Patrick Mahomes, we know already, is a transformative phenomenon that the Chiefs never quite have had before. Even more happily, he's the sort of soul-crushing presence some other guy, some nemesis or another, always seemed to have in the lineup to inflict on the Chiefs.
Now ... he's your very own, to have and to hold and to cherish.
Then there's the swiftest and most elusive and exhilarating player in the NFL, receiver Tyreek Hill, perpetually on the verge of breaking away and playing with a contagious joy. And here's gravity-defying tight end Travis Kelce, who at 6-foot-5, 260 pounds simply shouldn't be able to accelerate into a tightrope down the sideline.
Oh, and then there's running back Kareem Hunt, whose whirling, hurdling run punctuated by lugging multiple Bengals was the tone-setting highlight of the Chiefs' 45-10 romp over Cincinnati on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.
This is what might be known as an embarrassment of riches that also includes the likes of Sammy Watkins and Sunday touchdown scorer Demetrius Harris, plus Chris Conley and Demarcus Robinson, whom Hill says is the second-fastest player on the team.
Shoot, at times it almost seems like an unfair advantage.
It's also part of a harmonic convergence for coach Andy Reid, who choreographs and animates all these dynamics and deep inside has to know something he'll never say out loud:
Worrisome defense (but not Sunday!) and all, this mesmerizing team is the sort of group Reid has been building toward coaching his entire career _ the type you think can only stop itself ... but won't.
Yes, he's had his hand-chosen guys at quarterback before, good ones like Donovan McNabb and Alex Smith. But the beautiful offensive mind never has had a once-in-a-generation talent like Mahomes to mold and meld with. (Per NBC, no quarterback since 1960 has led his team to more points than Mahomes through his first eight career starts).
And combined with a brilliant _ and young _ supporting cast in a game prevailingly contoured toward offensive opportunities, well, the next few years figure to be the good old days of the 60-year-old Reid's already sterling career.
Speaking of which, after this emphatic and revealing response to a 43-40 loss at New England last week, the Chiefs are 6-1 this season and provided Reid on Sunday with his 200th career win (including 189 regular season victories and 11 in the postseason) and a game ball presented by owner Clark Hunt to commemorate it.
Just as Reid in the locker room instantly took the ball from Hunt and held it aloft and said, "Hey, how 'bout those Chiefs?" he predictably downplayed the milestone afterward.
"That's an individual thing, and I'm not real good with that. We're about team," he said, smiling and adding that he appreciates it but that the distinction speaks to everybody involved.
Think about this a minute, though: 200 NFL wins. Topped by Don Shula with 347, only nine men have more � and with 10 more wins only five will have more. Among active coaches, only New England's Bill Belichick (283) stands before Reid.
More to the point, Reid essentially administered CPR to the franchise _ albeit in the figurative sense like tackle Eric Fisher pantomimed it with Hill after Hill sprawled out after a fourth-quarter touchdown.
Was it really only six years ago the Chiefs finished 2-14 for the second time in five years? And they've gone 59-28 since with four playoff appearances (but just one win) ... and counting? And they're now the reigning bullies of the AFC West?
Even with an exasperating postseason record, this is arguably the stuff of a Pro Football Hall of Fame resume.
"It's an honor and a privilege to play for such a great coach; he's a great man," linebacker Dee Ford said. "We're all lucky."
Not that Reid ever got stale or complacent in any way, but Reid seems to feel the reverse is particularly true now. Call it the Mahomes factor: During training camp in St. Joseph, Clark Hunt and Chiefs president Mark Donovan each made a point of saying they saw an extra bounce in Reid's step _ something each continues to see.
While Reid won't exactly say that Mahomes specifically has re-energized him, he perhaps acknowledges it in as many words when he talks about the group as a whole.
Grandfather that he is now ...
"They do keep me young; you can't help but feeling the energy," he said. "They come out every day, and they enjoy what they're doing, and they play fast. I have to slow 'em down at times at practice."
The flip side of all these good vibes is that Reid's career _ and his legacy with Chiefs fans _ will be all-but-asterisked unless and until he converts this funhouse into the franchise's first Super Bowl in nearly half a century.
Reid, who took Philadelphia to a Super Bowl only to lose to the Patriots, is 11-13 in the postseason overall and 1-4 with the Chiefs. That victory over Houston was the first in over two decades for a franchise that had more playoff victories from 1962 through the 1970 Super Bowl (five) than it has since (four) ... while amassing more excruciating defeats than any fan base should have to contend with.
It's funny, only eight men in the history of the game have won more playoff games than Reid. But only two, Shula and Tom Landry, have lost more _ and each of them won a pair of Super Bowls.
Reid needs that to complete him, at least in terms of how he'll be viewed by fans. Invigorated and motivated and equipped as he is, though, Reid and the Chiefs are gravitating that way _ and will be for years to come.
