The Kansas City Chiefs season was the franchise's 11th season in the National Football League and 21st overall. They improved from 1979 from a 7–9 to an 8–8 record, the most wins for the franchise since an 8–6 season in 1972, but missed the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season.
The Chiefs selected guard Brad Budde, the son of Chiefs Hall of Fame guard Ed Budde, as the team's first-round draft choice, making the Buddes the first father-son combination to become first-round draftees of the same team in NFL history. In a then-controversial move on August 26, the Chiefs released placekicker Jan Stenerud, who at the time was club's all-time leading scorer. He was replaced by journeyman Nick Lowery, who had been cut 11 times by eight different teams himself.
After suffering an 0–4 start, the team rebounded to post a four-game winning streak. After Steve Fuller was sidelined with a knee injury late in the season, former Miami 12th-round draft choice Bill Kenney became the team's starting quarterback. He was so anonymous that when he appeared in that contest, the name on the back of his jersey was inadvertently misspelled "Kenny." Kenney went on to lead the club to a 31–14 victory against Denver on December 7 in his initial NFL start. The defense continued to evolve as defensive end Art Still and safety Gary Barbaro became the first Chiefs defensive players to be elected to the Pro Bowl in five seasons.
Offseason NFL draft
Undrafted free agents + 1980 undrafted free agents of notePlayerPositionCollegeTyrone CrewsLinebackerKansas StateDino MangieroDefensive tackleRutgers
Personnel Staff
Roster
Preseason Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap 1 Cleveland Browns W 42–0 1–0 Arrowhead Stadium 38,055 Recap 2 Minnesota Vikings W 24–10 2–0 Arrowhead Stadium 39,879 Recap 3 at St. Louis Cardinals W 20–10 3–0 Busch Memorial Stadium 41,687 Recap 4 vs. San Francisco 49ers L 21–31 3–1 Arizona Stadium 27,000 Recap
Regular season Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap 1 September 7 Oakland Raiders L 14–27 0–1 Arrowhead Stadium 54,269 Recap 2 September 14 Seattle Seahawks L 16–17 0–2 Arrowhead Stadium 42,403 Recap 3 September 21 at Cleveland Browns L 13–20 0–3 Cleveland Stadium 63,614 Recap 4 September 28 San Diego Chargers L 7–24 0–4 Arrowhead Stadium 45,161 Recap 5 October 5 at Oakland Raiders W 31–17 1–4 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 40,153 Recap 6 October 12 Houston Oilers W 21–20 2–4 Arrowhead Stadium 75,048 Recap 7 October 19 at Denver Broncos W 23–17 3–4 Mile High Stadium 74,459 Recap 8 October 26 Detroit Lions W 20–17 4–4 Arrowhead Stadium 59,391 Recap 9 November 2 Baltimore Colts L 24–31 4–5 Arrowhead Stadium 52,383 Recap 10 November 9 at Seattle Seahawks W 31–30 5–5 Kingdome 58,976 Recap 11 November 16 at San Diego Chargers L 7–20 5–6 San Diego Stadium 50,248 Recap 12 November 23 at St. Louis Cardinals W 21–13 6–6 Busch Memorial Stadium 42,871 Recap 13 November 30 Cincinnati Bengals L 6–20 6–7 Arrowhead Stadium 41,594 Recap 14 December 7 Denver Broncos W 31–14 7–7 Arrowhead Stadium 40,237 Recap 15 December 14 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 16–21 7–8 Three Rivers Stadium 50,013 Recap 16 December 21 at Baltimore Colts W 38–28 8–8 Memorial Stadium 16,941 Recap Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries Week 1: vs. Oakland Raiders
Week 2: vs. Seattle Seahawks
Week 3: at Cleveland Browns
Week 4: vs. San Diego Chargers
Week 5: at Oakland Raiders
Week 6: vs. Houston Oilers
Week 7: at Denver Broncos
Week 8: vs. Detroit Lions
Week 9: vs. Baltimore Colts
Week 10: at Seattle Seahawks
Week 11: at San Diego Chargers
Week 12: at St. Louis Cardinals
Week 13: vs. Cincinnati Bengals
Week 14: vs. Denver Broncos
Week 15: at Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 16: at Baltimore Colts
Standings
References
External links 1980 Kansas City Chiefs at Pro-Football-Reference.com