In big win, Chiefs find a leader in Romeo Crennel

[Hammock Parties]

This is dangerous. Chiefs players are lobbying openly for Crennel to get the job.

64-year old interim head coaches don't win shit in this league.

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/12/18...-a-leader.html

Rookie linebacker Justin Houston grabbed an orange bucket of blue Gatorade and followed a pack of co-conspirators to drench the Chiefs’ new head coach. Romeo Crennel took it, smiled and clapped.

Running back Le’Ron McClain strutted toward Arrowhead Stadium’s west end zone, dropped his helmet around the 25-yard line, and joined five or six teammates in high-fiving and hugging delirious fans.

Crennel missed it. By this time, he was making his way off the field, wiping away tears.

The Chiefs stunned the football world by beating the previously undefeated Packers 19-14 on Sunday, the most shocking outcome in the NFL this season and in Kansas City for longer than that, one that we all might look back on in a few years as the day the franchise’s direction changed.

Three critical developments, in ascending order of importance, emerged from Sunday’s improbable upset: The Chiefs maintained a sliver of playoff hope, reminded a city that football can be fun and almost certainly found their new head coach.

“We treated this as our Super Bowl,” running back Dexter McCluster said. “This was our Super Bowl. You could feel that positive energy.”

What the Chiefs accomplished on Sunday is now the talk of the league. The Packers are still the prohibitive Super Bowl favorites, owners of the second-longest winning streak in NFL history, the model franchise for 31 others trying to build sustainable and long-term success. They’d won 19 straight and came in averaging nearly 36 points per game.

Juxtapose that with an organization in disarray. The Chiefs hadn’t scored more than 10 points since October and have lost five times by 27 points or more — one away from the most since the NFL and AFL merged in 1970.

This last week started with head coach Todd Haley being fired. Kyle Orton, cut by the Broncos a month ago, became the Chiefs’ third starting quarterback of the season. Injuries continue to expose an inexcusable lack of depth.

Nobody wondered whether the Packers would beat the Chiefs as much as they wondered just how badly the Packers would beat the Chiefs.

Then a funny, fun and completely unpredictable thing happened: The Chiefs led for all but 4 minutes, held the Packers to their fewest points and yards since last season, shut down Super Bowl MVP Aaron Rodgers and beat the defending world champions.

It can’t be as simple as Tyler Palko sitting, and the plainly capable Orton playing, can it?

Because even before this, Crennel figured to drop the “interim” from his new title as head coach after Haley’s firing.

But now, after the team’s most inspired effort of the season, the Chiefs almost surely have their man. The locker room is rooting for Crennel to get the permanent job — actually, some Chiefs players are openly lobbying for it.

“Everything was different,” McClain said of the past week. “More meeting time. More football time. Learning your opponent better, understanding your opponent. I know I watched more film this week than I watched all year. Everything was different, man. Good different.”

Especially after Haley openly admitted the Jets were better prepared than the Chiefs last weekend. What you hear from players now is both an indictment of the past and endorsement of the future with Crennel.

McCluster: “I know everybody in this locker room will fight for him.”

Receiver Terrance Copper: “He doesn’t give us a reason not to play hard for him.”

Running back Thomas Jones: “He’d be a great choice for us.”

Receiver Steve Breaston, a noted Haley supporter, even referred to Crennel’s nickname after the game on Twitter: “Yeah by the way … Rac City!!!!”

The descriptions of Crennel are a general sketch of what owner Clark Hunt and general manager Scott Pioli say they want in a head coach.

Crennel treats everyone with respect. He is obsessed with details, with fundamentals, with the kind of preparation that means the Chiefs know their opponents better than the other way around.

Crennel makes his own decisions (Orton found out he was starting Sunday’s game before Pioli did) without being insubordinate. He gives credit to his players first, his assistants second and himself never.

“I was just standing on the sideline,” he said. “That’s all I did today. They got it done.”

The parallels are too many to ignore. Crennel is consistent. He is dedicated. You will never see him take the kind of unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty that Haley drew in his last game.

Crennel went 24-40 over four seasons in Cleveland, but you know that Bill Belichick was also fired by the Browns before taking over the Patriots.

Pioli believes in guys he’s worked with, guys who’ve been in his system before. He believes that smart and motivated people get better with experience and can learn from mistakes.

In other words, Crennel fits.

The immediate impact of the Chiefs winning his first game in charge is kind of fun and mostly obvious. Green Bay’s perfect season is over. The Chiefs can still claim a mathematical shot at the playoffs.

A fan base is truly encouraged for the first time since that Monday night win over the Chargers, when the Chiefs improved to 4-3 and receiver Dwayne Bowe spray-painted his shoes and a dozen or so teammates put on “Scream” masks to celebrate on Halloween.

But it’s the other stuff that is more important, the other stuff that the players seem to know gives this a chance to be more than a temporary reprieve like their win in Chicago two weeks ago.

The feeling is entirely different this time. Some of that is Orton, who ran the offense well enough to knock off an opponent that hadn’t lost in more than a year.

The bigger part is Crennel, and a genuine vibe in the locker room that this team has found the right coach to make a still-promising future become reality.

[Fritz88]

Stupid idiots. I am sure Haley makes everyone around him hate themselves. Yesterday, the sidelines were different. Crennel is lovable. Haley is a ****.

But to lobby for Romeo after one win. No.
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[-King-]

“Everything was different,” McClain said of the past week. “More meeting time. More football time. Learning your opponent better, understanding your opponent. I know I watched more film this week than I watched all year. Everything was different, man. Good different.”

Ouch. Haley can go eat a dick.
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[Fritz88]

Originally Posted by -King-

Ouch. Haley can go eat a dick.
Posted via Mobile Device

**** him.
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[Hammock Parties]

The Chiefs once lobbied openly for Frank Gansz to be their head coach.

Worked out well.

[Chiefspants]

I'm pretty sure that if it came down between him and Mcdaniels, many here would prefer Romeo.

Let's face it, Romeo may be the best candidate from the Pioli's available options.

[Jive Ass]

Cool article. I'll be interested to see where the next two weeks take us. I love Crennel right now, would love to see him as HC, but he has to keep the production up.

[Titty Meat]

Most of the players listed in that article won't be back next year anyway.

[johnny961]

Originally Posted by Omega

The Chiefs once lobbied openly for Frank Gansz to be their head coach.

Worked out well.

Yep. That was the year after John Makovic took them to their first playoff appearance in I can't remember how many years. Then was promptly fired after a first round loss and replaced by Gansz. That didn't work out so well.

Originally Posted by Omega

The Chiefs once lobbied openly for Frank Gansz to be their head coach.

Worked out well.

They absolutely did not. Lamar Hunt met in secret with 8 players at Nick Lowery's house. Gansz was given the job just in time for the strike of 1987 and was saddled with most of Mackovic's assistants who were disloyal and downright underhanded. He also had an awful front office led by GM Jim Schaaf, a baseball man who somehow managed to work his way up through the ranks of the Chiefs organization in the 70's. Injuries, bad personnel decisions, the strike, and being thrown under the bus by a former assistant ruined Gansz's 2-year campaign as a Skipper. After a 4-win 1988, Carl Peterson sent him packing as his first power move after being handed the reins by Lamar.

Even if you construe that to be "openly lobbying", it doesn't have a single thing to do with Crennel. Gansz was an amazing coach and there really aren't many people who would say otherwise. You can't look at his W/L record under Schaaf and the many other circumstances which permeated his time in KC and say "look how that turned out" as though he were a Herm Edwards, Paul Wiggin, or Todd Haley.

[Dexter Manley]

Originally Posted by Chiefspants

I'm pretty sure that if it came down between him and Mcdaniels, many here would prefer Romeo.

Let's face it, Romeo may be the best candidate from the Pioli's available options.

meaning "thou shall have worshiped Bill B like me..."

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Phobia

Even if you construe that to be "openly lobbying", it doesn't have a single thing to do with Crennel.

Sure it does.

Players don't always know what's best for them.

The Chiefs loved Herm when he was here, too. Worked out well.

If we hire Crennel as HC it will be a complete waste of everyone's time.

Originally Posted by Omega

Players don't always know what's best for them.

Agree.

The Chiefs loved Herm when he was here, too. Worked out well.

Who except the jilted fans of the Chiefs and Jets doesn't like Herm? He's a likable, charismatic guy who says things people like to hear. He's like the black Dick Vermeil.

If we hire Crennel as HC it will be a complete waste of everyone's time.

Not sure how you can say this with such certainty at this point.

You're referencing past events as though what happened then will most definitely repeat itself now even though the circumstances are completely different. You seem to dislike Crennel because he's old. Which is ridiculous because I could point out that Dick Vermeil won a SuperBowl when he was older than Romeo. But I recognize that there are really no parallels between Dick Vermeil and Romeo Crennel other than age. In short, you don't know jack but you run around here talking out your ass as if you're some kind of expert on all things Chiefs and the NFL. You're basically Mecca without the mullet.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Phobia

Agree.


Who except the jilted fans of the Chiefs and Jets doesn't like Herm? He's a likable, charismatic guy who says things people like to hear. He's like the black Dick Vermeil.


Not sure how you can say this with such certainty at this point.

You're referencing past events as though what happened then will most definitely repeat itself now even though the circumstances are completely different. You seem to dislike Crennel because he's old. Which is ridiculous because I could point out that Dick Vermeil won a SuperBowl when he was older than Romeo. But I recognize that there are really no parallels between Dick Vermeil and Romeo Crennel other than age. In short, you don't know jack but you run around here talking out your ass as if you're some kind of expert on all things Chiefs and the NFL. You're basically Mecca without the mullet.

Find me a 64-year old interim head coach who went on to win a SB.

If Crennel is our HC and actually wins a SB here it will shock everyone in the NFL. It would be unprecedented.

Sorry for being concerned when 50 years of NFL history says this won't work out.

And FYI, Dick was younger than Romeo when he won it.

[beach tribe]

Something happens in the NFL that has never happened before every season.