They stood on the sidelines frozen, a bright red line of disbelief, their stadium suddenly still and silent. A 22-year-old Cincinnati Bengal named Evan McPherson swung his leg and booted the football clean, clear on through the yellow uprights at Arrowhead Stadium, clear on through the heart of a flabbergasted football town called Kansas City, Mo.

Clearing a pathway all the way to Los Angeles. All the way to Super Bowl 2022.

Andy Reid tried some body English, to no avail. Patrick Mahomes tried a thousand-yard death stare. No luck. Travis Kelce clutched the front of his jersey with two hands, shook his head, took a final look at the scoreboard: Bengals 27, Chiefs 24.

And then they walked off the field, the silence of a broken stadium interrupted by the gleeful shouts of Bengals sprinting onto the field. And as they did, the bright red line took more than a stunning choke of a loss with them, more than a season with them.

They may well have taken a brand-new title with them.

The Dynasty That Never Was.

“This is so final,” Reid said, the Chiefs’ coach’s voice quiet and solemn. “Congratulations to Cincinnati. They did a nice job. They did a better job than what we did in the second half, that’s for sure.”

These last four years, there has been no better show in pro football than the Chiefs, ably guided by Reid’s vision and Mahomes’ right arm and an endless pile of talent. They won a Super Bowl two years ago, coming back against the 49ers, but they have always hinted at more, aspired to a greater place.

Now, after four straight AFC Championship games played in Arrowhead, maybe the most fearsome place to be a visiting team, they have but that one title to show for it, alongside a thumping in last year’s Super Bowl, alongside two overtime losses in the AFC finals. The first time may have been tolerable as it came against Tom Brady and the Patriots, who stood in the way of a lot of ambitious teams through the years.

This one was not tolerable. It was not excusable. The Chiefs led 21-3 and the Bengals didn’t just look cooked, it seemed they were already pondering training camp. This wouldn’t just be a celebration at Arrowhead but a coronation, especially with them at the 1-yard line just before the half, about to go up 28-10, threatening to hang half a hundred on the Bengals.

But a funny thing happened to the Chiefs on the way to California. A funny thing happened on the way to history. Maybe it was an overdose of hubris that allowed Mahomes to think he could get away with throwing the ball to Tyreek Hill short of the goal line there, out of timeouts.

Maybe it was the football gods reminding us all of Reid’s inglorious history of game-management; the reason he was out of timeouts is because he botched a successful review call early in the game, inadvertently burning one.

“A few plays here and there,” Mahomes said, “and we could have maybe won four Super Bowls.”

Or maybe it’s just an appropriate reminder, on the weekend when Brady may or may not be retiring, that dynasties are hard — damn near impossible — to build. That’s why when they happen they feel like sporting unicorns.

“This isn’t our standard,” Mahomes said. “Whenever you taste winning a Super Bowl, nothing less is acceptable.”

Maybe the Chiefs can shake this off, make it all way back again next year, and in years after that. Any team with Mahomes on it is going to like its chances. But you have to believe the Seahawks felt that way a few years back, when they gagged away a shot at back-to-back titles, figuring Russell Wilson would carry them back plenty; they haven’t been back since.

And the AFC, as we have seen all year, is now littered with booby traps for the Chiefs that weren’t there at the start of their run. The Bengals have gone from two wins in 2019-20 to the Super Bowl thanks to Joe Burrow. Josh Allen has people in Buffalo wanting to hit the fast-forward button to next September. One of these years is going to belong to Justin Herbert of the Chargers. Lamar Jackson will be healthy next year in Baltimore. On and on.

“It’s deflating,” Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “It’s not every year you have a chance to play for Super Bowls, play for a banner, make a city proud.”

For the Chiefs, it has become an annual quest. Four straight trips to the AFC Championship game is a fine accomplishment. They have been the most fun show in pro football. They wanted more. They wanted to be a dynasty. A funny thing happened on the way there.