Mellinger | Ex-GM Peterson ‘saddened’ by Chiefs’ situation

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Dave Lane

I was, I could see he was just too stubborn to get over the hump.

And that would be the QB hump. Up till 98 I was on board though

To me, it was unthinkable. I remember listening to press conference in my office at Paramount on computer speakers thinking "What the **** now?".

Unfortunately, the "now" was Gunther Cunningham.

[Bowser]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

To me, it was unthinkable. I remember listening to press conference in my office at Paramount on computer speakers thinking "What the **** now?".

Unfortunately, the "now" was Gunther Cunningham.

I remember the very first thing he said was along the lines of "There is no problem in my marriage with my wife". Probably shouldn't have led with that. That's akin to vailpass saying "I'm not a racist, BUT...."

[BossChief]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

You are probably too young to remember but before Carl arrived, Kansas City didn't give two shits about the Chiefs, let alone football in general.

They were blacked out for years on end. No one went to the stadium. They went 17 years between playoff appearance, then fired the coach that got them there. They were a national and local joke.

Peterson immediately gave creditability to the Chiefs, not only nationally but more importantly, locally. He hired Marty Schottenheimer, drafted Thomas and began not only building a very good team but within a year, made Arrowhead THE Kansas City destination.

All of the sudden, the Chiefs had a weekly TV show. Radio shows popped up all over town. The Chiefs re-energized the city.

It was an extremely exciting time. People lived and died with the Chiefs. If they won, everyone was happy and ecstatic on Mondays. If they loss, there was an air of depression that could be felt citywide.

No one ever discussed Carl being a failure in Year Four.

I was barely young enough to latch on during the last couple years before Carl got there and the team was on the back of Okoye...but I was only around 10 years old at the time. I totally agree that the first 5 or 6 years of Carl were really good, but IMO he always valued the quick fix over the long term one and that left the team always on the cusp, but never able to get over the hump.

I also think that the majority of the credit for those years should go to Marty, too. Look at what happened to the team once he left town...

Originally Posted by DeezNutz

. No shit. People weren't flying banners over Arrowhead after the Chiefs advanced to the AFC Championship Game?

Carl and Marty literally built the Arrowhead experience, and it's amazing the amount of revisionist history that has vilified every aspect of Peterson's tenure. Yes, the end was really bad. But that's generally how long-term relationships end.

The beginning, though, was nothing short of fantastic, and it's exactly what the organization and city needed.

If Carl would have gotten Marty a franchise level quarterback, the team could have won championships IMO. Look at what happened in the flicker of time we had Joe and Allen.

Like I said earlier though, Carl deserves all the credit for getting a legit coach like Marty just like he deserves the grief for his failures.

You guys know this better than I do, who was the shot caller on the whole Grbac/Gannon deal?

IMO that team would have won some really big games if we had went with Gannon at that point in time and from my recollection it was Carl that made that call because of the money he paid to Elvis.

Sound familiar?

[DeezNutz]

Originally Posted by BossChief

If Carl would have gotten Marty a franchise level quarterback, the team could have won championships IMO.

There's no question. But look back over the drafts during this time period and you'll see why some people today claim that QBs are incredibly risky to draft. There were a shit ton of busts. Teams weren't astute at drafting and developing, and the college game was different, too.

Football has evolved.

Ultimately, Carl couldn't finish the job. He was really ****ing good, exactly what the city/team needed at the time, but he wasn't great. We desperately need to find great now, though, since Pioli has ****ed the shit out of the franchise and city.