TEICHER :The Chiefs and Lions: A shame game
 

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chi...ry/415496.html


The Chiefs and Lions: A shame game
ADAM TEICHER | THE KANSAS CITY STAR

So this is what a seven-game losing streak look like.

Fans wearing paper bags over their heads, hoisting signs ridiculing the home team, trading insults with players, urging the firing of the general manager and head coach.

That sort of ugliness, as seen at Arrowhead Stadium in last week’s home finale against Tennessee, might be new to Kansas City. But it’s nothing unique in Detroit, where the 4-10 Chiefs will try to snap their losing streak in today’s game against the Lions at Ford Field.

The 6-8 Lions have lost six straight. They haven’t won more than six games in a season since 2000 and have a losing streak of at least five games in every one of those years.

For one of these teams, the losing streak will end today, but not the misery. That will live on.

“Until you go through this, you can’t understand what it’s like,” said kick returner Eddie Drummond, who had the misfortune to spend the first five seasons of his career with the Lions before joining the Chiefs this year. “It’s tough mentally if you’re a player. Some of our guys, when the fans were on them in last week’s game, it’s hard for them to block that out, and maybe that’s because they haven’t gone through this before.

“It’s an experience nobody likes to feel. It’s something you never want to get used to.”

But maybe that’s just what’s happening to the Chiefs and Lions. Both teams seem to be waiting for something bad to occur.

Two weeks ago, the Lions wasted a 13-point fourth-quarter lead in a 28-27 loss to Dallas. The Chiefs have had a lead or were tied at halftime in six of their seven straight defeats.

“I kind of study the human condition,” Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez said. “When you’re in a losing environment, it becomes acceptable almost. That’s just human nature. Guys become, ‘Oh, well, we lost another one.’ That’s how it gets.”

That’s not much different from how Detroit coach Rod Marinelli sees it.

“There’s nothing mysterious about this,” he said, referring to Detroit’s six-game streak. “You don’t have to put anybody on a couch and have therapy. It’s a missed tackle here. It’s a misfit there. It’s a turnover here. We’ve been close in a couple of games, but it still wasn’t good enough.”

That Gonzalez is grasping for answers is natural. Losing seven straight is a new experience for him, though early in his career he played for the Chiefs when they dropped six in a row.

It’s a new experience for many of the Chiefs, most of whom once viewed these types of streaks as they might see a car wreck. They feel for those involved — then are thankful it wasn’t them.

“You always think it’s never going to happen to you,” fullback Boomer Grigsby said. “What’s done is done. You’ve got to get over it.”

Safety Jon McGraw also played for the Lions before joining the Chiefs this year.

“It’s miserable,” he said. “At some point, you can’t differentiate between a five-game losing streak or six games or seven games. It’s all miserable. You wake up in the morning and you’re sick to your stomach. You come to work and you’re sick to your stomach.”

Even those who are playing well can’t escape the feeling.

“I made the Pro Bowl, but I really didn’t enjoy it,” Drummond said. “All the losing takes away a lot from personal achievements. They really didn’t mean anything because all you want to do is win. That’s always your first goal, anyway.

“With the Lions, it was bad for all of us, but it was worse for (quarterback) Joey Harrington. I don’t know how he was able to come out every week. He took everything on his shoulders. Any problem — it didn’t matter if it was defense or what — the fans got on him. Then they started getting after (general manager) Matt Millen. They started trying to get him fired.”

That sounds similar to Kansas City, where the fans last week took out their anger for the disappointing season mostly on a floundering offensive line as well as president/general manager Carl Peterson and head coach Herm Edwards.

Drummond, who fumbled a punt return and fell down on a kickoff return, also heard from the fans. He just pretended he didn’t.

“Everybody heard it,” he said. “There are fans right behind our bench. It started a lot earlier last week. A lot of young guys or other guys who haven’t been through this can’t take that. There was still a lot of game left to be played.

“The best way to get through something like that is to ignore it.”

Some of the Chiefs, particularly some of the offensive linemen, found that impossible to do. Some fired back at the offending fans.

“Self-expression is the founding principle of our country and everything that we stand for,” Grigsby said. “But I don’t really see how that helps much. If you want a guy to play better, it probably won’t help to tell him that he’s garbage. If things start to go bad, you start telling someone he (stinks) and you hate him and you never want to see him again and you don’t want him around? I don’t think that’s a good way to respond to any of this.”

So perhaps it’s a relief that the final two games of the season are away from Arrowhead. It might be simpler for the Chiefs to concentrate on the task at hand when the locals are hounding the Lions and, next week, the Jets, who are 3-11 heading into today’s game at Tennessee.

“It might help,” McGraw said. “Maybe it will help pull us together. I know everyone here would like to win a game or two before this season is over.”

Ah, there’s true relief, right? The end of the season?

Not so fast. The stench of this season figures to last into the offseason. Players might scatter to distant places, but rest assured, they will be carrying some heavy baggage.

“Just because it’s over doesn’t mean you finally have some peace,” Drummond said. “You really want to get a win. You don’t want it to end like this. That’s going to leave a bitter taste in everybody’s mouth all of the offseason.

“Believe it or not, you really want to play another game or two so you might be able to win one.”

you know its bad when the other writers outside of Whitlock are making fun of the home team saying its a shame game. lol

You know Clark is taking note too, by abstaining his view from the media until the offseason.

He talks a lot about how the fans are talking trash to the players and how much it hurt their feelings.

Mr. gblowfish must have been doing a particularly good job last week.

FAX

Drumond made the ****ing pro bowl? I believe losing is like a cancer, you've got to remove it and not give it a chance tto grow again. Drumond has no business being in the NFL let alone the Chiefs. He is someone who is able to justify losing in his own mind and that when it starts. I think there is a very, very fine line between winning and losing in this league and it ALL hinged on one thing, the players individual and collective decision that there is no way in HELL that they will allow themselves to lose and then there is everyone else that learns to justify the loses by saying things like "I've been here before, and it sucks but I"ll live and get paid still". I know this to be true first hand, I've always known this to be true, I think Tony G does as well. You could seperate the roster into two catagories and there would be more with the losing mentality IMO.

[QUOTE=Tribal Warfare]http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chi...ry/415496.html


The Chiefs and Lions: A shame game
ADAM TEICHER | THE KANSAS CITY STAR

Drummond, who fumbled a punt return and fell down on a kickoff return, also heard from the fans. He just pretended he didn’t.

“Everybody heard it,” he said. “There are fans right behind our bench. It started a lot earlier last week. A lot of young guys or other guys who haven’t been through this can’t take that. There was still a lot of game left to be played.

“The best way to get through something like that is to ignore it.”

___

BS. WTF "Ignore it" That's the problem when you get a loser player like Drummond, just ignore the problem don't step up and be a man and say "I F^cked up I got to do better and fix it"

I got in trouble at work once for making a mistake, I did not inglore my boss, I corrected the mistake. All you can do as a player is not make the stupid mistakes those are correctable. The fumbles are BS for a kick returner a "Pro Bowl" kick returner to continue to make all season long. Ignore the fans fine but get the problem fixed youd dumb sonofab!tch

Herm doesn't have control of this team.

Sounds like half of the players in the locker room think we're gonna lose ever before the game starts.

When the players are not buying into what you're doing and where the team as a whole is going, then that coach must be replaced.

“Self-expression is the founding principle of our country and everything that we stand for,” Grigsby said.

lol...Grigsby with a Dawes moment...that dude is funny

The Stuper Bowl ???

http://www.detroitlionsblog.com/wp/

Week 16 Preview:Lions Vs. Chiefs, As If it Matters Or Anyone Cares
December 22, 2007 on 1:44 pm | In Uncategorized | No Comments

After last week’s road blow out loss to the Chargers, Lions fans are increasingly more likely to be contented braving mall mayhem, in order to finish their last minute Xmas shopping, as opposed to watching the Lions flail away miserably for a victory in an entirely meaningless game, unless draft positioning counts of any importance.

In which case, the Lions should be trying to lose out, and accomplish the ignoble task of losing eight straight games. As we all know, in the paradoxical world of the Lions, they are just as likely to win the next two as lose them.

The Chiefs have suffered through an equally laborious and pathetic season. They are not as good of a team as the 6-2 Lions, but they may be a close draw with the 0-6 Lions. At any rate, they do feature some of the Lions achilles’ heels. TE Tony Gonzalez, check. Gonzalez will likely have a field day exploiting soft spots in the Lions cover-2. DE Jared Allen, check. Does anybody really want to see Allen end Jon Kitna’s career as he blows by Jeff Backus all day? With opposing QB’s completing 70% of their passes, this is likely to be a coming out party for Brodie Croyle, or Damon Huard, or whomever the Chiefs decide should be their starting QB (is Steve Deberg available?).

Since the Lions still have talent (according to Marinelli) and Defensive Coordinator Joe Barry doesn’t understand why the defense has struggled, I am left feeling that the current Lions coaching staff has become just as clueless as their many predecessors, and we are quite likely to see an extra special leonine effort from the Lions this Sunday. Chiefs 20 Lions 15

One embarassing road loss left in the miserable Lions ‘07 season, Yeah!!!! Happy Holidays, embittered Lions fans

The only thing more embarrassing than being a Chiefs fan in 2007 is being a Chiefs fan in 2008 if Clark Hunt doesn't destructively blow up this abortion of an organization.

So ... get ready for more brown bags in 9 months.

Futility Bowl

Just wanna make sure, is D Macintosh starting at LT today?

A win = "Woohoo!"
Draft position = "D'oh!"

See, from the fans' standpoint, it's not about the game or the season. It's about 19 years of Carl. It's all come to a head. People are disgusted and tired. They want massive change.

You know it's bad when Drummond's opinion is the centerpiece of your article.

:shake: