Late in the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship Game, the Kansas City Chiefs appeared to have sealed the win with an interception on Tom Brady. Instead of celebrating, however, the Chiefs and their fans groaned in agony after Dee Ford was hit with a five-yard offsides penalty.
The rest, as they say, is history.
The New England Patriots ended up tying the game in regulation and winning it in overtime with a touchdown on the first possession.
Not surprisingly, Ford agonized over his mistake.
“That crushed my heart,” Ford said, per Jenna Laine of ESPN. But in order to persevere, you have to acknowledge it, take it on the chest and work to move forward. The only answer that will make anything better is winning the Super Bowl. So that’s the focus.”
He also acknowledged he’s “been through a lot worse things” and credited head coach Andy Reid for helping him get over the emotional impact of his huge mistake.
“At the end of the day, I appreciate [Reid], and it’s gonna be motivation for me, especially heading into next year,” Ford said. “That’s how I handle the situation — get better. We know what it tastes like to get there. We’ll know what it takes heading into next year.”
Chiefs fans weren’t so forgiving. In fact, many were so upset that they ended up attacking the wrong “Dee Ford” on Twitter — lashing out at a poor British woman instead.
Ford may or may not be back with the Chiefs in 2019. He’s set to enter free agency at the start of the new league year in March and will have quite a lot of teams interested in his services. During the 2018 season, the pass rusher racked up 55 tackles and 13 sacks and came up with the game-sealing sack-strip of Andrew Luck in the divisional round.