Is Kansas City the NFL's new Big Bad? How this Chiefs run mirrors the Patriots dynasty of yore

LAS VEGAS -- The boos began before the Kansas City Chiefs were even visible on the field. Moments before Super Bowl Opening Night interviews started, the Chiefs lined up in an Allegiant Stadium tunnel, awaiting their introduction. The cheerleaders danced and the music blasted and the more than 20,000 people there to watch the first event of Super Bowl week warmed up their vocal cords to register the newest NFL dynamic. It's not disdain for the Chiefs, exactly. More like boredom with them.

To be fair, the crowd on Monday contained a lot of 49ers fans and locals -- i.e., Raiders fans, who come by their exhaustion with the Chiefs honestly, over generations of divisional battles. That they booed the Chiefs' arrival so loudly that Travis Kelce said he loves the boos more than the cheers might not have been a surprise. That others -- media members, an official from the players' union, even Kansas City owner Clark Hunt -- acknowledged that there was a whiff of Chiefs fatigue in the air made it final.

On the surface, the Chiefs may not behave much like the buttoned-down New England Patriots did during their prolific reign. But as they try to lay claim to being the next NFL dynasty, these Chiefs are more alike those Pats than different, on the field and off. This season, Kansas City shapeshifted from an offensive juggernaut into a defensive beast. How many times did we watch New England change its football personality over 20 years? And by appearing in their fourth Super Bowl in five years (trying to win their third championship), the Chiefs' arc has come to echo the Patriots', going from a charming newcomer that had finally sated a fan base which had pined for victory from one generation to the next to the NFL equivalent of a