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Mellinger roasts Pioli over an open flame
This didn't get posted? ****, best thing Sammy has written.
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/12...his-share.html
Chiefs GM Pioli due his share of blame in Haley's failures
Quote:
Scott Pioli brought this critical point in Chiefs history on himself, and now he must rise to it.
This can go one of only two ways. Championship or bust, waving from a parade or looking for work, remembered as the man who just needed to find the right coach or the general manager who repeatedly failed the men he brought on board.
Pioli fired Todd Haley, the only coach he’s ever hired. This is how their dysfunctional marriage had to end. A once-strong relationship deteriorated past personal differences and into professional obstacles.
The Chiefs could go nowhere with both Pioli and Haley in the same building, so in that way, the GM essentially pulled rank.
That was the easy part. Now we get to see, once and perhaps for all, whether Pioli is the golden-boy personnel guru from his Super Bowl-winning days in New England or just one more poser taking credit and fame off the glow of Bill Belichick’s star. 
Because firing Haley is a meaningless delay tactic if Pioli doesn’t accept and reflect on his part of the Chiefs’ current mess.
We all understand that Haley made mistakes. The preseason plan was a disaster. Tyler Palko is still taking snaps long after he proved to be incompetent. An unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty against the Jets provided a sad image of Haley’s self-control, which, combined with a remarkably inconsistent and often uncompetitive season, made the Chiefs the magnetic opposite of what owner Clark Hunt wants them to be.
But if Haley failed, he followed Pioli’s example.
Because Pioli chose Haley, who coached the roster Pioli gave him. The Chiefs’ current state of disarray is as much an indictment of Pioli as Haley. The boss put the coach in a virtually unwinnable position: not enough support from either the general manager or the roster to do much more than hope for survival.
And this is where Pioli comes in. Or, more accurately, where he must come in.
Injuries to Jamaal Charles, Eric Berry, Matt Cassel and Tony Moeaki fundamentally changed what the Chiefs are capable of. But they also exposed so many of Pioli’s own shortcomings, and unless he takes this opportunity to stop creating self-assuring excuses to justify his ineffective status-quo style of management, there is no reason to believe the Chiefs can rise above NFL mediocrity.
One of Pioli’s great strengths is his thoughtfulness, his thoroughness, his steadiness. He isn’t reactive. He is measured. If he grows emotional, he has trained himself to put the decision aside until he’s calm. The most effective judgments, Pioli believes, are made with the brain, and not the heart.
This is part of what eventually led to fundamental differences with the man he hand-selected to be his first coach.
And more than just one of Pioli’s great strengths, this is also perhaps his greatest flaw … and a chunk of what is holding back the Chiefs.
Go back to the NFL’s truncated offseason. The whole thing lined up perfectly with Pioli’s sweet spot, set up to be won by the general manager with the best information and temperament to navigate what many inside the industry called the most hectic personnel period in league history.
Instead, Pioli treaded water.
He signed Steve Breaston (who shares an open and mutual man-crush on Haley) and Kelly Gregg while letting Ron Edwards and Shaun Smith walk. Opportunities to add a backup quarterback, or much-needed depth at other positions, floated by.
Pioli’s only personnel successes with the Chiefs are in the draft (Berry, Kendrick Lewis, Justin Houston) and contract extensions awarded to stars (Charles, Brandon Flowers, Tamba Hali). Notice the pattern here.
Draft selections come with inherent time limits. Negotiations for contract extensions have a predictable schedule.
Pioli is most effective when he knows what’s coming and can read the clock. He becomes tentative and hesitant among surprises and unknowns.
He wants control, over everything, and struggles in situations he can’t have it.
Nearly three full years after he took over, the Chiefs’ best players are still predominately holdovers from his predecessor, Carl Peterson, even as Pioli spends too much time and energy fixing what he sees as major holdover flaws from the previous leadership.
All of this means that Pioli is at the most critical point of his professional career in terms of how he’s remembered and thought of as a football man.
Some will expect him to close his eyes, cover his ears, la-la-la out all the criticism, and keep pushing the Chiefs in the same misguided direction.
That would support the narrative of Pioli as Ego Gone Wild, and almost certainly ensure that the Chiefs waste a championship window that will close along with the primes of Charles, Hali, Flowers and other stars.
A consequence of Pioli’s decision to speak publicly as little as possible is that it’s virtually impossible for anyone outside a small circle to know his motivations, perspective or fears.
If they did, they probably would see as much insecurity as ego. Part of his hesitation on personnel moves comes through second-guessing. Part of his focus on signing the team’s inherited stars is admitting he can’t find anyone better.
And if Pioli handles it the right way, part of firing the coach will be a very public acknowledgment that he — not Haley, not Hunt, not anyone else — made bad decisions that turned the Chiefs from division champion to disorder one year later.
How Pioli makes it through this very personal inner conflict will decide how his time in Kansas City ends. On Monday, he portrayed humility, saying he needed to do his job better.
That’s good, but ultimately irrelevant if he doesn’t do his job differently.
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12-13-2011, 03:47 AM
Mellinger roasts Pioli over an open flame
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