Mellinger: Chiefs need to make fixes, but not at head coach

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http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/01...ennel-and.html

Chiefs need to make fixes, but not at head coach
By SAM MELLINGER

The Kansas City Star

DENVER | They are chanting his name in the locker room, over and over and over, the second time in three weeks they’ve busted out in beautiful, spontaneous, united success for the man they overwhelmingly want to coach them next year.

RAC! … RAC! … RAC! …

Those Chiefs players will almost certainly get their wish, and very soon, as general manager Scott Pioli is expected to make interim coach Romeo Crennel the permanent leader of a roster already dedicated to him.

Crennel deserves it. He’s earned it, removing the most reasonable doubts by beating the Broncos 7-3 here on Sunday. That’s wins over two playoff teams in three games for a man who embodies most of the characteristics the organization wants to project.

Three respected Chiefs players — Tamba Hali, Steve Breaston and Le’Ron McClain — agreed that Crennel has “overwhelming” support from the players. So the Chiefs are best served with him as the head coach, but only under the following condition:

They don’t get fooled into believing the rest of the fixes from a disappointing season are in-house.

Early indications are good. The coaching staff will undergo major changes, almost certainly with a new offensive coordinator and new special-teams coach.

Crennel would have final say in hiring assistants, and that includes Josh McDaniels, with whom he worked four seasons in New England and will reportedly be fired as Rams offensive coordinator. Chiefs fans have spent a lot of time agonizing over McDaniels, but a Chiefs source said he was not and will not be interviewed for the head coaching job.

That’s a good start, but not enough. The players seem to understand this.

“Yeah, you need to bring in some guys,” says Hali, who with a long-term contract and universal respect is among the Chiefs who can speak most freely. “We need some younger guys. Guys like Derrick (Johnson) and I, we are aging in this game. I do believe you need to bring in some younger guys to help us.”

Hali goes on. He says that “we have to make sure that (quarterback) position is solidified,” and that “nothing against our old coach, but Romeo’s a little older, experienced, he knows what he’s doing.”

There is more, and it is echoed throughout the locker room, with a season now officially over and the players as honest and reflective as the NFL and Chiefs culture allows.

Breaston talks of being proud that his team played hard, when it had nothing to play for and the Broncos had so much. He thinks that’s equal parts Crennel’s influence and what he’s come to think of as a unique vibe within the Chiefs’ locker room.

McClain talks of hoping to be back next year, so he can see this thing through, only without an absurd string of injuries that hampered so much of what would’ve otherwise been possible.

Changes will be made, of course, mostly because changes are always made in the NFL, but also because changes need to be made with the Chiefs.

Injuries have become a crutch for apologists, and this is counterproductive if it allows anyone to believe that a near-historic number of blowout losses can be fixed by a doctor.

The offensive line was perfectly healthy, for instance, and it stunk for most of the season. Same with the defensive line, though Allen Bailey’s emergence is encouraging.

The Chiefs’ decision-makers seem to understand this. You get that sense through private conversations, anyway, though there is enough deliberate ambiguity within the organization that it’s hard to tell for sure.

One of the most dangerous temptations is to believe that the Chiefs are this close to the playoffs because they weren’t eliminated until last week.

You can even point out that if Dwayne Bowe hadn’t dropped a touchdown pass against the Raiders, or if Ryan Succop had made one of those field goals, the Chiefs would be in the playoffs.

Except that’s not a reason to be comfortable; it’s the opposite. The Chiefs came within a game of the playoffs because the AFC West is worse than chicken pox. Failing to take advantage would be a shame — a fireable offense.

Realistically, the Chiefs quit against the Jets and Dolphins, lost by 27 or more points five times and actually got pretty lucky with a schedule that gave them a string of failing quarterbacks (including the Chargers’ Philip Rivers fumbling away a win on Halloween) and breaks in Chicago.

Just by virtue of medical technology, the Chiefs will be the AFC West’s most improved team if Jamaal Charles, Eric Berry and Tony Moeaki fully recover. There is no way to plan for a similar stack of injuries next year, but only fools would rely on duplicating the remarkably injury-free season of 2010.

Hali understands this. He talked for about 10 minutes as the locker room around him cleared out for the last time this season. He talked mostly about his coach, and about how Crennel is one of those “special people … almost like your father” whom players want to make proud.

“You know our league,” he says. “Some guys buy in, some guys don’t. It seems like a lot of guys have bought into Romeo. His philosophy and everything he wants to get done, we’ve bought into it.”

The Chiefs need to make that matter. But they also need to understand that to capitalize on a beautiful opportunity next year, many of the other needed changes must come from outside the organization.