The Chiefs put up huge numbers en route to a Super Bowl last season, with a strong-armed quarterback and a fleet of receivers capable of making big plays at any moment.
But for new Hall of Famer Isaac Bruce, it isn’t even the best offense in the history of Missouri (or presumably Kansas as well).
In an interview with 1480 WHBC in Canton, the former Rams wide receiver said the Chiefs couldn’t compare to the Greatest Show of Turf.
“I think you have a team every year that we can compare to. This year, it’s the Kansas City Chiefs,” Bruce said in an interview at the Hall of Fame. “What I’m asked about the Chiefs is, there are some similarities. They’ve got the speed on the outside from a perimeter standpoint. I think we may have been better at the run game than they are. I think our defense was probably a little bit better than what they had.
“But I always say this: From a personnel standpoint, I think we were better and from a mentality standpoint, I think we were better. “Because what you see with the Kansas City Chiefs right now is pretty much our spring practices where there’s no tackling allowed. What we had, we went up against a totally different gauntlet — guys were looking to take your head off. It was being promoted.”
When he thinks back on the potential of Kurt Warner throwing to him and Torry Holt in today’s climate, along with running back Marshall Faulk, Bruce thinks the modern rules would have made them even more prolific.
“You put us in this era, I don’t think it’s fair,” Bruce said. “It wouldn’t be fair because we had guys who were not afraid to go across the middle of the field, make plays, run slants and be there for the next play to do the exact same thing. Just with the rule change, it’s totally different. I just think we would’ve — it wouldn’t have been fair.”
The 1999 Rams scored 526 points, which they topped in 2000 with 540, before falling to a mere 503 in 2001. The Chiefs managed just 451 last season, though that was without Patrick Mahomes for a few games because of injury.