Open Chrome with a single window. Minimize the window. Then try to Command-Tab to it. It'll bring Chrome to the fore-front, as your menubar will tell you, but the window stays minimized on the Dock.
Thanks for the info -- I think that's covered in what I describe in my edit, though likely not as directly as this. In my edit I realized that an open app with no open windows causes this behavior; a window being confined in the Dock must behave the same way.