Not breaking through to the AFC Championship puts Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith in good company.
Three quarterbacks have won 13 of the past 15 AFC titles, including 12 of the previous 13, and the streak is guaranteed to last one more year with two of those quarterbacks _ the Patriots' Tom Brady and the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger _ facing off Sunday at New England.
The third member of the AFC dominance crew, Peyton Manning, retired after last season.
Those three have been Chiefs' nemeses for years, with the Steelers' eliminating the Chiefs in Sunday's divisional-round game, the Patriots delivering the loss in the same round a year earlier. Manning? He knocked out the Chiefs in the division round in 2003 as a member of the Colts.
The new century of AFC Championship game quarterbacks started inauspiciously with the Ravens' Trent Dilfer, who had taken over for Tony Banks midway through the season. Dilfer rode a ferocious defense to the AFC title over Rich Gannon and the Raiders and to the Super Bowl championship.
The three-headed quarterback dominance started the following season. Brady and the Patriots survived a divisional round game against the Raiders in the "tuck rule" game, and went on to beat the Steelers in the AFC title game. Brady started that game but Drew Bledsoe entered in the second quarter because of an injury.
The 2001 season started the current run. Brady is 6-4 in conference title games. Roethlisberger is 3-1. Peyton Manning went 4-1 in AFC title games, 2-1 with the Colts and 2-0 with the Broncos.
The two other quarterbacks have won AFC championship games in the 21st Century? The Raiders' Rich Gannon in 2002 and the Ravens' Joe Flacco in 2012.
