KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This one time, anyway, winning a preseason game was a cause for the Chiefs.

Months after the then-American Football League team had been clobbered by Green Bay, 35-10, in the first Super Bowl in 1967, they were left simmering by the postgame words of Packers coach Vince Lombardi. The Chiefs, he declared, didn’t “compare with the National Football League teams.”

So by the time the Chiefs met the NFL’s Chicago Bears that August in just the second interleague game, the contest was virtually a crusade to coach Hank Stram.

“Remember, this is not just another exhibition,” he told Sports Illustrated the day before the game.

With star quarterback Len Dawson playing into the third quarter even after the Chiefs had a 39-10 halftime lead, the Chiefs thrashed legendary coach George Halas’ Bears 66-24.

Point made.

Lavishing praise afterward on Stram, Dawson, Buck Buchanan and Otis Taylor, Halas told reporters the Chiefs “gave every indication … they could play as good as any team” in the NFL.

If that wasn’t quite the Jurassic Era of the NFL, times have changed dramatically when it comes to how teams now approach the preseason — among other modern health and safety accommodations.

As they’ve mercifully been decreased from six to four to three over the last 50 years, so have the prime directives.

Absolutely first, do no harm. And reveal as close to nothing as possible.

Before the Chiefs’ first 2026 preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams, coach Andy Reid put it about as bluntly as he ever has:

“They’re not going to play anybody,” he said. “And … we’ll be very vanilla, too.”

Which brings us to the heart of the question after the Chiefs lost their eighth straight preseason game on Saturday night at Raymond James Stadium, falling 16-15 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

While the Chiefs and every NFL team are resolving at least a few position battles and learning about their depth, or lack thereof, in these weeks, is it meaningful at all if they win or lose these games?

Some see it as cause for alarm, or at least concern, especially because the Chiefs now haven’t won a preseason game since 2023. They’re left wondering how that connects both to going 6-11 last season and where that leaves them now.

Even so … cue Bill Murray’s bit in the old movie “Meatballs.”

It just doesn’t matter.

At least not in the sense of the “W” or the “L,” specifically.

In fact, the dynamic actually is almost the inverse of a real game.

In those, after all, a win is a win is a win no matter how poorly a team played or what issues or mistakes it got away with.

In the preseason, it really is more about how you played the game (albeit to a quite limited and specific point) than the final result.

Your habits become your destiny, after all. And moments such as rookie running back Emmett Johnson’s 1-yard touchdown run on Saturday are entirely authentic in their own way.

“That felt real,” he said in the Chiefs’ locker room late Saturday night. “It was real football.”

And, yes, sure, you’d prefer to win and all. Andy Reid reminded me of that Saturday night when I asked him about the relevance of the result.

“Listen, it’s America, you want to win everything you do. And that’s how it (is), man,” he said. “So, to say you don’t want to win, these guys want to do that.”

Almost as an aside, he added, “Again, you’re trying to do that and evaluate everybody at the same time.”

So much so that the evaluations — and caution lights — supersede all else. Certainly, they don’t go together with doing all you can to win.

In reality, there is virtually nothing about Reid or most other NFL coaches’ approach to preseason games that says they are applying the best chance to win or best practices toward the result itself.

Because … it just doesn’t matter.

If it did, perhaps the 2008 Detroit Lions or 2017 Cleveland Browns would have made something of themselves after 4-0 preseasons … instead of becoming the only two NFL teams to go 0-16.

If it did, the 2024 Chiefs would have gone nowhere after an 0-3 preseason instead of winning 15 of the 16 games in which they played their full lineup and reaching a third straight Super Bowl (albeit getting blasted by the Eagles 40-22).

No doubt it’s something of a semi-bummer for some Chiefs fans as they’re looking for reasons to believe in an impending return to glory.

For that matter, you sure could tell the Chiefs had lost by the muted body language coming off the field the other night. Even as rookie defensive tackle Peter Woods noted Monday that they are getting “watered-down” looks, those playing are pouring themselves into it.

Some guys are getting an opportunity they’ll never enjoy again, and no doubt it’s everything to them.

So, no, the Chiefs don’t view it as meaningless so much as being subordinate to the real cause.

And being 0-2 entering their final glorified scrimmage against Seattle on Friday at Arrowhead Stadium says little to nothing at all about where this team is going.

Especially when starters Patrick Mahomes, Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, Trey Smith, Josh Simmons, Drue Tranquill, Alohi Gilman and Chamarri Conner didn’t see the field on Saturday.

And that Travis Kelce was in briefly and wasn’t targeted, Kenneth Walker got two carries and Chris Jones played one series, etc.

That’s not a team prioritizing winning a preseason game.

Like about everyone else around the league, it’s a team trying to protect its most precious assets and show zilch.

Whatever winning these might do for morale, confidence or momentum is entirely secondary to those priorities.

But that doesn’t mean what happens along the way is immaterial.

Take, for instance, what we saw from Harrison Butker on Saturday night.

One moment he’s walloping a 69-yard field goal, unofficially the second longest in NFL history to Cam Little’s 70-yarder last preseason.

The next he’s missing a 42-yard extra-point attempt and the would-be game-winning kick from 43 yards out with 3 minutes, 27 seconds left.

That’s real and worrisome, just like another penalty binge (eight for 57 yards) … even if it didn’t count.

And there were other problematic games within the game, including rookie right tackle Kahlil Benson’s struggles, No. 2 quarterback Justin Fields taking a 20-yard sack and reserve tight end Tre Watson’s pivotal mishandling of a pass into an interception that set up Tampa Bay’s game-winning touchdown.

Meanwhile, defensive ends Felix Anudike-Uzomah and R Mason Thomas flashed with big plays and receiver Jalen Royals (six catches for 51 yards) seemed to take another stride toward being a factor this season. It was great to see cornerback Mansoor Delane, the No. 6 overall pick in the NFL draft, play for the first time in a game.

So there’s plenty of developmental and foundational stuff to see here. And the seeds of some collective traits and habits and points of discipline that could reflect the broader culture.

But it’s probably more worth stressing out about all we don’t see yet than anything we do.

How ready will Mahomes be as he returns from surgery? How dynamic will Rice, Worthy and Kelce be? How much will Reid call Walker’s number now that he has a more capable back than he’s had in years?

As for the preseason wins and losses themselves, any resemblance to the reality ahead is purely coincidental.

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