Is Playoff Fatigue a Thing?

[Mr. WEO]

This isn't real.  Doesn't make any sense physically anyway.  Off season is long enough where lots of guys show up to camp out of shape and get injured in preseason.  

 

Chiefs got old, plain and simple.

[papazoid]

playoff fatigue ?   very doubtful...it's a nothingburger

 

#1- players from successful teams want to get paid. that results in turnover

 

#2- teams who have played 15 playoff games vs teams who have played less or none would likely incur more injuries at the normal rate per game.

 

#3- all the PARITY measures the NFL enacts goes a long way towards hindering dynasties 

[corta765]

I agree with it to some extent. Making a Super bowl means at least 3 extra games per season and when you start adding that up your looking at an additional seasons worth of games within a 6-7 year period. Additionally these are not regular season type games either, your playing in for everything which takes a toll over time. Additionally win or lose in the SB you become everyone's top game and it is a natural emotion that if you have won the SB it is harder to get back because you have achieved that top goal.

 

The Patriots benefited from having a regularly weak division most years along with BB & Brady so they were machine like. The Chiefs on the other hand while having that combo at HC & QB do have a division where the Broncos & Chargers can regularly go toe to toe with them now and have built programs to stop them.  With that said last year was a perfect storm of sorts for KC where luck finally swung against them in many ways, the playoff grind probably did finally catch them, and the division became a minefield instead of a cake walk. Additionally I truly think KC's mystique took a true hit in the SB against PHI. They didn't just lose but they got pummeled and looked mortal. Say what you want about NE but all three SB losses were hyper close games and it felt more David getting Goliath then a true beat down. Even with the loss against PHI Brady absolutely torched them. The first KC loss to TB was still a game, Mahomes was just running for his life, but it was still early in his career and felt like more a bump in the road then a beatdown. That PHI loss was the biggest beatdown I have seen in a Super Bowl since Manning with the Broncos, but it felt even worse where they did not even belong on the same field whereas that Broncos loss while a great win by Seattle also felt like everything went wrong for Denver too. There was no mistake about the loss to PHI, KC looked older slower and like they didn't belong. I believe that really changed the optics in many ways that the rest of the league viewed KC and how teams play them.

 

So I do believe playoff fatigue is a thing where it can have some impact, but the larger reasons KC missed is turnover luck, injuries, roster, & finally being mortal league wide. I also believe they will bounce back and make the playoffs the majority of the next decade and be a royal pain throughout.

[NoHuddleKelly12]

16 hours ago, st pete gogolak said:

After the Bills six year playoff run in the late eighties and early nineties, the team had a miserable 1995 (7 - 9 record).  A lot of scuttlebut concerned the fact that the team had played 16 “extra” games during the playoff run that impacted their performance that year.  
 

Heard some of that with the Chiefs last year.  Playoff fatigue caught up with them.  (Brady and the Pats seemed immune to playoff fatigue but they always had a bye and home field advantage).

 

Really seems true in the NHL this year.  Florida, after three straight years to the Cup finals, looks totally shot. To a lesser extent, same with Edmonton.

 

Don’t want to give Bills fans another reason to worry but we’ve got the worst of all worlds when it comes to playoff fatigue- 15 playoff games in seven years without a Super Bowl appearance.  So what’s the verdict?  Is this a thing or a nothingburger?

Just for context, the Bills then rebounded after the 94 drop off, for the 95 and 96 campaigns to get back in the playoffs. Their stars most notably Kelly were getting long in the tooth by then, with Kelly retiring after 96. I don’t disagree with the overall point you’re making however. 

[frostbitmic]

I don't think it is.

 

Every teams goal at the beginning of the season is to make the playoffs and I doubt there's any hangover from the previous season, they have 6 months to recover mentally and physically ... That said, I think every team feels fatigue by January, it's the nature of the beast.

[st pete gogolak]

I get this is a football forum but I did note the NHL Panthers and Oilers seem to be suffering big time playoff fatigue this year. Of course, the NHL is a different animal from the NFL.  The playoffs are the “Bataan Death March”, potentially as long as 25 - 30% of the regular season. Do that a couple of years in a row and yeah, you’re pretty fatigued!

[billsfan89]

I think playoff fatigue is a real thing. I think part of the reason KC had a bad season last year was because their roster was so grounded down from 3 straight Super Bowl runs. 

[zow2]

New coaches, New stadium, still chasing the prize...i think all that stuff will juice up the guys and offset any playoff fatigue.. or whatever.  

 

I understand the concept but the guys do have like 6 months off without a real game, so everyone should start the season fairly refreshed..

[Marcus Aurelius]

Not for the Sabres 

GO SABRES!

[BillsVet]

11 minutes ago, Marcus Aurelius said:

Not for the Sabres 

GO SABRES!

 

There's just been so much winning.  I can't take it anymore.  

 

 

[Billsfanatic8989]

Chiefs were not tired. They were a dynasty and it ended. All good things come to an end eventually.

 

They were not a very good team in 2024. Their record said one thing. The eye test said something different. They got obliterated by a much better team in the SB. And last year teams in the division surpassed them. 

 

I would not be shocked if they won another SB in the future. But just like the Bills, the days of dominating their own division is over. 

[djp14150]

23 hours ago, st pete gogolak said:

After the Bills six year playoff run in the late eighties and early nineties, the team had a miserable 1995 (7 - 9 record).  A lot of scuttlebut concerned the fact that the team had played 16 “extra” games during the playoff run that impacted their performance that year.  
 

Heard some of that with the Chiefs last year.  Playoff fatigue caught up with them.  (Brady and the Pats seemed immune to playoff fatigue but they always had a bye and home field advantage).

 

Really seems true in the NHL this year.  Florida, after three straight years to the Cup finals, looks totally shot. To a lesser extent, same with Edmonton.

 

Don’t want to give Bills fans another reason to worry but we’ve got the worst of all worlds when it comes to playoff fatigue- 15 playoff games in seven years without a Super Bowl appearance.  So what’s the verdict?  Is this a thing or a nothingburger?

Big difference….

 

nhl/ nba playoffs to finals go for 2 months playing 25 or so games. 3 months from cup final to pre season.

 

in football you have 2-3 games to Super Bowl. Championship game to start of preseason is 6 months 

 

hockey/ basketball a few years of long playoff runs to the final can affect a team because over 3 playoff runs you play almost an additional season. 3 playoff runs is Les than half a season igf you get byes

[Big Turk]

Yes and I wouldn't be surprised if that's what happened to the Chiefs last year as much as anything else.

[Don Otreply]

Those game checks are so fatiguing, 

[C.Biscuit97]

100%. We literally have a thread about who will win a championship first and the team that makes the playoffs every year is losing to the team that hasn’t made it in 14 years. 
 

Teams like the Sabres, nfl teams with young qbs are in the exciting part. We are in the stale, can’t get over the hunp stage. We fired Leslie Frazier after multiple top 3 defenses. We fired McDemrott after one of the best starts to a coaching career in nfl history. It is literally championship or bust. And while it’s great to have those goals, this has been a helluva of journey and don’t take it for granted. It’s why I can’t get that upset over the playoff losses. Every season has been much more happiness than sadness and I’ll enjoy the ride as long as I can, 

[Buffalo ill]

It makes for a plausible scapegoat when you choke away a 4th superbowl when leading at halftime.

[BigAl2526]

There is physical challenge to being in the playoffs year after year.  When you're playing 20 or so games every year compared to 17 games, you have greater chances for serious injuries to happen, and when those injuries happen during the playoffs, less time to recover.  The game is hard on the human body, and the longer you have between seasons the more completely the body can heal before you start to stress it again.