Governor's Cup (Missouri) | |
Team1: | Kansas City Chiefs |
Team2: | St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) |
Team3: | St. Louis Rams |
Team1logo: | Kansas City Chiefs wordmark.svg |
Team2logo: | St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) script logo.gif |
Team3logo: | St.louis rams textlogo.png |
First Contested: | November 22, 1970 Cardinals 6, Chiefs 6 |
Mostrecent: | September 3, 2015 Chiefs 24, Rams 17 |
Nextmeeting: | (Defunct) [1] |
Total: | 11 |
Series: |
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Largestvictory: |
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Currentstreak: |
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The Missouri Governor's Cup (also known as the Chiefs-Rams rivalry, or Cardinals-Chiefs rivalry) was a trophy awarded to the winner of the football game between Missouri's two National Football League (NFL) teams. The local press occasionally referred to the game as The Battle of Missouri, The Show-Me State Showdown, or the I-70 Series. Originally played for between the Kansas City Chiefs and the St. Louis Cardinals, the series went into recess after 1987 following the Cardinals' relocation to Phoenix, Arizona at the end of the season, leaving the Chiefs as the only NFL team in Missouri. In 1996, the year after the St. Louis Rams relocated from Los Angeles, the Governor's Cup series returned and was played until 2015 in the preseason and the interconference regular season matchups between the Chiefs and Rams. The series ended once again after the Rams returned to Los Angeles in 2016, leaving the Chiefs as the only NFL team in Missouri for a second time.
The contest began in 1968 when St. Louis had the football Cardinals[2] until the Cardinals' relocation in 1988. The Governor's Cup game was resumed in the 1996 season between the Chiefs and the Rams until the Rams' relocation in 2016.
The Chiefs posted a 16–7–2 mark in its Governor's Cup series against the Cardinals from 1968 to 1987, going 3–1–1 in the regular season record and 13–6–1 in preseason play.[3]
When the Los Angeles Rams relocated to St. Louis, the rivalry among Missourians re-emerged. Both the Rams and the Chiefs possessed the two most productive offenses in the NFL in the early 2000s, and the meetings often resulted in shootouts. Former Rams coach Dick Vermeil was hired by the Chiefs in 2001 after he had won Super Bowl XXXIV with the Rams with one of the NFL's most powerful offensive squads in history. Once the Chiefs created their own high-powered offense with the arrival of Vermeil, the rivalry became even more exciting. In often meaningless preseason games, the Chiefs and Rams gave all their energy to secure the Governor's Cup, their spot as the best offense in the league, and bragging rights for their respective city in Missouri. Dick Vermeil faced off against his old coaching staff with the Rams – including his offensive coordinator of "The Greatest Show on Turf", Mike Martz, who succeeded Vermeil for the Rams head coaching job.
|-| | Tie
6–6| Municipal Stadium| Tie
0–0–1|First regular season meeting.|-| | style="| Chiefs
10–0| Busch Memorial Stadium| style="|Chiefs
1–0–1||-| | style="| Chiefs
21–13| Busch Memorial Stadium| style="|Chiefs
2–0–1||-| | style="| Chiefs
38–14| Arrowhead Stadium| style="|Chiefs
3–0–1||-| | style="| Cardinals
23–14| Busch Memorial Stadium| style="|Chiefs
3–1–1|Last regular season Chiefs-Cardinals all-Missouri meeting.|-| Regular season| style="| Chiefs 3–1–1| style="| Chiefs 1–0–1| style="| Chiefs 2–1||-
|-| | style="| Chiefs
28–20| Trans World Dome| style="|Chiefs
1–0|First regular season Chiefs-Rams all-Missouri meeting.|-| | style="| Chiefs
54–34| Arrowhead Stadium| style="|Chiefs
2–0||-| | style="| Chiefs
49–10| Arrowhead Stadium| style="|Chiefs
3–0||-| | style="| Chiefs
31–17| Edward Jones Dome| style="|Chiefs
4–0||-| | style="| Chiefs
27–13| Edward Jones Dome| style="|Chiefs
5–0||-| | style="| Chiefs
34–7| Arrowhead Stadium| style="|Chiefs
6–0|Last regular season Chiefs-Rams all-Missouri meeting.|-| Regular season| style="| Chiefs 6–0| style="| Chiefs 3–0| style="| Chiefs 3–0||-