The Quarterback Project and the Kansas City Chiefs

A few nights ago the NFL Network ran one of its "Top Ten" shows. I'd seen some of that one before, and I'd noted on the web what a few of the top ten teams were in this episode. That ten?

The Top Ten Snakebitten Teams.

Funny, a full five of the ten were old-AFL teams. And sure enough, as expected, there at No. 9 was your favorite team and mine. I truly think we should've been much higher, but there are two reasons, two very good reasons why I believe it was down at the bottom of the top ten pack of unluckiest teams in the NFL.

One, the Chiefs do have a Super Bowl. The only other team on the list with a Super Bowl win was the Jets, but like the Chiefs -- who haven't been close to getting back since their '69 win over the Vikings -- they also have had wretched luck since their '68 miracle against the Colts. The other eight on the list haven't a single Super Bowl win, though the No. 1 team, the Browns, still had four NFL championships before the Super Bowl era. The Browns, however, have always been that smarmily loveable loser, kind of like the Cubs but in the NFL.

The second reason is the one that relates directly to The Quarterback Project. That reason is very simple. Indeed it is so simple that it is what I believe is the single most profound reason the Chiefs haven't come close to a Super Bowl since the merger, since 1969, yes, since their last glorious excursion to that realm.

That reason is that they've never had a drafted and developed quarterback of any true, lasting value.

In my last post, I detailed the D&D history of every single current NFL team since the establishment of the AFL in 1960. Since that time, every single team has at least one good quarterback in their history, one guy who that team has D&D'ed with some veritable, measurable success. Every one. The teams that haven't done well in the postseason (Seahawks, Eagles, etc.) have usually done the worst, while teams that are very successful (Steelers, Giants, etc.) have done the best. All of them, however, have had at least one -- most have had two or three.

The Chiefs have had none.

Zero. Zilch. Nada. And they are the only one among the 32 NFL teams. The only one.

Let's go over all of their top draft picks, and see. I'm not going over any of their lower picks through the years, mostly because they haven't panned out (obviously). Yes, it is no surprise at all, there has not been a Chiefs' Tom Brady among the Chiefs teams of the past, nope. But guys picked within the top three rounds? They should've been productive. At least one of them should've, sometime over the past fifty-plus years, just like it has for all the other teams. So here is every single Chiefs quarterback pick from rounds three on up in its entire existence.

Mike Livingston, 1968, 2nd round, 48th overall pick. This is the one guy that it could be argued was a successful D&D guy for the Chiefs. He did proficiently lead the Chiefs during their Super Bowl season when Len Dawson went down for a bit, even winning all six games he started. He did take the reigns of the team for much of the early part of the seventies. But I argue against him having truly lasting success simply because he never really took on the mantle of that starting quarterback, and his team's record during that time was abysmal. Was it largely the rest of the team's fault? Sure, but when he was solely at the helm, Livingston still didn't do enough and get us where we needed to go (zero winning records, zero playoff appearances), which was a meager period of about four years total.

David Jaynes, 1974, 3/66. Who?

Steve Fuller, 1979, 1/23. Ouch. 23rd overall, very highly touted quarterback, but truly a first round bust. He was around during that magical 1981 season when Joe Delaney ran all over the place, but he didn't do much. He eventually went to Chicago where he led the Bears to the '84 NFC championship game, but that was it. And that wasn't with the Chiefs, so...

Todd Blackledge, 1983, 1/7. Major ouch. I have to confess this guy was my favorite player at the time, simply because he looked like a quarterback. He carried himself as a leader, he had all the tools, he was bright, articulate, hard-working -- I cannot blame the Chiefs for drafting him when they did even with all the other guys (Kelly, Marino...) who were picked up after him. I was convinced he was going to develop into that one guy, finally finally finally. Let's be honest, everyone else thought so too. But the fact was that he simply could not work through a defense. He couldn't recognize coverages, he couldn't look off defenders -- he just couldn't do it. Sadly, the one NFL Films clip of him everyone probably knows about is one that was shown during that "Top Ten Snakebitten Teams" episode when they were showcasing (or I guess "lowcasing" as it should be) the Chiefs -- you know the shot, Blackledge is standing there in the shotgun, and right at the moment he looks to his left the ball is snapped and it smacks him in the face. ::Whimper:: ...

Mike Elkins, 1989, 2/32. Okay, this guy was going to be the one. Except, when I watched him play in that European league, I'm thinking, this is our highly touted quarterback? Wow, Chiefs management must see something special because I just don't see it. Sadly, all of us not-Chiefs-management were right.

Matt Blundin, 1992, 2/40. Awright awright awright, this guy has the be the one. Whereas Elkins was kind of a short guy, Blundin was a big, strong guy. He really looked like a quarterback. There is no way this can't be the guy. After all the wretched D&D luck we've had, it just has to stop here. It's our turn for at least one good QB we'll have for a while getting us into at least a few playoff games throughout his career... Not. One of the most aggravating things is something I really really try hard not to allow to get to me. That is comparing where we draft our losers against where other teams draft their winners. But I just have to point this out: Blundin was the third QB taken, second round, in '92 -- guess who was taken as the third QB (second round) in the 1991 draft? Brett Favre.

Brodie Croyle, 2006, 3/85. Yet again, I was very excited to watch him play in a nationally televised exhibition game against Miami, I'm pretty sure it was before the 2007 season. And sure enough, yet one more time, I'm watching this going, "This is the guy who's going to get us to the promised land?" Croyle was probably the most underwhelming of them all. He started ten games for the Chiefs, mostly as an injury replacement, and compiled an 0-10 record. His tenth against the Chargers last year was about as miserable a performance any quarterback could have.

Annnd, that's it. Thar ya go. Thuh end.

No one can reasonably argue that the Chiefs have not had the absolute worst record of D&D'ing quarterbacks. And you see, I believe for us to be higher on the snakebitten team list, you'd actually have to have had good solid D&D QB's getting you ever-so close to highly anticipated pro football glory and suffering through watching the spirits of the native American dead buried under Arrowhead Stadium mess with your team. Well, the Chiefs do have that, but they aren't doing it with any D&D QB's of any worth.

Why are those D&D guys so danged important to begin with?

Besides the fact that those guys are usually the ones who turn out to be the best simply by virtue of their talent, the most important reason is that high quality NFL play can only come through having all the cogs of the machine fitting together, all the parts assembled precisely, all the gears humming nicely -- everything moving forward together. Super Bowl contending teams need good quarterbacks who get lots of time to gel with everyone, indeed even power-up the whole operation, and they need to start from day one. When you've got quarterbacks always being plucked off the scrap heap and shoved and stuck and slotted into the team, there're going to be problems.

And the Chiefs have always done that. Always.

With that in mind, let's look at the quarterbacks they have had. Several of these guys were terrific players, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking all about them, but I want you to pay close attention to where they were originally drafted. I'm not going to cover all of them, but the following guys practically comprise our entire history of Chiefs quarterbackitude.

Steve DeBerg, Dallas '77, 10th round, 275th overall. DeBerg's time with the Chiefs was really his best in the NFL. His 1990 season was a thing of splendid wonder, it really was. And he should've had better. But look where he was originally drafted.

Bill Kenney, Miami '78, 12/ 333. I really did like Kenney, and he did play pretty well for us. He was actually a terrific passer. But again, look at where he was drafted!

Steve Pelluer, Dallas '84, 5/113. A great runner with lots of potential, he was definitely not the answer.

Steve Bono, Minnesota '85, 6/142. Most now believe that he benefited from being on a terrific team. He played miserably in the '95 playoff game and essentially wasn't heard from again.

Rich Gannon, New England '87, 4/98. Another guy who did well for us as a reserve, and even went on to Oakland to win an MVP in '02. Still, not a high D&D guy.

Elvis Grbac, San Francisco '93, 8/219. He actually did well (even making the Pro Bowl in 2000), but he just wasn't going to get us far in the playoffs. He plainly didn't get the job done in that horrific '97 playoff game against Denver. But yet again, look at where he was drafted!

Trent Green, San Diego '93, 8/222. How funny is that. Green was taken a mere three picks after Grbac. He is probably the best overall long-term guy on this list. But still...

Kyle Orton, Chicago '05, 4/106. Just had to include him here, just to note where he was drafted. Not high in case you were wondering.

Matt Cassell, New England '05, 7/230. Erck. 7th round, 230th overall. You are kidding me. And we sign him for a gazillion dollars thinking he's going to be the ::gulp:: next Tom Brady...

Tyler Thigpen, Minnesota '07, 7/217. He really was our number one guy for a number of games in that wretched stretch from '07 to '09. Big tough guy who could run and kinda throw but simply was not going to do much for us.

How many of these guys roared through the NFL, swatting other teams like gnats on their way to scintillating Super Bowl performances for great Chiefs glory? How many of them did any of that for any other team? Rich Gannon came close with Oakland, and the jury's still out on whether Orton (and I guess Cassel and Thigpen) will ever do anything, but with all due respect,

None of these quarterbacks were going to get us to the promised land because -- you know it: what is the message of The Quarterback Project?

Answer: They weren't originally selected by the Chiefs and deftly fine-tuned by an exceptional coaching staff. Not only that, but look at where they were drafted. People people people, the Tom Bradys of the world are so so so rare that you simply cannot ever trust that your figment of Tom Brady is ever going to pan out, that's all there is to it. Our latest illusion is Ricky Stanzi, a guy picked in the 5th round, 135th overall.

Are you kidding me?

McFly, McFly, are you paying attention McFly Pioli? Have you just not learned from the above extraordinarily detailed and painfully obvious information? Don't you see that not a single one of those guys running our offense year after year after year had ever been drafted by any team higher than 98th? 98th?! Haven't the Chiefs learned from many many many many far-too-many years of trying to spin gold from oatmeal?

So let's cut right to the core, right now. What is the most pressing issue with us right now?

We have the No. 11 pick in the draft. It just seems that Andrew Luck is going No. 1 and Robert Griffin is going very shortly after that. Will there be a Ben Roethlisberger or Aaron Rodgers there for us? There at No. 11? If indeed we are facing a situation where Luck and Griffin are taken and the next best guy is no better than a No. 124 pick overall, then we are looking at more years of having to endure the Curse of Odin's Revenge. (And as you know, I just don't know. I pay no attention to who's available where in the draft because it drives me crazy, as you can see from this post and reading what I do know...)

Granted, I firmly understand that Scott Pioli can't change the rotten Chiefs D&D quarterback luck we've always had. But I will just go really crazy seeing that we're going to try to do anything meaningful (i.e. go to a Super Bowl) with Matt Cassel or Kyle Orton or Ricky Stanzi or some clown we're signing who was originally a sixth round pick and who will get us all excited just because he's our newest Chief and who may even play marvelously in some games giving us a nice little thrill...

Except that he's not going to get us close to a Super Bowl and all of this is happening when there isn't that highly drafted guy back in the stable getting developed all the while.

You get the idea.

But I'm going to close out this whole thing with one last observation. A positive note. Since it just doesn't look good D&D quarterback-wise, I'm going to project Chiefs success another way. How about this.

I looked back at the very last game of the AFL. It was not Super Bowl IV, it was indeed the AFL All-Star Game, played the following Saturday at the Astrodome in Houston. January 17, 1970. Very little information is widely available about it, but I did find out that the final score was 26-3, the West over the East. The only players who scored were Chargers and Chiefs. Dick Post and Lance Alworth scored touchdowns, and a couple field goals were kicked by Jan Stenarud. But the final touchdown of the game was scored by Mike Livingston. Yeah! An All-Pro! He replaced an injured Len Dawson, and sure enough, he scored the very last points ever in any AFL related event (Stenarud's assumed PAT notwithstanding).

Fast forward to the All-Pro game, 2012, played as always in Honolulu. With a few minutes left the AFC is already pounding the NFC, and it is extraordinarily high-scoring because no one's really going all out to tackle anyone. Understandable, no one wants to get their best players injured -- fine.

But the NFC quarterback, I just don't remember who he was, throws an interception to San Diego's Eric Weddle, who then fumbles the ball. It is picked up by Kansas City linebacker Derrick Johnson, who then zigzags through the NFC quasi-tacklers on his way to yes, you got it, the last touchdown the AFC would score in the game.

Can you see what this means? I think this is the sign that the Curse has been broken, I really do.

I think this is the time the Chiefs are going to be that one AFL team that's going to take off -- they're poised to finally take care of business for the honor of the AFL, and begin to do great things for some time.

I think Scott Pioli is going to find a way to get the quarterback situation done. I think Romeo Crennel is going to repeat the Bill Belichick thing: do not-so-well with the Browns then go to a former AFL team and make it a powerhouse. I think our offensive line with Branden Albert and Jon Asamoah is going to be beast. I think getting Jamaal Charles back healthy will really fire up our offense, and getting Eric Berry back is going to make our defensive backfield impenetrable. I think Justin Houston is going to be amazing and make Derrick Johnson even better. I think Allen Bailey is going to add another dimension to our pass rush making Tamba Hali even better. I think we are going to put to good use some of the $30 million we have under the cap (at least this is what my uncle told me we had a while ago) and sign some guys who can really play well for us in key areas.

And I'm not kidding with this assessment. I'm not trying to make light of the significant impact of The Quarterback Project, because it is sobering. But I really think Pioli is taking no prisoners in building this team, and that just has to play itself out.

I still can't watch what happens with the draft, what we're doing with our quarterback issue, or anything else until opening day because again, it just kills me.

But then again, I can have some reasonable hope that it'll get done whether I'm watching or not.

See you in September!
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[Here is the first post in The Quarterback Project.]
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