The Chicago Fire's final road game against the regular season is upon us, and it's against an opponent we haven't seen in a while, as the team heads to Colorado to take on the Rapids.
Since launching ahead of the 2023 regular season, MenInRed97 has covered 155 competitive games with the first team against 28 MLS clubs, seven teams from Liga MX, Detroit City in the USL Championship and amateur side Chicago House AC, but no games against the Colorado Rapids.
The last head-to-head matchup against between the Fire and Colorado, an MLS original, was all the way back in 2019. How long ago was that? Nemanja Nikolić lead opened the scoring, beating Rapids goalkeeper Tim Howard. Kei Kamara soon retaliated for the 'Pids, but the Fire went on to a 4-1 victory, with Djordje Mihailovic effectively putting the game away for the Fire when he made it 3-1. Kamara was one of two then-future, now-former Fire players, with Kellyn Acosta also starting for the Rapids.
To find the Rapid's last victory in the series, you have to go back to 2016, then the team beat the Fire 2-1 in Dick's Sporting Goods Park, which may be the only thing in this article that hasn't changed much since that date.
Whether because of the height, the distance, or something else, however, travelling to Colorado has seldom brought the Fire joy: Their last victory in Colorado – and their only at Dick's ‒ came back in 2009; a 2-1 win where the Fire's goals by Marco Pappa and Wilman Conde were assisted by Baggio Husidić, Brian McBride, and Cuahtémoc Blanco. Yes, it's been a while.
The Fire's only other three road victories out of 23 away games against the Rapids came back in the 1990s, including 1-0 playoff win on October 5th.
If you're looking for a feel-good stat for the Fire, here you go: In the five previous games of the series played in October, the Fire are undefeated, going 4W-1D-OL, including a playoff victory in penalty kicks in 1998. Two of those four wins have been in Colorado, when the team still played at Mile High Stadium.
Jumping back to the present, there are real stakes in this game for both teams: The Fire are fighting for playoff positioning, looking to keep a hold on fourth place in the conference (with a possibility of moving as high as third), keeping home advantage in the playoffs, while Colorado are still looking to clinch a postseason berth and stay out of the wildcard slots while they're at it.
The Fire won't have an easy time against the Rapids, who have transformed their style of play into a more possession-oriented game in Matt Wells's first year with the team while also keeping the intense intense pressing game that the team possessed in previous seasons under former head coach (and former Fire player) Chris Armas.
As Andrew Claussen of Backheeled (and put it on our most recent episode of The Bonfire, "Matt Wells would rather you leave a stud in than not make a challenge," one of the reasons that he "loves" former Fire defender Miguel Ángel Navarro. Throughout 2026, the Fire have struggled against tough, physical opponents like that, particularly if they're not able to seize the lead first.
Still, the Rapids are susceptible to simple errors when trying to methodically advance the ball, and the Fire have a skilled attack more than capable of punishing a mistake in build up.
