Rufus: **** you, Chiefs fans.

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http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2008/10...nt_believe_in/

Change You Won't Believe In
Oct 09, 2008, 1:33:14 AM by Rufus Dawes - FAQ

We’ve said it before: disappointment follows defeat as ashes follow fire. The passions excited in the local psyche by the Chiefs latest loss show how deeply invested the masses are in the potential outcome of any game in a season that hasn’t looked very bright from day one. Media reports underscore the public’s fears of another poor season and that thought functions like a tightly-coiled spring, further heightening the disappointment as it comes and keeps coming.

Every community experiences defeat of its home team in its own way. But varieties of the response within communities conform to a recognizable set of patterns or arch-types that recur across the years.

The widespread depression among ticket holders and, really, all fans of a community caused by losses where more is expected, is as obvious as the joyous celebrations of victorious ones. But the losses in Kansas City burn longer and deeper than in most cities and the anxieties surrounding the Chiefs are more pronounced.

As the latest loss to Carolina, a crushing 34-0 defeat at the hands of the Panthers, began to sink in, the disappointment mutated into new levels of anger and people were anxiously looking for scapegoats, which followed the usual pattern.

The stark reality of the current Chiefs season is there will likely be more days like the loss in Carolina than there will be pleasant afternoons like the team experienced here in the win over Denver. You see, Denver was the exception not the rule.

“Change you can believe in,” to coin a popular phrase, doesn’t seem to be catching on with many in the fan base who are demanding that heads roll not even one year into the rebuilding program. The problems the Chiefs have, however, didn’t just start a year ago and they’re not going to go away in a year’s time, no matter who is heading the ship, so expectations must be leavened by reality. Firing “someone” less than a year into this new approach would only set the development back and follows what perennially losing franchises do, dismissing first front office personnel and then coaches year after year.

Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, ironically last week, identified the NFL teams with the worst records “over the past five-and-a-third seasons” and to no surprise they are the ones that continually fire coaches. Oakland has had six coaches since 2002 and Detroit, San Francisco, Arizona and Houston round out the top five teams with the worst records and happen to have had the most coaches.

With every new coach comes a new philosophy and a new offense and defense. There is no continuity. To date, Derrick Johnson’s development has been reeruned because after four years in the league he’s had three different position coaches and played in two different defensive systems.

As for the rookies, it is quite clear by the number and tone of newspapers and Internet sites that more was expected sooner than later. Each new player, be he college free agent or draft pick, has potential which might be realized and might not. In general, the higher the draft pick (Dorsey, Albert, Flowers, Charles, et. al.) the higher the expectations. The fact that several may advance under lofty expectations but fail to honor this hope in no way should reflect upon the perspicacity or wiseness of the choice. In any case, it’s far too early to tell.

Fellow columnist Bob Gretz, who was there in Carolina, can write that against the Panthers the “performance was unexpected,” but I suppose it has something to do with the level of expectation. I have no problem imagining other games ahead where the outcome will never be in doubt and it won’t favor Kansas City. But changing coaches or general managers isn’t going to solve the problem, particularly when you just went down a new road only this year. Moreover, to change course again will do nothing more than add Kansas City’s name to the list of what King has called “dysfunctional” teams.