles it. Somehow they keep it and Seattle starts the long-haul against a Chiefs offense that looks like the Berlin wall at this point.
All sorts of chaos, Krieg fumbles the second down snap from wet behind the ears Kani Kauahi, then lobs it toward Paul Johns who’s only a credit card width away from being intercepted. The first play in the next drive, Ken Thomas somehow drops the ball courtesy of linebacker Shelton Robinson tickling his ankles.
Now the ball bobs like a cork in water along the turf to Dave Brown, out of bounds.
Seahawks are recovering, but Krieg gets sacked again, this time by Dino Mangerio. Krieg looks like he’s not on the same field as everyone else – he throws deep again to a clumsy Paul Johns and once again only God stops an interception.
A quick side-eye to the line suggests Jim Zorn is coming on.
A Seattle blitz leaves the middle of the field open, Dan Doornink screams past Deron Cherry like Forrest Gump on speed for a 27-yard touchdown.
Even Doornink can’t believe he just did that.
28-21 to the Chiefs.
On kickoff, Joe Norman forces Anthony Hancock to fumble, Chuck Knox is yelling so hard from the sideline at Dave Krieg his face looks like it might explode.
Another big push as Largent gets 7-yards, followed by runs on runs. Curt Warner leaps across the line for a cool touchdown.
A couple touchdowns, a couple turnovers – 28-28.
Bill Kenny to Dave Brown, Dave goes for a back pass to Henry Marshall. Jeff Bryant bounces off of Joe Nash to get footing on a late rush. He barrels toward Kenny trying to launch a deep seam pass.
The punt allows Paul Johns a 15-yard return. He had a lane but tripped a bit. Seattle starts on their own 43-yard line.
Steve Largent catches pure gold for another 25-yards.
A Norm Johnson field goal helps, 31-28 Seahawks lead. At this point Kansas City are having to rally up the boys, the spark is dying and frustration can be seen all over their faces.
A 13-yard draw to Ken Thomas sets them up. The defense are wandering around looking for buttercups. Keith Butler picks up a penalty quickly followed by a stupid shoulder barge from Kenny Easley into the Chief’s, Willie Scott.
Scott isn’t happy and bounces the ball off Easley’s back. A couple plays deep and now they’re 3rd and 10. A brutal chest slam from Kenny Easley into an unsuspecting Henry Marshall, leaves Marshall winded.
They drive onward.
Once again Carlos Carson slides into a 28-yard catch and tips it onward to Theotis Brown for an eventual Bill Kenney touchdown.
35-31 to the boys from Kansas City.
Once again, Warner is ducking and diving like a prohibition bootlegger to gain another valuable 13-yards. Then Dave Krieg gets sacked by Mike Bell. Byron Walker catches a 25-yarder right at the end of the third quarter.
35-31 to Kansas City.
The last quarter gets off to a promising start, Krieg to Warner leaves Seattle 12-yards from Kansas City homeground. It’s short-lived, a stupid mixup leaves Krieg fumbling the ball and it’s handed in a gift basket to Dino Mangiero.
Dino sprints 35-yards and makes Kauahi look like he’s in slow-motion. Kahuahi is visibly annoyed at the lack of cohesion. Dave Brown and Kenny Easley can’t decide who’s doing what and leave Carlos Carson to steam another 35-yards through the defense to a beautiful touchdown.
42-31 to the Chiefs.
So, we’ve had five turnovers so far. All of them have resulted in the takeaway team grabbing a touchdown on the change. Chuck Knox, usually the strong silent type, is on the sideline screaming at Dave Krieg to get his act together.
I don’t blame him.
More fumbles than a first date in high-school.
Still, the push opens a sweet as buttermilk pass to Charle Young, making mincemeat of the linebackers. As a tight end, you need to be a tasty receiving threat at the tight end spot. Seattle lacked that before Young and sadly, after his retirement, they never found that magic touch again.
Warner returns with a game-breaking rush. After the toss to Warner, Paul Johns gets a blessing from the Seattle Gods and darts 26-yards into Chiefs’ territory. Something is still lacking, though, and the wind dies down at the 12-yard marker.
They need another tactic. Largent is up for it, Krieg is his best buddy now. Largent takes the ball from Krieg, who looks like he’s found his stride. An odd looking hanging lob – that’s finished by a snap and dash lunge from Warner.
42-38 to the Chiefs.
Back from the 20-yard line, Jeff Bryant palm slaps a Kenney pass that Kenney catches back. He gets steamrolled but gains a yard.
Third down, Joe Nash goes on a short date with Kenney before he passes the torch to Carlos Carson again. The punt sees Paul Johns take 17-yards on the return. Seattle now driving, 9-yards from Curt Warner, between him and Charle Young they get Warner to 183 yards.
Dave Krieg misses Bryant and scrambles for 3rd and 6. Paul Johns picks up a 14-yard touchdown to give Seattle a wink and a nod.
45-42 Seahawks.
Just over 2-minutes left on the clock.
Bill Kenney fakes to Theotis Brown, onto Thomas, 5-yards by Ken Thomas. Stephone Paige in his second catch of the game, a 29-yard blitzkrieg.
Dave Brown and Carlos Carson rally for a 24-yard pass play, another incomplete pass leads Theotis Brown to blow up at the shoddy red zone display. Brown still gets himself a 21-yard pass touchdown.
Chiefs are up 48-45.
Zach Dixon chokes on the kickoff, it drops heavy and stops at the 16-yard mark of Seattle. Oops, this isn’t the time to do this Dixon. Krieg goes head to head with Mangerio and Dino nearly flaws him, but nope, Krieg keeps his legs.
Now it’s passed on to Dan Doornink for 18-yards, and two Largent plays out of bounds to stop the clock. Poor, Reggie McKenzie gets injured at this point and the clock is showing 27 seconds with Seattle back on the 45-yard line.
Up steps, Harold Jackson, the 16-year vet – makes a catch for 29-yards out of thin air. What a magician. Now the Seahawks are in field goal range, and there are 17 seconds left on the clock.
Play one is sweet, Krieg to Byron, and it finds the target. The second one seems like tired arms – Krieg throws too deep and it’s nearly intercepted. Johnson finishes the insanity with a field goal to force overtime.
48-48.
Seahawks win the toss and receive. Dixon returns it 47-yards into the Chief’s back yard, stopping around the 48-yard line. Curt Warner gets a 17-yarder that takes his total to 200. Another 5 and 2, that 207-yard run total wouldn’t be broken for another 18 years until Shaun Alexander.
Norm Johnson mops up with a 42-yard field goal.
The game was finally over. Seattle won.
On a warm Fall evening, on the 27th of November 1983, two teams at different stages in their history met head to head. It turned out that this would be one of the seminal games in their respective history. A game that fans still talk about to this day, a game that players still alive in the Pacific Northwest still talk about at yearly bar meets.
Some say, if you sit on the shores of Puget Sound, a stone’s throw from Seattle, you’ll hear two things.
The rustle of the Mount Rainier wind, sweeping down onto the carpet of the Douglas Firs that blanket Washington State. And on a silent night, when the wind dies down, you can hear Chuck Knox screaming his balls off at Krieg, “STOP FUMBLING THE DAMN BALL”.
And as for Kansas City, they remember the night they tore Seattle up.
The Chiefs vs Seahawks shootout in 1983 was a game for the ages.
Author Bio: James Layton is a freelance writer and SaaS copywriter in England. Visit www.jamesdwlayton.com
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