Sam Mellinger | Disastrous start exposes disconnect between Chiefs leaders, fans
 

Sam Mellinger | Disastrous start exposes disconnect between Chiefs leaders, fans
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
The Chiefs Kingdom Apocalypse is in its third day now, and the takeaway isn’t that there are so many fans screaming their panic and anger — it’s that there are so few fans preaching hope and patience.

It’s not that so many fans are frustrated with their team — it’s that seemingly so few are giving that team the benefit of the doubt.

In this, the Chiefs must face something much worse than losing two football games. They must confront the question of whether they’ve lost their fans’ trust.

That’s a remarkable thing for Kansas City’s most important institution besides barbecue — the only thing in town that can unite black and white, rich and poor, Mizzou and Kansas.

The Chiefs have every conceivable advantage to build a consensus of unanimous support in this region, and they’ve blown it with a series of image and football blunders that turned the franchise into something unworthy of its fans’ confidence.

Think about it. How many of your friends believe the Chiefs will turn it around? How many trust the organization will put in the work and write the checks and make the sacrifices to hold off what feels like a disastrous season? How many outside the Chiefs’ offices are saying the current alarm is misplaced or premature?

In the 24 hours or so after the Chiefs embarrassed themselves in Buffalo, and colleague Kent Babb and I each wrote scathing takedowns in return, I heard exactly one fan stand up for the team. Kent says he heard from two. That’s out of hundreds of emails and Tweets we received from people who love the Chiefs and no longer feel the love back.

Unless we’re only hearing from a (very) vocal minority, this is a problem bigger than a shoddy defense and limp offense, worse than bad draft picks and Jamaal Charles’ knee and even Matt Cassel’s passing.

This is about the fundamental relationship between fan and team, where fans give their unwavering time, money and hope in exchange for the team not taking advantage of them.

In many real ways, that relationship is now broken in Kansas City, and the Chiefs are closer than they should be to what started happening with the Royals in the mid- to late-1990s.

Let’s pause for some context, and the obvious counterpoint that the story would be completely different if the Chiefs were 2-0 or even 1-1 or perhaps even 0-2 with competitive losses.

Winning makes everything better, losing makes everything worse, and being blown out makes everything worst of all. The Chiefs can “fix” a chunk of their image problem by winning next week in New Orleans; do that, and the conversation around town changes.

All of those things are true.

So is this: this season’s losses are exposing underlying issues that have been cooking for years.

There is a disconnect between fan and team that just shouldn’t exist in this market and this sport. The NFL makes sure every franchise has enough money to compete, and fans here don’t believe the Chiefs are using it. The NFL makes sure every team has hope, and fans here are remarkably quick to lose theirs.

Some of that is football, and fans cheering for a team with a bottom-half quarterback in a league dominated by elite ones.

But some of it is emotional, too: fans cheering for a team they’re no longer convinced has their best interests in mind. Clark Hunt doesn’t have his father’s charisma or everyman appeal, and has come to be known more for his salary-cap space than anything else.

The fact that Hunt doesn’t live in town is largely irrelevant for a lot of reasons — he has a place here; his father never lived in KC, either; and in 2012, we have access to things like cellphones, email, video conferencing and a private jet – tools that connect him to this market in ways his dad could only dream of.

But perception has a way of becoming reality. In other words, fans have never felt that Clark is one of them.

As the losses pile up, you could say essentially the same thing about the Chiefs. There is an eroding bond here, not in terms of how much fans love their team, but how much love they feel in return.

Losing two games is bad.

Losing that trust is much worse.

at least the media is putting the heat on

Lasers.

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Like the premise, don't like where he went with it.

He keeps insisting the problem is that the Chiefs are cheap. That's not the problem. The disconnect with the fans is his stubbornness to stand behind certain decisions to prove he's right. As I've said before, the biggest problem the Chiefs have is the most expensive guy on the field. If you replace that $63M with a first round pick, you save yourself $40M and you get a better player and a much better team. Case closed.

Yes, it is.

If you're spending money like crazy at least the fans can see you're trying. You may make mistakes but you care.

It's not an argument, it's a fact: Clark is cheap, Clark doesn't win, Clark doesn't care.

You can teach Clark how to run a business but you can't teach him passion...

Unless that first rounder is Jamarcus Russell.

Seriously though, they going Major League on us or what?

We gonna have a die hard night coming up?

good article, bad situation. I know it hated when someone says this but I've been watching this team since the mid 70's and don't remember a time as depressing for Chiefs fans. IF there's relief in sight I don't see it.

ok, fess up CP. Who was it? Blackbob?

Hell NO LMAO

No, Kent said they stood up for the "team" which would include the players.

Bob's newest thing is to throw the players under the bus because they should be professionals and know how to overcome Romeo's shittier-than-shit coaching.

About time they start sounding like CP.

As the losses pile up, you could say essentially the same thing about the Chiefs. There is an eroding bond here, not in terms of how much fans love their team, but how much love they feel in return.

Losing two games is bad.

Losing that trust is much worse
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Exactly how I feel...

The TRUST is lost.

Has been.

FOR OVER A DECADE.

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO BELIEF THIS TREND WILL CHANGE OR THAT THE MAN IN CHARGE EVEN CARES.


PERIOD.

You, as owner, have to change that.

And if you don't realize it's already happened or have any idea how to fix it that's a dead relationship.

QUIT TRYING TO EMULATE A WINNING FRANCHISE AND START FIGURING OUT HOW TO BE ONE!

Yep, when your QB sucks, the fans lose hope. They know you have to have a good one.

That's why I refuse to spend anymore of my money on this franchise.

No more ridicilous parking fees of close to $30.

No more spending money on merchadise/jerseys etc.

No more paying $75+ for tickets.



I'm really close to just saying F-ck the Chiefs.