[ChiefsFanatic]

So, we are all upset by the defensive performance, and rightfully so.

Many, like me, want Sutton fired. Others say it's all on the players. But I was thinking today that ultimately it is Andy Reid's fault.

Please hear me out. I used to be a regional manager for a big box retail store. One of my duties was to train new GMs and even department managers. One of the things that many of them struggled with was holding their employees accountable, especially when those employees were traditionally the best performers.

One of my most successful analogies to help them set goals, meet goals, and hold their team accountable, was a very simple dog walking analogy.

If you are walking a large dog down the sidewalk, and you are walking next him, and you only have about 2 feet of leash between you and the dog, if the dog tries taking a few steps off the sidewalk, it's easy to pull him back onto the sidewalk.

Now, as you continue your walk, you kinda get a little relaxed, and before you know it you have let the leash out to 5 feet between you and the dog, and that big dog sees a squirrel and as it takes those first couple of steps off the sidewalk, anticipating getting pulled back onto the sidewalk, and realizes that his collar didn't get yanked back so quickly, it takes a couple of more hard steps toward that squirrel, it he going to pull you off the sidewalk, and with 5 feet of free leash, it's going to be harder to pull him back.

But you struggle, and tug, and after some hard work you finally have that big dog back on the sidewalk. Now you are tired, but that big dog just learned that if it just walks on the sidewalk a little longer, it's going to have a good shot at getting that squirrel.

And just like before, you start to get relaxed, you can kinda see the end of the sidewalk, where your goal destination is, and you ease up. But now that you eased up, you have given the dog 10 feet of leash, and this time he didn't take those couple of tentative steps to test the leash, he saw that squirrel and took off. You just got yanked off that sidewalk, and when you tried to pull that leash, and pull that dog back to the sidewalk, that big 'ol dog pulled your shoulder out of socket, and any hopes you had of reaching the end of the sidewalk is gone.

The point of that analogy is to pay attention to how much you let the leash out, and the closer you keep the dog to the sidewalk, the easier it is to pull him back.

Now, there is more to it than that, but for the sake of typing it all out on my phone, that's what is important to my point.

In Reid's case the end of the sidewalk is having having a defense that is at least middle of the pack, and good enough to win a playoff game. But Reid has let the big defensive dog, Bob Sutton, have too much leash. He grew relaxed and distracted by all his offensive toys, and Bob has been running after that squirrel, known as a last place defense, full speed, and not only isn't Andy Reid strong enough to grab that leash and pull the big dog back onto the sidewalk, he seems to be too lazy to even try to pull the Bob back onto the sidewalk.

Reid has neglected the defense for so long, Sutton doesn't even know he has being doing anything wrong. When you are walking the dog, and you let the leash out 10 feet, the dog doesn't know it shouldn't run full speed until all the slack is gone. When our defense has given up 500 yards of offense, and 38 points, Reid doesn't even bother tugging on the leash.

How is Sutton going to take steps to change how badly the defense is playing if he doesn't know the defense is playing badly?

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