In 2015, the Kansas City Chiefs were absolute trash for five of their first six games of the season. No one remembers any of this now, especially given the winning the Chiefs have done over the past three seasons, but I know it’s true because I was there.

It’s a badge of honor, in a way, since there weren’t many reporters who can say the same. At the time, Kansas City’s baseball team, the Royals, were hot and smack-dab in the playoffs, marching toward their first World Series title since 1985. With the Chiefs off to a miserable 1-5 start, television stations and radio stations had essentially abandoned Arrowhead Stadium to plant their flags across the parking lot at Kauffman Stadium, home of the Royals.

Not that I could blame them. The Chiefs were playing so poorly at the time, I probably would have done the same if I didn’t have a Michael Jordan-level obsession with covering football. But I was the Chiefs’ beat writer at the Kansas City Star, which obviously gave me another compelling reason to stay in the red-and-gold portion of the Jackson County Sports Complex, all while fielding questions from the few fans who still cared about whether quarterback Alex Smith needed to be benched (he didn’t) or whether coach Andy Reid would make it to the end of the season (LOL).

Still, while I doubted major changes would be made — Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt is wary of being one of those franchises that switches things up all the time — there seemed to be little hope of a resurrection that season, especially with star running back Jamaal Charles already lost for the year in the fifth game due to a torn ACL.

View photos Quarterback Alex Smith (11) won’t be handing off to running back Derrius Guice this season after the running back suffered a season-ending knee injury on Thursday in a preseason game. (AP) More

I’ll never forget one chilly and gloomy day in particular, I was the only local media member in attendance for Reid’s weekly Friday afternoon news conference. It was crazy. I actually shook Reid’s hand before his presser and asked him how he was doing that day. He just nodded, seemingly appreciative of my presence.

Things were that bad.

The Chiefs never stopped fighting for Reid, who remained unwavering, and Kansas City ended up embarking on a 10-game winning streak to end the season. I bring all of this up now because the Washington Redskins have just lost stud rookie running back Derrius Guice for the season due to a torn ACL, and many are already writing the ’Skins off. That’s understandable, somewhat, since Guice, a power-packed 5-foot-11, 224-pound second-round pick who runs with juice and patience, had the potential to lift the Redskins’ ground game to a different level. That would have been nice, considering Smith — the veteran quarterback the Redskins acquired from the Chiefs this offseason — thrives off a strong running game.

But — and not to go Stephen A. Smith on you or anything — let me tell you something, man. Don’t write Washington off just yet, and much of that has to do with what Smith did in 2015, when he was forced to shoulder the load when Charles went down.

Smith not only carried his weight in Charles’ absence, he responded with, at the time, a career year. He started using his legs more, rushing for a career-high 498 yards, and punishing teams for spying him with a single linebacker by outrunning them. Combined with his improved pocket play, which had developed under Reid, he guided the Chiefs to their first playoff victory in 22 years that season and was named co-team MVP with safety Eric Berry, who was happy to share the award with Smith, even though Berry had just finished a season that was good enough to win the league’s Comeback Player after beating freaking cancer.

That’s how much Smith’s steady presence meant to that team. His demeanor with the media never changed, even when questions got increasingly tougher and critical amid the 1-5 start, and he diligently filled in the gaps he could to make up for Charles’ absence.