text: 2004 As with the loss to the Broncos in 1997, this loss led to a poor following season. The Chiefs managed to finish the 2004 season with a 7–9 record. In 2004, Gunther Cunningham was brought back as the defensive coordinator. However, the defense showed little improvement. The offense, unable to record the same high scores as the previous year, was unable to bring in the wins as they had the previous year.
  2005
  For their 2005 campaign, the Chiefs brought in several new players to boost a defense that had finished among the worst units the past three years. The year also saw Larry Johnson start at running back in place of an injured Priest Holmes. But despite winning ten games, the Chiefs became just the fourth team in NFL history to go 10–6 and not reach the playoffs.
  Rebuilding a contender, 2006–2012
  2006
  A tearful head coach Dick Vermeil announced his retirement before the final game of the 2005 season. Within two weeks, then-New York Jets head coach Herman Edwards had signed a new 4-year contract to coach the Chiefs. The 2006 Chiefs returned to the playoffs for the first time in three seasons, only to lose 23–8 in the wild-card round against their playoff nemesis, the Indianapolis Colts.