text: Free agent running back Barry Word produced a team-record 200-yard rushing outburst in a 43–24 victory against Detroit on October 14. Kansas City led the NFL with a franchise-record 60.0 sacks, including a team-record 20.0 by Derrick Thomas. Thomas established an NFL single-game record with 7.0 sacks in an inspiring Veterans Day performance against Seattle, a game the Seahawks miraculously won, 17–16, on a last-second, 25-yard TD pass to wide receiver Paul Skansi. That loss brought on the furious stretch run which saw the club record victories in six of its last seven outings. Behind DeBerg's offensive leadership (23 TD passes with just four interceptions) Kansas City finished the year with a franchise-best +26 turnover differential. The Chiefs clinched their first post-season berth since 1986 with a 24–21 win at San Diego and finished the year at 11–5, marking the franchise's best finish since 1969. The Chiefs suffered a heart-breaking, 17–16 loss at Miami on January 5, 1991, in an AFC wild card game as placekicker Nick Lowery's potential game-winning 52-yard field goal fell short with 0:56 remaining.
  1991
  On July 27, former placekicker Jan Stenerud became the first of his position to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The Chiefs moved their training camp to the University of Wisconsin–River Falls after spending the previous 28 summers at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. On September 1, the Chiefs defeated the Atlanta Falcons 14–3 in front of a sold-out crowd at Arrowhead Stadium.