KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs are scheduled to land in New Orleans on Sunday, seven days shy of Super Bowl LIX, and that sentence alone provokes some symmetry — they landed in the same city 55 years ago ahead of their first Super Bowl title.

It was history then.

It’s history at stake now.

But the symmetry between the two? This year’s Chiefs didn’t need a trip to New Orleans to find that. They provided it a week earlier.

In the second quarter of their win in last weekend’s AFC championship game against the Buffalo Bills, quarterback Patrick Mahomes belted out a particular play-call for the first time in his life: 65 Toss Power Trap.

A first for this Chiefs team.

But the most special of calls for a past one.

It’s the most famous play in franchise history, at least until “Jet Chip Wasp” came along in Super Bowl LIV in February 2020, and even that remains up for debate. The original boss — 65 Toss Power Trap — helped the Chiefs stun the Minnesota Vikings to win Super Bowl IV, all the way back on Jan. 11, 1970.

“A tribute to the old guys,” head coach Andy Reid said.

Reid revealed Thursday that the Chiefs had run the play after Kansas City Star colleague Vahe Gregorian asked about Reid’s experience in watching Super Bowl IV. Reporter Matt Derrick followed up by asking if Reid had ever called the Chiefs organization’s most renowned play.

Last week, actually, Reid replied.

Wait, what?

Missed it? We all did, apparently.

So I made a call to see if one of those, uh, old guys, as Reid lovingly called them, happened to catch it.

Why not try the man who scored? That would be Mike Garrett, 80, a former Chiefs running back who still makes his home in Kansas City.

He still watches just about every Chiefs game. His kids often attend them.

“Well, I’ve heard of that play,” Garrett quipped, “but I didn’t know (Reid) ran it last week.”

Intrigued, Garrett then asked, “How did it go?”

The reincarnated version differed from the original a bit, so there’s an excuse for not recognizing it at first glance — even if Reid was insistent the play-call in the huddle would be identical to one barked out by head coach Hank Stram to receiver Gloster Richardson long ago.

Running back Isiah Pacheco took a direct snap Sunday, skipping the handoff from Len Dawson in Stram’s play, but its foundation remained the same: A guard from the right side pulled left ... and in this case, quite fittingly, it was Trey Smith.

No. 65.

One problem, though. The Bills didn’t bite with over-aggression, as Stram accurately predicted the Vikings would back in Super Bowl IV. So while Pacheco did fight for a couple of yards, he still fell a yard shy of the goal line.

“Ah, well,” Garrett said after hearing the recap, “I think they are so good that they may not need it.”

A laugh followed.

But then came another emotion, and, man, it encapsulates the meaning of one play — because that one play signified much more.

“It just brings some tears to my eyes,” Garrett said, “because every time I hear that play, I think of all the guys I played with. And we ran a play that just crystallized our whole team. It was wonderful.”

In that first Super Bowl, Stram pulled aside Richardson and, ahead of a third-and-goal play from the 5, instructed him, “Gloster, tell ‘em 65 Toss Power Trap. It might pop wide open.”

It did.

But the players on the field? They didn’t believe it would.

The Chiefs, nearly two-touchdown underdogs that day, led 9-0, but Garrett said the Chiefs hadn’t practiced 65 Toss Power Trap in nearly a month. So when Richardson relayed it, Garrett’s first thought wasn’t to predict a touchdown.

“I just don’t want the linebacker to step up and crush me,” Garrett recalled.

Chiefs right guard Mo Moorman pulled left and prevented a hit, trapping an All-Pro defensive tackle. It worked as planned, in other words, preying on the aggression of the Vikings’ defensive line.

That’s the concept.

The rebirth concept was a tribute. They would’ve liked it to be effective, of course.

“Wasn’t as good as the one they ran,” Reid said of the Chiefs’ encore Sunday.

Reid will pull a play from just about anywhere, even a 1948 Rose Bowl. Here, for all the length he traveled in time, he didn’t need to leave the building for inspiration.

It just took him 11 years to try it.

But there are reminders littered everywhere around the Chiefs franchise, including an internal media-production team named after that play. There’s even a room bearing the play’s name inside the Chiefs’ practice facility.

It’s part of the landscape of the Chiefs because owner Clark Hunt ensures it will be — and because the history of the game itself is so important to Reid that he shares stories of it with his quarterback.

“I think what’s cool about this organization is that we always go back and look at the history of it,” Mahomes said. “You look at Hank Stram and Len Dawson and the all the Hall of Famers ...

“I think that’s the cool thing about the NFL. You can look back at these special moments in organizations and really what defines organizations. That was a huge moment for this organization.”

It’s a reminder of the past. And it’s revealing about the opportunity ahead.

For nearly a half-century, 65 Toss Power Trap was not only the best memory the organization had, but one without much in the way of peers.

Such as, say, what the Chiefs are trying to accomplish next week.

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