KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nearly eight years ago, the Chiefs welcomed a playoff crowd to Arrowhead Stadium on a Saturday in early January. Back then, the place had a little different feel for those games.

The noise and energy were just as ever-present. But the nerves — the feeling of bracing for the worst — had grown as steady as the rationale for them.

Before the game, I’d mentioned this to a couple of colleagues: If they lose tonight, it would be the worst of them all, right?

That’s how we used to rank the Chiefs’ postseason appearances — by just how much pain and heartbreak they inflicted. That’s how we used to measure your devotion — by just how much pain and heartbreak you had endured.

That day was a test for all of it. It was the test.

Statistically, the Chiefs have never lost a worse playoff game than they did against the Tennessee Titans that evening. They walked into the game as 8 1/2-point favorites, an even wider margin than the Lin Elliott Game, by half of a point.

But, man, it was more than the stats. The Chiefs built an 18-point lead against the Titans. A Derrick Johnson sack-fumble had been whistled dead for, uh, forward progress. Travis Kelce dominated the first half and then spent the second half out of sight with a concussion, unable to even watch.

And then the signature play: Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota caught his own deflected pass for a touchdown.

That moment symbolized a franchise.

But it changed a franchise, too.

That game represents the most definitive line between the organization’s past and present. Because as the Chiefs blew an 18-point lead, their future stood on the sideline one final time and watched.

And learned.

“You can’t let those plays completely change the game,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said Thursday, after first listing the collection of plays. “You have to find ways to manage that. Definitely a learning lesson. Even though I didn’t get to play in that game, it was a learning lesson for me on how big plays really do matter.”

There’s a reason for bringing this up during the middle of Mahomes’ eighth year as a starter, with the Chiefs on a roll:

Mariota will start in Kansas City on Monday night, when the Commanders visit. It’s his first start against the Chiefs since that playoff game.

But there’s another reason I’m rehashing this now, some 2,847 days later: It provided the pivot point for a complete role reversal.

The man standing on the KC sideline that day, a 22-year-old quarterback with all of one NFL start to his name, is that reversal. That was Mahomes’ final day as a backup quarterback. The spectator to a single Mariota Miracle is now behind a constant current of Mahomes Magic.

Like, really constant.

It’s remarkable to think how much life has changed. Twelve months later, when Mahomes guided the Chiefs into his first postseason, I compiled a collection of playoff heartbreak stories. Hundreds of you emailed me a combination of brutal and brutally hilarious submissions. The Chiefs had absorbed nearly three decades of heartbreaking blows.

Mahomes now delivers the heartbreak.

He in the only quarterback since 1950 (with a minimum of 10 career starts) who has turned double-digit deficits into more wins than losses. Think of that again. When Mahomes trails by 10-plus points in a game, the history suggests he’s still more likely to win than lose.

It gets better.

Since 2018, when Mahomes transitioned from the sideline to a starting role, there is only one NFL team that has a posted a better-than-.500 record when trailing at any point during a game, regular season and playoffs combined. Just one team.

The Chiefs are 63-33 in that time frame.

Those 63 comebacks comprise more wins by themselves than exactly half the league’s teams have total wins during that same time frame. The entire city of New York — Jets and Giants combined — has totaled 76 wins of any sort since 2018. Those two teams have won 44.4% of their games since 2018.

The Chiefs have won 65.6% of the games in which they’ve trailed. The rest of the league is 1,098-2,009 in that identical spot, a winning percentage of 35.3%.

This is the reason for the dynasty. It just so happens to mirror the lesson Mahomes said he learned before he was named an NFL starter.

He’s bounced back better than anyone in NFL history, a trait those who know him best say he developed in childhood and refined in high school. It was reinforced as a spectator for his first playoff game.

I won’t argue that he’s immune to the occasional blown lead, though he’s 51-1 with a double-digit advantage after three quarters. The Bengals AFC championship game happened.

But Mahomes has won three Super Bowls, and he’d have zero if didn’t accomplish what he witnessed Mariota accomplish that day in 2018. In all three, Mahomes led a double-digit comeback.

When Mariota comes to Kansas City on Monday night, it will be just his 22nd start since he caught his own pass here. He will be vying for just his ninth win since then.

Mahomes has won 17 playoff games.

One night in Kansas City, Mariota stole a football game.

Mahomes stole the act.

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