keg in kc
10-03-2009, 09:34 PM
You have to look hard for positives in Chiefs' play (http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs/story/1487667.html)
By JOE POSNANSKI
The Kansas City Star
Here, to me, is the hardest part of rooting for a very bad team: Nothing seems good. Nothing. Every move looks awful. Every decision seems misguided. Every step feels like a misstep. It’s hard to see any water in the glass — forget about it being half full.
The Chiefs have reached that level of bad now. You already know that they have lost 26 of 28 games — no team in football, not even the legendary Detroit Lions, has been as bad over that stretch of time. They are 0-3 already this year, of course, and this includes a home loss to the JaMarcus Russell-infused Oakland Raiders and a game in Philadelphia where the Chiefs openly gave up at halftime.
And honestly — it’s hard to see anything good anywhere. The face of the franchise, Tony Gonzalez, was traded in the offseason. The classy spokesman of the team through the rough years, Brian Waters, seems to feel alienated and generally ticked off. Lots of players do.
The Chiefs spent a boatload of money on lifelong backup quarterback Matt Cassel, and Todd Haley — somewhere between his many jobs as head coach, offensive coordinator, player alienator and amusing sideline ranter — seems unsure about Cassel’s talents.
The offensive line is a disaster, the just-off-the-waiver-wire receiving corps scares no one, Larry Johnson looks broken down, the defense’s front seven can’t get to the quarterback, there have been penalties and astonishingly bad game decisions, and nobody seems entirely sure what new GM Scott Pioli is thinking inside the Chieftagon.
I suspect this is how many people (most people?) see the Kansas City Chiefs these days. Hopeless. But is it really as bad as all that? The truth is: When things are this bad, it is hard to get a clear look at what’s really happening. This team has played so bad the last two years that only the truest of the true believers could see through the fog and find something good to say.
So I found the truest of the true believers: His name is Michael MacCambridge. You should know Michael’s name because he’s probably the nation’s leading expert on NFL history. His book “America’s Game” is the most complete book on pro football ever written. And his new book with Brian Billick, “More Than a Game,” provides a fascinating look inside the NFL bubble.
More than all of that, though, Michael is probably the world’s most positive Chiefs fan. He has endured what all Chiefs fans have endured, of course — the thrilling football of Otis Taylor and Willie Lanier and Bobby Bell of the Super Bowl Chiefs, the horrors of the 1970s and most of the 1980s, the hope brought in by Carl Peterson and Marty Schottenheimer, all the near-misses of the 1990s, the wild and crazy Dick Vermeil years, the joylessness of the Herm Edwards era. None of it can break his spirit.
Put it this way: After the Chiefs lost to the Raiders at home, Michael sent this text: “Exasperating game, but plenty to be encouraged about as well.”
Huh? What could be encouraging about losing to Oakland at home in a game splattered with penalties and bungles and so on? Then last week, when the Chiefs went into that infuriating Woody Hayes offense when down three touchdowns, again Michael wrote that while it was hard to watch, he saw some good things. What could he have seen?
So I asked him. And here’s what the Chiefs look like from the sunny side of the street:
“I understand the impatience,” Michael writes. “The fans of this team got so close so many times, and we came to take the perennial contender status for granted. …
“But you don’t get all that back overnight. History tells us that when you’re building a championship team, you often start at the ground floor. Chuck Noll went 1-13 in his first year with the Steelers dynasty (then went on to win four Super Bowls). And that year many Steelers fans questioned whether Pittsburgh had hired the right guy. Jimmy Johnson went 1-15 in his first year with the Cowboys and faced the near universal opinion that he was an arrogant, hotheaded college coach who was out of his depth.
“It’s far too early. … I like what I see in Matt Cassel. He’s got a good pocket presence and is adept at avoiding the rush. He also seems to have the traits you’re looking for in a team leader. … Pioli and Haley are both terrific football people. But they have to be given time to grow into their jobs.
“As far as the 0-3 record goes, all I can say is that in the NFL, sometimes our perceptions are skewed by fluky results. … The Chiefs had no business losing to the Raiders. The loss to Oakland was just fluky. Now, you take a maddening loss in a game the Chiefs controlled for much of the way and combine it with a pair of predictable losses to two good teams, and suddenly everyone’s ready to jump out a window. But reality isn’t as bad as the record looks.
“I remain hopeful and optimistic that the right people are in charge, and the team is moving in the right direction. And I think the Chiefs will get a win in the next couple of weeks.”
So, there you have it. I’m not going to lie … I don’t quite see it the way Michael does. The Raiders loss was fluky, sure, but only a really bad team could have found a way to lose that game. And the lack of competitiveness against Philadelphia was more discouraging than the score. Everyone knew the Chiefs had no chance — the Chiefs included.
But I do think he’s right in saying that three weeks is too early to make any judgments about what Pioli and Haley are trying to get done. They are starting from scratch with this team.
The idea at this point is to find bright spots and see if the Chiefs can build on them. It isn’t easy finding those bright spots. Maybe we just have to look harder.
By JOE POSNANSKI
The Kansas City Star
Here, to me, is the hardest part of rooting for a very bad team: Nothing seems good. Nothing. Every move looks awful. Every decision seems misguided. Every step feels like a misstep. It’s hard to see any water in the glass — forget about it being half full.
The Chiefs have reached that level of bad now. You already know that they have lost 26 of 28 games — no team in football, not even the legendary Detroit Lions, has been as bad over that stretch of time. They are 0-3 already this year, of course, and this includes a home loss to the JaMarcus Russell-infused Oakland Raiders and a game in Philadelphia where the Chiefs openly gave up at halftime.
And honestly — it’s hard to see anything good anywhere. The face of the franchise, Tony Gonzalez, was traded in the offseason. The classy spokesman of the team through the rough years, Brian Waters, seems to feel alienated and generally ticked off. Lots of players do.
The Chiefs spent a boatload of money on lifelong backup quarterback Matt Cassel, and Todd Haley — somewhere between his many jobs as head coach, offensive coordinator, player alienator and amusing sideline ranter — seems unsure about Cassel’s talents.
The offensive line is a disaster, the just-off-the-waiver-wire receiving corps scares no one, Larry Johnson looks broken down, the defense’s front seven can’t get to the quarterback, there have been penalties and astonishingly bad game decisions, and nobody seems entirely sure what new GM Scott Pioli is thinking inside the Chieftagon.
I suspect this is how many people (most people?) see the Kansas City Chiefs these days. Hopeless. But is it really as bad as all that? The truth is: When things are this bad, it is hard to get a clear look at what’s really happening. This team has played so bad the last two years that only the truest of the true believers could see through the fog and find something good to say.
So I found the truest of the true believers: His name is Michael MacCambridge. You should know Michael’s name because he’s probably the nation’s leading expert on NFL history. His book “America’s Game” is the most complete book on pro football ever written. And his new book with Brian Billick, “More Than a Game,” provides a fascinating look inside the NFL bubble.
More than all of that, though, Michael is probably the world’s most positive Chiefs fan. He has endured what all Chiefs fans have endured, of course — the thrilling football of Otis Taylor and Willie Lanier and Bobby Bell of the Super Bowl Chiefs, the horrors of the 1970s and most of the 1980s, the hope brought in by Carl Peterson and Marty Schottenheimer, all the near-misses of the 1990s, the wild and crazy Dick Vermeil years, the joylessness of the Herm Edwards era. None of it can break his spirit.
Put it this way: After the Chiefs lost to the Raiders at home, Michael sent this text: “Exasperating game, but plenty to be encouraged about as well.”
Huh? What could be encouraging about losing to Oakland at home in a game splattered with penalties and bungles and so on? Then last week, when the Chiefs went into that infuriating Woody Hayes offense when down three touchdowns, again Michael wrote that while it was hard to watch, he saw some good things. What could he have seen?
So I asked him. And here’s what the Chiefs look like from the sunny side of the street:
“I understand the impatience,” Michael writes. “The fans of this team got so close so many times, and we came to take the perennial contender status for granted. …
“But you don’t get all that back overnight. History tells us that when you’re building a championship team, you often start at the ground floor. Chuck Noll went 1-13 in his first year with the Steelers dynasty (then went on to win four Super Bowls). And that year many Steelers fans questioned whether Pittsburgh had hired the right guy. Jimmy Johnson went 1-15 in his first year with the Cowboys and faced the near universal opinion that he was an arrogant, hotheaded college coach who was out of his depth.
“It’s far too early. … I like what I see in Matt Cassel. He’s got a good pocket presence and is adept at avoiding the rush. He also seems to have the traits you’re looking for in a team leader. … Pioli and Haley are both terrific football people. But they have to be given time to grow into their jobs.
“As far as the 0-3 record goes, all I can say is that in the NFL, sometimes our perceptions are skewed by fluky results. … The Chiefs had no business losing to the Raiders. The loss to Oakland was just fluky. Now, you take a maddening loss in a game the Chiefs controlled for much of the way and combine it with a pair of predictable losses to two good teams, and suddenly everyone’s ready to jump out a window. But reality isn’t as bad as the record looks.
“I remain hopeful and optimistic that the right people are in charge, and the team is moving in the right direction. And I think the Chiefs will get a win in the next couple of weeks.”
So, there you have it. I’m not going to lie … I don’t quite see it the way Michael does. The Raiders loss was fluky, sure, but only a really bad team could have found a way to lose that game. And the lack of competitiveness against Philadelphia was more discouraging than the score. Everyone knew the Chiefs had no chance — the Chiefs included.
But I do think he’s right in saying that three weeks is too early to make any judgments about what Pioli and Haley are trying to get done. They are starting from scratch with this team.
The idea at this point is to find bright spots and see if the Chiefs can build on them. It isn’t easy finding those bright spots. Maybe we just have to look harder.