Jamaal Charles Injury Could Signal End of an Era for Kansas City Chiefs
 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...as-city-chiefs


The Kansas City Chiefs didn't just lose a battle with the Chicago Bears on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium, but with star running back Jamaal Charles suffering what appears to be a season-ending knee injury, the Chiefs might also have lost the war.

Per ESPN's Adam Schefter, the team announced following the heartbreaking 18-17 loss that initial reports indicate Charles tore his right ACL in the third quarter, which would almost certainly spell an early end to the perennial Pro Bowler's eighth NFL season.

And considering Charles is by far the most electric player on an offense that lacks electricity, that would also spoil any hope the Chiefs might be able to fight back from a 1-4 start in the tough AFC West.

Charles wasn't just the best thing the Chiefs had going on offense, but he was pretty close to the only thing they had going for them on that side of the ball.

Checkdown-happy quarterback Alex Smith, who completed just 16-of-30 passes for 181 yards in Sunday's loss, has clear limitations, and top receiving options Jeremy Maclin and Travis Kelce are supposed to be key cogs but aren't the types of players who can carry an offense.

And while these types of situations can sometimes give life to backup running backs who shock the world, the Chiefs might not want to get their hopes up on Charcandrick West and Knile Davis, who had just 33 yards on nine carries in relief of the star on Sunday. West was undrafted out of Abilene Christian last year, while Davis has averaged just 3.4 yards per carry three years into his career.

Meanwhile, Charles entered Sunday's game averaging 5.2 yards per rushing attempt, which ranked second in football among 21 backs with at least 50 carries in the first four weeks.

More at the link talk's about a rebuild and if the chiefs should keep Reid.

the golden era

Let it die I'm glad the chiefs won't have a RB to lean on.

fyp

If you don't have a QB nothing matters. Until the Chiefs have a GM that tells Clark to sell out and get a QB nothing will change.

Draft one in the first round and the 3rd round. Sign a vet for back up duty. If said QB's suck, then do it again 3 years later. I don't care if the next Reggie White and Randy Moss are on the board. In the NFL QB IS ALL THAT MATTERS!

It affects both sides of the ball. Offense, its obvious, but the defense needs to believe in the QB as well, If they don't you get shit play like we have seen.

We are going to see Alex Smith start slinging it downfield next week. He no longer has Charles to bail him out on the dump offs. Here comes the Tom Brady version of Alex Smith!

The QB affects the defense directly - sometimes, the defense needs the offense to string a few 1st downs together just to get some rest.

You wanna know the biggest reason for this 'defensive collapse'??

How many 3 and outs has our offense had??

What's our total TOP for the season??

Those are directly attributable to the QB.

ROFL

Is the offensive line going to suddenly learn how to pass block too??

If they want to avoid doing a full rebuild, they need to fire the head coach and change over offensive personnel this offseason, rather than wait until the defense ages out.

But I don't expect Clark to do anything so aggressive.

One would hope a losing season of this magnitude should trigger an end of an era. One would hope.

If I'm JC, I'm sick of getting hurt for this team.

This is BS. They certainly CAN be the types if the QB could get them the ball on a regular basis.

Not sure I believe this. How was West in relief? Haven't heard many accolades for him today. I might be wrong

Yeah, but JC just doesn't strike me as that type of person.