When I started this blog back in 2005, I envisioned just writing a bit about each game, enjoy how we were doing, revel in recognizing the best of our team and lament about the not-as-best with honest and clear assessments. Each game would be about the game and pretty just the game, and maybe I'd add some about where we were at in relation to the rest of the teams and our playoff possibilities to the extent that I knew.
It'd be fun.
Well, this year it has been an entirely different endeavor. I've actually barely talked about items within each game, because the implications of what is going on right now with this team overall have been so pressing. This year it has purely been therapy, because I am such a passionate Chiefs fan and the Chiefs of 2012 were so utterly, astoundingly, sublimely wretched that this writing has probably been the only thing that keeps me sane through it all.
I've never written in this blog as much as I have this year. I've had to.
Here're the things that I simply have to splurch onto this post, just because I have to. I can't help it.
The abysmalosity of this season, wrapped up today in a typically underwhelming hammering by the Broncos:
We reached (and far surpassed) the minus-200 point differential plateau, or Marianas-sized trench as it should be. Very few teams reach it. Only the worst of the worst do. We barely beat two sucky teams this year, while they were saying Denver's only three losses were to three of the best in the NFL.
I think they said Denver had five players with 40+ receptions on the year. I'm pretty sure we didn't have one. I could think of a dozen different statistical evidences of just how atrocious the Chiefs performance was this year. There are so many it is hard to bring them to mind to put them down. Things like other team's quarterbacks who've thrown for five or six touchdowns in a game. I think we've had, what, eight or nine TD passes all year. Look it up! I'm sure it's close to that.
We were 0-12 against the conference this year. Think about that. I'd bet in the history of the NFL only winless teams like the 2008 Lions or 1976 Bucs could claim that. There're probably a couple 1-15 teams whose sole win was against an opposite conference team, but if you looked it up I'd bet only the worst of the worst went winless against every other team in their own conference.
Our best receiver is our punter. While the Broncos were making one-handed grabs for touchdowns left and right, our receivers were bumbling about as usual. But with the second-to-last punt on the day, Dustin Colquitt had a snap sail on him and he reached up with his right hand and -- wow! -- what a spectacular one-handed grab! No touchdown though, just another punt. Yay.
Meanwhile to get to his last punt of the day, we had 4th-and-2 with two-minutes left. And we punt the ball. At that point Denver kneels for three straight plays. Sure with the score 38-3 it didn't matter a whole lot, but it was just an indication of how lame this team is, especially its coaching. Romeo Crennel said he was proud of his men for never giving up. Yay. He still can't respect them enough to go for it on that 4th-and-2 just to make the statement, to stay in there and give it your all even when all is lost. Even though it was Brady Quinn, still. The crutch that Crennel had for a bad leg meant more than that in this game.
I saw earlier this week that Matt Cassell was dead last in QB rating, 66-point-something. I'd seen Brady Quinn's mark even worse, 60-point-something. I'm sure it didn't get any better today. So there ya go. The Chiefs 2012 quarterback performance. I just don't know how you could get any worse than that. I mean, I don't know how they arrange the quarterback rating, but I'm pretty sure that to get a rating lower than 60 you've got to complete only three passes for minus-18 yards, throw six interceptions, and get sacked seven times. Wait, didn't that happen to us a couple games this year?...
Otherwise, a couple of playing-against-Denver memories.
Remember the final game of the season three years ago, in Denver? We sucked then too but we'd had Scott Pioli and Todd Haley for just one full year, the first year of the rebuilding process? Remember that? We went into Denver and pasted them. Derrick Johnson had something like 14 pick-six's. I exaggerate, but if you remember that game you know what I'm talking about. It was splendid. Well, this year was supposed to be the full fruition of what was supposed to be, what was supposed to be coming out of that game. Today it should be us going into the playoffs with home-field advantage throughout, not Denver. But then, they have Peyton Manning and we've had Matt Cassel. Yeeeee-ah.
Remember that game late in the 1990 season, the one against a reeling Denver team when Steve DeBerg hit Rob Thomas and he ran up the sideline for a game-sealing touchdown? I treasure that play in my heart because it just represented a turning point when the Chiefs got to be great for a while after Denver had for so many years. In fact in the 90's the Chiefs had the best regular season record of any NFL team except the Bills. Better than the Cowboys, the 49ers, the Packers, and the Broncos. Except all of those teams had Super Bowls wins that decade and the Chiefs had... well, you can guess. So now we're back to really sucking and the Broncos dominating.
During the gamecast today they'd said Crennel is as good as gone, but Pioli may stay. Whatever the case, this Chiefs team needs leadership like nothing else. One of those critically wonderful things that someone like Peyton Manning provides is that leadership. So it can't be emphasized enough:
If Clark Hunt is going to build a winning team here, he's got to know football to make the best football happen in Kansas City. (See last post.)
If Scott Pioli is going to show that he's all about that leadership he's got to get out of that funk that it is about him and make it about Kansas City.
As it is those two have got an uphill climb because the most harrowing thing of all is not even that we had the crappiest of crappy seasons. It is that for the first time in however many years there isn't a marquee franchise quarterback in the draft at the time we're picking No. 1.
Every Chiefs fan knows how much we need a drafted and developed quarterback, and for the umpteen-gazillionth time that guy is just not going to be there when we draft. And we're drafting No. 1. How stinkin' rotten is that Curse.
As it looks right now we're faced with picking some other quarterback off the retread pile for the -- okay, I won't write "umpteen-gazillioth time" again -- and seeing what happens with that. But it won't mean anything until we
Get that leadership.
I truly believe that leadership deficit is what is killing us. Look at our talent. It seems others think we've got the talent too, because at the beginning of the year most thought we'd contend. But look what happened. At least a dozen of our best players just played waaay crappier than anyone thought. In any normal instance maybe a few of them would be crappier than people think, but for us this year there were that many? That's a result of a leadership deficit.
And while Clark Hunt is getting football, Scott Pioli needs to get on with hiring that fantastic coach and ultimately drafting and developing that quarterback. Please-oh-please, Chiefs fans are begging you, don't get a retread coach -- sheez we're already faced with having to get a retread quarterback from somewhere.
For cryin' out loud, 1987 is the last time a Chiefs D&D quarterback won a game for us. There ya go, there's another stat to look up. It'd require scouring games and some counting or just some computer wizadry by some sabermetrics guy. But here it is: Which team is second-to-last with number of wins by a their own D&D quarterback since 1987? That is, since that September game in 1987 -- 25 years ago -- the Chiefs have had zero wins from their own D&D quarterback. How many is the next fewest? It's got to be at least 20 or 30, and if it's any higher it's just that much more of a brutally ugly testament to the Chiefs abject futility in this area.
So how does Pioli do that if he can't get one with the No. 1 pick? Could he trade down? Is there any way he can get a Ricky Williams-type trade going, that one where I think it was the Saints traded all their picks to get Williams in the draft? Why can't Pioli show some leadership ganas and swing that kind of a deal, then we can get lots of picks and still get a Matt Barkley or Geno Smith at No. 17 or somewhere like that? Look what the Hershel Walker trade did for Dallas. Is there no team who's salivating over the guy we'd otherwise get at No. 1 but will do us no good, some team that will give up their entire farm system for that pick?
Whatever Pioli (or yeah, whoever the GM is) does, it has got to be about what the Chiefs here need more than anything else.
LEADERSHIP.
When we get that, then we'll contend.
As it is, I've got a lot more banging around in my head, and just not enough space here or time right now to get to it. So without the Chiefs in the playoffs this year yet again, I thought I'd use the next three weekends to blog on three things, just to reminisce about these first 50 years of Chiefs football.
Next week I'm planning to put in a blog post about what I consider the five worst Chiefs seasons when they were in the playoffs. Oh the heartbreaks from those years give us a lot to choose from there. Anyway, you'll get to commiserate with me then, and you can agree, disagree -- it'll be great fun.
The following week I'm planning to put in a blog post about what I consider the five best overall seasons in Chiefs history. That will definitely be the funnest. Good wholesome reminiscing then.
The week after that I'll put in what should be my last blog of the year: the five worst Chiefs seasons overall. I had to split up the "Worst Seasons" category because there were bad playoff results and just plain bad seasons.
Guess what'll be No. 1 on that list.
But then, from that point, we've just got to hope it'll get better. It looks so grim right now, and there's certainly no reason it can't get worse -- but wow, it has just got to be hard for it to get any worse than it was this year. The Curse simply can't be that awful can it?
Let's just hope once again that to get going Clark truly really actually does
Football.
_
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Colts at Chiefs - Week 16 - Record: 2-13
I don't really hate the Colts -- indeed one of the reasons I do engage in some measure of sports celibacy is because I get tired of hating teams or watching them have all kinds of fortune drop in their laps while we make our home in the most putrid misery.
So again while I don't hate the Colts, they sure are a pain in the ass.
In fact, our fantastic misfortune through the years may not be because of the Curse of Odin's Revenge at all. It may very well be some kind of pukifying Curse of John Unitas or something. Think about it.
Back in 1970 we were the defending Super Bowl champions, and the second ever Monday Night Football game was a 44-24 Chiefs shellacking of the Colts on their field. Some Baltimore witch doctor had to have put the hex on us because we played very inconsistently that year, failed to make the playoffs at all, and watched the Colts run the table and get the NFL championship.
Since then the Colts have done everything within their power to crush us. Remember 1995? We were way better than they were and lost to them at home in that playoff game. Remember 1996? We were way better than they were, holding a 9-5 record, and only needed to beat them at home to clinch a playoff spot, and lost, ultimatly missing the playoffs. Remember 2003? We were at least a bit better than they were and again lost to them at home in that playoff game. Remember 2006? This time they were indeed a bit better than us annnd, we still lost. Remember last year? We hammered them in Indy with one of our best offensive showings (we scored four touchdowns, can you believe it?) and that helped them be really really bad for one year so they could have the chance to get the next Peyton Manning.
See, here's a team that is three years removed from being in the Super Bowl, they suck one single year and as such they get to have Andrew Luck under their Christmas tree and a trip to the postseason yet again.
The Chiefs? They're a few geological eras from being even close to a Super Bowl, about as sucky a team as there can be this year, and what super studly quarterback is waiting under the tree for them this year?
The Colts have a horseshoe with the ends facing up, so all the luck stays in the horseshoe. Their quarterback named Luck today set the rookie record for passing yardage, breaking the record of the first draft pick the previous year, Cam Newton.
Now it's the Chiefs turn to have the NUMBER ONE SELECTED FUTURE HALL-OF-FAME QUARTERBACK IN THE DRAFT to lead the Chiefs to Super Bowl glory next year and for many many many years to come.
Yeah, right.
Well, thinking more and more about this team, I just don't think our talent is really that bad, except at quarterback. Again, it is something I've shared a bazillion times before, and something every single Chiefs fan knows. It is simply two key things, in no particular order.
We're so poorly coached.
Our quarterback is terrible.
To wit, in today's game we ran all over the Colts defense. Jamaal put up 200+. Peyton Hillis added another 100+. We had the most rushing offense of any team in any NFL game this year -- what a great showing by our O-line. Brady Quinn even made some nice completions. Our defense played their hearts out. We stuffed their running game and kept Luck in check for most of the game. Our fine defensive game plan was actually executed well, letting their bunched up receivers get into their routes before picking them up, frustrating their whole passing game.
But when it came right down to it, what happened has been happening all year long and it is indeed all on the quarterback and the coach.
We didn't finish.
Quinn had three interceptions on the day, and even though it was technically two, one of them was called back for a phantom pass interference call on them, so it was really three. That's all on the quarterback.
When we needed some ganas down close to the goal line we had none. We fumbled the ball, we got stupid penalties, we couldn't get an easy first down late on third-and-short and fourth-and-really-short, giving them the opportunity to zip down the field, get a clutch last minute touchdown, and win the game. That's all on the coaching.
Think about it. In the last three games we've scored two touchdowns. One was an 80-yard romp by Jamaal to open the Browns game, the other was an 86-yard romp by Jamaal today. That's it. Thing is, all of the other games not-against-Carolina it's been pretty much the same. We're almost at the rarified air of a minus-200 point differential on the year, a threshold the Chiefs have never reached and few teams ever do.
So since it's deep into the Christmas season, I thought I'd share my wishes for the Christmas gifts I'd like to see under the tree for the three gentlemen responsible for all this.
Clark Hunt - Football.
Yes, you saw that right, football. Not a football, not any football item, just football.
It starts at the very top, and I'm sorry, but from from what I see -- and it isn't much, granted, but it is some -- from what I see, I just can't understand how this guy is really that inept. I mean, are the Chiefs suffering from some transgenerational punishment brought about by his grandfather's bigamy? I mean, I just can't figure it out.
The Hunts seem to have been respected throughout pro football. They seem to have done all they can to be a key part of the success of the NFL. They seem to have done all the right things in the community and providing through charity and all that. They seem to have gone above and beyond to make sure Arrowhead is a fine place to watch football. They seem to have worked their tails off doing all the things to make the business a justifiably thriving one.
And Clark seems to be a fine owner holding the reigns of all of this gooditude.
So what gives?
Well, it may just be that one intangible that I think plagued his dad, too. And that is this.
He just doesn't know football.
Oh he knows football is a terrific sport and he knows about how the game is played and he pays his players to do football-oriented things but you know what I think?
I just don't think he knows football.
So for Christmas I wish Clark would get football. He has got to find a way to surround himself with people wholly committed to Chiefs excellence long-term, but just as importantly those people have got to be extraordinarily football-wise people who really know football and can furthermore get him to know it. This isn't just management personnel doing the football business, this is an inner circle of the most trusted confidants who aren't just advisors but in a very real sense teachers.
I think he did his damndest to get the guy we all thought would be our savior, Scott Pioli, but something tells me he just didn't know football enough to insightfully recognize he wasn't the guy. Now I'm going to talk about Pioli in a minute, but for now: remember when Lamar just let Jack Steadman run things, and what a mess the Chiefs were for most of his tenure? I'm sorry, but this is looking a lot like that because Clark just isn't getting the football of things.
He can still do everything well he's doing as an owner, and he doesn't have to be in the mix of making direct football decisions, he doesn't really have to do much at all except just - know - football so that when he's got to do whatever ownership things he has to do to make the Chiefs great he'll know what the hell he's doing up there.
Scott Pioli - A head coach and accompanying coaching staff who will get this team to the promised land.
I know many think Pioli is as good as gone, and he could be. If he is I won't be weeping too much. But just to put in a good word for the guy, I really think his catastrophic 2009 draft has been the touchstone for this disaster and has always made him look bad. No excuses at all for that, but it seems the last three drafts have been pretty decent.
The problem is in the coaching. This teams needs a full staff who really knows what they're doing about getting this team to play to its potential and above all, to finish.
And don't get me wrong, if we can't get that leadership because of Pioli, then he definitely has got to go. Because, really, as much as we so so so so so need that quarterback, we really need that head coach just as much.
As critically important as building the team and showcasing our skill sets and establishing a high standard of play-calling excellence and finishing, all the quality aspects of fine coaching, I'm looking forward to a coach who's coaching a Chiefs team that is playing with the highest level of discipline.
It's not just the stupid mistakes, but it's the insipid little celebrating they do over the piddlest little achievements. I'm not saying they shouldn't be playing at an elevated emotional level, that's great. The problem is, quite frankly, you don't deserve to be spouting off when you're 2-13. Play hard, keep your head up, fire off your marks, and genuinely appreciate one another's contributions. But the Chiefs don't really know how to reign it in. All that silly stuff the Chiefs players do on the field just makes everything Chiefs look so pathetically lame.
We are in such need of a kick-in-the-ass guy whom the players respect, and if we don't get that guy, then get ready for many more years of misery, Chiefs fans.
Romeo Crennel - The very best Christmas-time and all other-times spent with his family and friends, and of course all the Chiefs players he once at one time in the past coached.
I mean that in the most sincere terms. Romeo Crennel is a fantastic individual, the players love him -- they even lobbied to get him to be the permanent head coach. He was a phenomenally strong rock, even a father figure some said, when the Jovan Belcher horror occurred. And he does try really, really hard to make the Chiefs a good football team. For all this he should be awarded all the accolades that he is due.
But he cannot coach a pro football team that hopes to contend.
Last year when I watched him brilliantly coach the team in their win over the undefeated Packers I really did hope he could do that on a regular basis. But then I watched him work the Raiders game and just knew in my heart it wasn't to be.
This team is making too many mistakes and is doing too much to demonstrate they don't know what's going on out there for us to be convinced he can coach an NFL team. Sure a lot of it is the quarterback, but there is so much awfulness happening having nothing to do with the quarterback.
Think about it, whoever we get to be quarterback next year -- especially if it is some highly drafted young phenom (oh we can only hope) in need of the most expertly nurturing development -- come on, would you really put him in the hands of these guys?
This is why it is critically imperative:
We have got to get the very best bright extraordinarily respected head coach out there.
And yes, it all starts with Clark.
Get the football.
_
So again while I don't hate the Colts, they sure are a pain in the ass.
In fact, our fantastic misfortune through the years may not be because of the Curse of Odin's Revenge at all. It may very well be some kind of pukifying Curse of John Unitas or something. Think about it.
Back in 1970 we were the defending Super Bowl champions, and the second ever Monday Night Football game was a 44-24 Chiefs shellacking of the Colts on their field. Some Baltimore witch doctor had to have put the hex on us because we played very inconsistently that year, failed to make the playoffs at all, and watched the Colts run the table and get the NFL championship.
Since then the Colts have done everything within their power to crush us. Remember 1995? We were way better than they were and lost to them at home in that playoff game. Remember 1996? We were way better than they were, holding a 9-5 record, and only needed to beat them at home to clinch a playoff spot, and lost, ultimatly missing the playoffs. Remember 2003? We were at least a bit better than they were and again lost to them at home in that playoff game. Remember 2006? This time they were indeed a bit better than us annnd, we still lost. Remember last year? We hammered them in Indy with one of our best offensive showings (we scored four touchdowns, can you believe it?) and that helped them be really really bad for one year so they could have the chance to get the next Peyton Manning.
See, here's a team that is three years removed from being in the Super Bowl, they suck one single year and as such they get to have Andrew Luck under their Christmas tree and a trip to the postseason yet again.
The Chiefs? They're a few geological eras from being even close to a Super Bowl, about as sucky a team as there can be this year, and what super studly quarterback is waiting under the tree for them this year?
The Colts have a horseshoe with the ends facing up, so all the luck stays in the horseshoe. Their quarterback named Luck today set the rookie record for passing yardage, breaking the record of the first draft pick the previous year, Cam Newton.
Now it's the Chiefs turn to have the NUMBER ONE SELECTED FUTURE HALL-OF-FAME QUARTERBACK IN THE DRAFT to lead the Chiefs to Super Bowl glory next year and for many many many years to come.
Yeah, right.
Well, thinking more and more about this team, I just don't think our talent is really that bad, except at quarterback. Again, it is something I've shared a bazillion times before, and something every single Chiefs fan knows. It is simply two key things, in no particular order.
We're so poorly coached.
Our quarterback is terrible.
To wit, in today's game we ran all over the Colts defense. Jamaal put up 200+. Peyton Hillis added another 100+. We had the most rushing offense of any team in any NFL game this year -- what a great showing by our O-line. Brady Quinn even made some nice completions. Our defense played their hearts out. We stuffed their running game and kept Luck in check for most of the game. Our fine defensive game plan was actually executed well, letting their bunched up receivers get into their routes before picking them up, frustrating their whole passing game.
But when it came right down to it, what happened has been happening all year long and it is indeed all on the quarterback and the coach.
We didn't finish.
Quinn had three interceptions on the day, and even though it was technically two, one of them was called back for a phantom pass interference call on them, so it was really three. That's all on the quarterback.
When we needed some ganas down close to the goal line we had none. We fumbled the ball, we got stupid penalties, we couldn't get an easy first down late on third-and-short and fourth-and-really-short, giving them the opportunity to zip down the field, get a clutch last minute touchdown, and win the game. That's all on the coaching.
Think about it. In the last three games we've scored two touchdowns. One was an 80-yard romp by Jamaal to open the Browns game, the other was an 86-yard romp by Jamaal today. That's it. Thing is, all of the other games not-against-Carolina it's been pretty much the same. We're almost at the rarified air of a minus-200 point differential on the year, a threshold the Chiefs have never reached and few teams ever do.
So since it's deep into the Christmas season, I thought I'd share my wishes for the Christmas gifts I'd like to see under the tree for the three gentlemen responsible for all this.
Clark Hunt - Football.
Yes, you saw that right, football. Not a football, not any football item, just football.
It starts at the very top, and I'm sorry, but from from what I see -- and it isn't much, granted, but it is some -- from what I see, I just can't understand how this guy is really that inept. I mean, are the Chiefs suffering from some transgenerational punishment brought about by his grandfather's bigamy? I mean, I just can't figure it out.
The Hunts seem to have been respected throughout pro football. They seem to have done all they can to be a key part of the success of the NFL. They seem to have done all the right things in the community and providing through charity and all that. They seem to have gone above and beyond to make sure Arrowhead is a fine place to watch football. They seem to have worked their tails off doing all the things to make the business a justifiably thriving one.
And Clark seems to be a fine owner holding the reigns of all of this gooditude.
So what gives?
Well, it may just be that one intangible that I think plagued his dad, too. And that is this.
He just doesn't know football.
Oh he knows football is a terrific sport and he knows about how the game is played and he pays his players to do football-oriented things but you know what I think?
I just don't think he knows football.
So for Christmas I wish Clark would get football. He has got to find a way to surround himself with people wholly committed to Chiefs excellence long-term, but just as importantly those people have got to be extraordinarily football-wise people who really know football and can furthermore get him to know it. This isn't just management personnel doing the football business, this is an inner circle of the most trusted confidants who aren't just advisors but in a very real sense teachers.
I think he did his damndest to get the guy we all thought would be our savior, Scott Pioli, but something tells me he just didn't know football enough to insightfully recognize he wasn't the guy. Now I'm going to talk about Pioli in a minute, but for now: remember when Lamar just let Jack Steadman run things, and what a mess the Chiefs were for most of his tenure? I'm sorry, but this is looking a lot like that because Clark just isn't getting the football of things.
He can still do everything well he's doing as an owner, and he doesn't have to be in the mix of making direct football decisions, he doesn't really have to do much at all except just - know - football so that when he's got to do whatever ownership things he has to do to make the Chiefs great he'll know what the hell he's doing up there.
Scott Pioli - A head coach and accompanying coaching staff who will get this team to the promised land.
I know many think Pioli is as good as gone, and he could be. If he is I won't be weeping too much. But just to put in a good word for the guy, I really think his catastrophic 2009 draft has been the touchstone for this disaster and has always made him look bad. No excuses at all for that, but it seems the last three drafts have been pretty decent.
The problem is in the coaching. This teams needs a full staff who really knows what they're doing about getting this team to play to its potential and above all, to finish.
And don't get me wrong, if we can't get that leadership because of Pioli, then he definitely has got to go. Because, really, as much as we so so so so so need that quarterback, we really need that head coach just as much.
As critically important as building the team and showcasing our skill sets and establishing a high standard of play-calling excellence and finishing, all the quality aspects of fine coaching, I'm looking forward to a coach who's coaching a Chiefs team that is playing with the highest level of discipline.
It's not just the stupid mistakes, but it's the insipid little celebrating they do over the piddlest little achievements. I'm not saying they shouldn't be playing at an elevated emotional level, that's great. The problem is, quite frankly, you don't deserve to be spouting off when you're 2-13. Play hard, keep your head up, fire off your marks, and genuinely appreciate one another's contributions. But the Chiefs don't really know how to reign it in. All that silly stuff the Chiefs players do on the field just makes everything Chiefs look so pathetically lame.
We are in such need of a kick-in-the-ass guy whom the players respect, and if we don't get that guy, then get ready for many more years of misery, Chiefs fans.
Romeo Crennel - The very best Christmas-time and all other-times spent with his family and friends, and of course all the Chiefs players he once at one time in the past coached.
I mean that in the most sincere terms. Romeo Crennel is a fantastic individual, the players love him -- they even lobbied to get him to be the permanent head coach. He was a phenomenally strong rock, even a father figure some said, when the Jovan Belcher horror occurred. And he does try really, really hard to make the Chiefs a good football team. For all this he should be awarded all the accolades that he is due.
But he cannot coach a pro football team that hopes to contend.
Last year when I watched him brilliantly coach the team in their win over the undefeated Packers I really did hope he could do that on a regular basis. But then I watched him work the Raiders game and just knew in my heart it wasn't to be.
This team is making too many mistakes and is doing too much to demonstrate they don't know what's going on out there for us to be convinced he can coach an NFL team. Sure a lot of it is the quarterback, but there is so much awfulness happening having nothing to do with the quarterback.
Think about it, whoever we get to be quarterback next year -- especially if it is some highly drafted young phenom (oh we can only hope) in need of the most expertly nurturing development -- come on, would you really put him in the hands of these guys?
This is why it is critically imperative:
We have got to get the very best bright extraordinarily respected head coach out there.
And yes, it all starts with Clark.
Get the football.
_
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Chiefs at Raiders - Week 15 - Record: 2-12
What a great game for the very best Chiefs unit!
Was it our scintillating passing game? Was it our grind-it-out running game? Was it our ferocious pass rush? Was it our clutch game-winning field goal kicking?
Of course not.
But hey! We have a great punting game! Woo-hoo!
Really, Dustin Colquitt's average today was around 50 yards a punt. Zowie! We got the ball downed within the 10 a few times, even within the 5 at least once. Yowza! He even had what they said was his career long, a 70-something yarder. Yabba-dabba-dooski!
Other than that, it was typically abysmal. In fact, I really think it was worse than abysmal. Very recently I'd talked in this blog about this being easily the worst Chiefs season ever, and I truly believe this game could be classified right up there as one of the worst ever. Just before the Chiefs got some very gratuitous yardage in the third quarter, they were talking as if this'd surpass the worst Chiefs game ever yardage-wise, which itself was a game against the Raiders from 1963 when they'd gained only 60-some yards total. Today we got a few more than that, but not much.
And here's how abysmally abysmal this all is.
The Raiders are one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL. We let them take off for 200 yards on the day. The Raiders are also dead last in points allowed on defense, giving up 30 a game. We scored zero.
Last week we made the Browns look like a championship contender as they torched us. This week the Redskins' offense went up against the Browns with their second string guy at quarterback, a rookie replacing an injured Robert Griffin III, and they torched the Browns.
Here we were playing two of the worst teams in the entirety of all present En-eff-ellitude, and in both we clearly showed we're not even in the same multiverse.
And I have to tell you I was thinking this. In my mind I am thinking, really, "We just can't be this bad." But then I actually thought back to what I'd written in a post at the very beginning of the year, that we should just try really really hard to pretend like we're playing hard but make sure it isn't good enough to win so we'd just flat-out get that first round pick this year.
And then I thought today, are we actually doing that?
Of course there are very, very disturbing things about either of the answers to that question. If the answer is yes, that they are doing that, what a bunch of gutless wusses these guys are. That they'd deliberately lose on purpose. Sure we'd like a very very very high draft pick next year, but whichever pick we get, even if it was going to be the greatest quarterback ever which it won't be anyway, that guy is not by himself going to come close to fixing what's wrong with this team.
Now I seriously don't think the Chiefs players are doing this. I do believe our players are working and playing hard to hold up the honor of Kansas City and pro football there. The still disturbing thing is if the answer to that question is indeed no, they're not faking being bad, then -- ::gulp:: -- we truly are a very very very bad team. I'm just not going to go into the litany of our awfulness -- again... Been doing it all year, will certainly do it again before the season is over.
The most frustrating thing in all of it is something we all continue to agonizingly wonder.
What is the reason? What is the real reason for all of this???
Just look at Jon Baldwin. Today he had three or four passes thrown his way, and he was flailing miserably for every one. What gives here? He has a ton of talent, and yet he's been utterly worthless so far. I could blame the quarterback, but it seemed to me those passes were in his vicinity. So again, what gives? Is it just him -- he's just way worse than we all thought? Is it Crennel and the coaches for failing to show him how to run routes? Is it Pioli for being that faked out before drafting him? Is it Clark for just not running a comprehensively quality organization? Is it Odin for just persisting in his abject refusal to stop tormenting us from the Halls of Valhalla or wherever he malevolently resides?
What is funny (as much as these things can be funny) is that, yet again, it isn't just the Chiefs that are sucking but it is, yes, the entire original contingent of American Football League teams. Except for two of them, all the others are royally sucking as well. AGAIN. For the past few years during NFL playoff-time I'd been writing in this blog about how woeful it has been for those AFL teams in the postseason. Thought I'd get a head start on it now because already is it miserable. Go ahead and look at those teams and how they're doing this year, you'll see. From best-to-worst:
1. Patriots - Great. Still doing awesome. The reason? They've had a great head coach and a great quarterback together for, what, 12-plus years now? The last time the Chiefs had either a decent head coach or quarterback was in 2005. (After suffering a major concussion in the first game of the '06 season, Trent Green was never the same.)
2. Broncos - Great, again. Reason? Do I have to say fine coach and great quarterback?
Now for the rest, with the added gratuitous note that the last time a non-Patriots-or-Broncos AFL team won the Super Bowl was nearly 30 years ago.
3. Jets - Sucking again but amazingly still on life-support for a playoff spot.
4. Chargers - Sucking again.
5. Titans - Sucking again.
6. Bills - Sucking again.
7. Raiders - Sucking again.
8. Chiefs - Is there any way to say it that reflects the most abysmal sucking of them all?
Now to be fair I could add the Bengals and Dolphins here, two teams still in the hunt for the playoffs, but they're not original AFL teams.
The point is that as much as the Curse of Odin's Revenge is still still still crushing the Chiefs, the Curse of the NFL's Revenge is still hammering the AFL.
Yeah, ahem. Just something to talk about because it is so depressing talking about the Chiefs right now.
_
Was it our scintillating passing game? Was it our grind-it-out running game? Was it our ferocious pass rush? Was it our clutch game-winning field goal kicking?
Of course not.
But hey! We have a great punting game! Woo-hoo!
Really, Dustin Colquitt's average today was around 50 yards a punt. Zowie! We got the ball downed within the 10 a few times, even within the 5 at least once. Yowza! He even had what they said was his career long, a 70-something yarder. Yabba-dabba-dooski!
Other than that, it was typically abysmal. In fact, I really think it was worse than abysmal. Very recently I'd talked in this blog about this being easily the worst Chiefs season ever, and I truly believe this game could be classified right up there as one of the worst ever. Just before the Chiefs got some very gratuitous yardage in the third quarter, they were talking as if this'd surpass the worst Chiefs game ever yardage-wise, which itself was a game against the Raiders from 1963 when they'd gained only 60-some yards total. Today we got a few more than that, but not much.
And here's how abysmally abysmal this all is.
The Raiders are one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL. We let them take off for 200 yards on the day. The Raiders are also dead last in points allowed on defense, giving up 30 a game. We scored zero.
Last week we made the Browns look like a championship contender as they torched us. This week the Redskins' offense went up against the Browns with their second string guy at quarterback, a rookie replacing an injured Robert Griffin III, and they torched the Browns.
Here we were playing two of the worst teams in the entirety of all present En-eff-ellitude, and in both we clearly showed we're not even in the same multiverse.
And I have to tell you I was thinking this. In my mind I am thinking, really, "We just can't be this bad." But then I actually thought back to what I'd written in a post at the very beginning of the year, that we should just try really really hard to pretend like we're playing hard but make sure it isn't good enough to win so we'd just flat-out get that first round pick this year.
And then I thought today, are we actually doing that?
Of course there are very, very disturbing things about either of the answers to that question. If the answer is yes, that they are doing that, what a bunch of gutless wusses these guys are. That they'd deliberately lose on purpose. Sure we'd like a very very very high draft pick next year, but whichever pick we get, even if it was going to be the greatest quarterback ever which it won't be anyway, that guy is not by himself going to come close to fixing what's wrong with this team.
Now I seriously don't think the Chiefs players are doing this. I do believe our players are working and playing hard to hold up the honor of Kansas City and pro football there. The still disturbing thing is if the answer to that question is indeed no, they're not faking being bad, then -- ::gulp:: -- we truly are a very very very bad team. I'm just not going to go into the litany of our awfulness -- again... Been doing it all year, will certainly do it again before the season is over.
The most frustrating thing in all of it is something we all continue to agonizingly wonder.
What is the reason? What is the real reason for all of this???
Just look at Jon Baldwin. Today he had three or four passes thrown his way, and he was flailing miserably for every one. What gives here? He has a ton of talent, and yet he's been utterly worthless so far. I could blame the quarterback, but it seemed to me those passes were in his vicinity. So again, what gives? Is it just him -- he's just way worse than we all thought? Is it Crennel and the coaches for failing to show him how to run routes? Is it Pioli for being that faked out before drafting him? Is it Clark for just not running a comprehensively quality organization? Is it Odin for just persisting in his abject refusal to stop tormenting us from the Halls of Valhalla or wherever he malevolently resides?
What is funny (as much as these things can be funny) is that, yet again, it isn't just the Chiefs that are sucking but it is, yes, the entire original contingent of American Football League teams. Except for two of them, all the others are royally sucking as well. AGAIN. For the past few years during NFL playoff-time I'd been writing in this blog about how woeful it has been for those AFL teams in the postseason. Thought I'd get a head start on it now because already is it miserable. Go ahead and look at those teams and how they're doing this year, you'll see. From best-to-worst:
1. Patriots - Great. Still doing awesome. The reason? They've had a great head coach and a great quarterback together for, what, 12-plus years now? The last time the Chiefs had either a decent head coach or quarterback was in 2005. (After suffering a major concussion in the first game of the '06 season, Trent Green was never the same.)
2. Broncos - Great, again. Reason? Do I have to say fine coach and great quarterback?
Now for the rest, with the added gratuitous note that the last time a non-Patriots-or-Broncos AFL team won the Super Bowl was nearly 30 years ago.
3. Jets - Sucking again but amazingly still on life-support for a playoff spot.
4. Chargers - Sucking again.
5. Titans - Sucking again.
6. Bills - Sucking again.
7. Raiders - Sucking again.
8. Chiefs - Is there any way to say it that reflects the most abysmal sucking of them all?
Now to be fair I could add the Bengals and Dolphins here, two teams still in the hunt for the playoffs, but they're not original AFL teams.
The point is that as much as the Curse of Odin's Revenge is still still still crushing the Chiefs, the Curse of the NFL's Revenge is still hammering the AFL.
Yeah, ahem. Just something to talk about because it is so depressing talking about the Chiefs right now.
_
Sunday, December 09, 2012
Chiefs at Browns - Week 14 - Record: 2-11
The game opens with Jamaal Charles blasting off on an 80-yard touchdown run. The Browns stall on their next possession, and Brady Quinn and the Chiefs offense comes back blazing hot, with Dwayne Bowe snatching a long pass to get to the Browns 4-yard line. Woo-hoo! I was actually thinking, wow, we're going to be up 14-0 quick. This is the same team that's been stinkin' up the place all year long?
Well. Turns out...
There we were in the red zone where we've been pathetic. And we were pathetic again. Three plays, three doinks of some sort or another. Succop comes in and doinks his FG attempt off the upright. I think we were in Browns territory once more the entire game.
This was just a classic example of a good, young, healthy, decently-coached team coming up against, um...
The Chiefs.
The Browns were simply waaay better than us in every facet of the game. Criminy they even got a run-back for a touchdown from someone not Josh Cribbs. That's really sad. But everything about this game was extraordinarily sad.
Our quarterback? Still crappy. Last week Brady Quinn looked so good that I actually thought maybe he may have something to show. They said today that in the Carolina game Quinn set a Chiefs record for completion percentage. Guh? I knew he did well, but that well? Well, today he went back to really sucking.
Our running backs? Charles got banged up shortly after his big run, and was ineffective. But any running back is much less effective when you're playing from behind for much of the game. Peyton Hillis? Browns fans were happy to be all over his ass, but I guess it's good they didn't much chance to boo him. He did very little also.
Our offensive line? It was back to being inconsistent, and very poor in the pass protection area. Branden Albert went down again. That's very not-good. This line is all over the place because of the injuries thing.
Our wide receivers? The question I can ask yet again: Where's Jon Baldwin? This was yet another day when the opponent's big strong wide receiver had a great day -- in fact the Browns had two of them, rookies even, who ate us up. Game after game after game after game some big strong receiver kills us. And our big strong receiver? Invisible. What gives??? Oh, and we just can't avoid getting clobbered by injuries. Dwayne Bowe went out for the game and for who knows how much longer with some rib issue trying to make a block. At the end of the game the only guy we were passing to or trying to pass to was this Jamar Newsome fellow, a call-up from the practice squad a few weeks ago. That's it. How many times do we see a Chiefs guy on the field playing regularly who was called up from the practice squad? Compare that to how often it happens with the other teams we're playing. Yeah. Yeah, I have a weird twisting thing going on deep in my stomach too.
Our defensive line? Too many times the Browns more skilled and seasoned O-linemen pushed us around. They enough got separation for enough running plays and they got plenty of pass protection for their quarterback to get crisp passes to his receivers getting fine separation. Dontari Poe was back to looking like a rookie. ::Sigh::
Our linebackers? Derrick Johnson had a couple of his patented in-like-a-shot backfield tackles. Tamba Hali was a bit of a force. But that was it. Our guys were pushed around there too. As I look at this squad, I think about that guy from Notre Dame who may be there for us in the draft. I just don't know, would he be that good? We so need that quarterback, but we may reeeeeeeeeeally need to get the next Ray Lewis too. ::Whimper:: this team needs so much help...
Our defensive backs? They said Eric Berry had injury/illness issues, and as such just looked weak out there. He even dropped an easy interception that would've stopped a drive they eventually scored on.
Our special teams? Succop sucked, adding a kick-off out-of-bounds to his missed FG. Our coverage team allowed that punt return for a touchdown, but to their credit the Browns' blocking on that play was extraordinary. The one shining spot beside the Charles run was probably our punter Dustin Colquitt's long booming punt that went out of bounds at the Browns 4-yard line. How great was that. But how awful was that, too, that a punt is regularly the coolest thing about a Chiefs game.
Oh the joy of that day in the future, whenever it is, when we can field a team that is as good as the other team on a regular basis.
Guess we can dream. Yet again, it's all we have.
_
Well. Turns out...
There we were in the red zone where we've been pathetic. And we were pathetic again. Three plays, three doinks of some sort or another. Succop comes in and doinks his FG attempt off the upright. I think we were in Browns territory once more the entire game.
This was just a classic example of a good, young, healthy, decently-coached team coming up against, um...
The Chiefs.
The Browns were simply waaay better than us in every facet of the game. Criminy they even got a run-back for a touchdown from someone not Josh Cribbs. That's really sad. But everything about this game was extraordinarily sad.
Our quarterback? Still crappy. Last week Brady Quinn looked so good that I actually thought maybe he may have something to show. They said today that in the Carolina game Quinn set a Chiefs record for completion percentage. Guh? I knew he did well, but that well? Well, today he went back to really sucking.
Our running backs? Charles got banged up shortly after his big run, and was ineffective. But any running back is much less effective when you're playing from behind for much of the game. Peyton Hillis? Browns fans were happy to be all over his ass, but I guess it's good they didn't much chance to boo him. He did very little also.
Our offensive line? It was back to being inconsistent, and very poor in the pass protection area. Branden Albert went down again. That's very not-good. This line is all over the place because of the injuries thing.
Our wide receivers? The question I can ask yet again: Where's Jon Baldwin? This was yet another day when the opponent's big strong wide receiver had a great day -- in fact the Browns had two of them, rookies even, who ate us up. Game after game after game after game some big strong receiver kills us. And our big strong receiver? Invisible. What gives??? Oh, and we just can't avoid getting clobbered by injuries. Dwayne Bowe went out for the game and for who knows how much longer with some rib issue trying to make a block. At the end of the game the only guy we were passing to or trying to pass to was this Jamar Newsome fellow, a call-up from the practice squad a few weeks ago. That's it. How many times do we see a Chiefs guy on the field playing regularly who was called up from the practice squad? Compare that to how often it happens with the other teams we're playing. Yeah. Yeah, I have a weird twisting thing going on deep in my stomach too.
Our defensive line? Too many times the Browns more skilled and seasoned O-linemen pushed us around. They enough got separation for enough running plays and they got plenty of pass protection for their quarterback to get crisp passes to his receivers getting fine separation. Dontari Poe was back to looking like a rookie. ::Sigh::
Our linebackers? Derrick Johnson had a couple of his patented in-like-a-shot backfield tackles. Tamba Hali was a bit of a force. But that was it. Our guys were pushed around there too. As I look at this squad, I think about that guy from Notre Dame who may be there for us in the draft. I just don't know, would he be that good? We so need that quarterback, but we may reeeeeeeeeeally need to get the next Ray Lewis too. ::Whimper:: this team needs so much help...
Our defensive backs? They said Eric Berry had injury/illness issues, and as such just looked weak out there. He even dropped an easy interception that would've stopped a drive they eventually scored on.
Our special teams? Succop sucked, adding a kick-off out-of-bounds to his missed FG. Our coverage team allowed that punt return for a touchdown, but to their credit the Browns' blocking on that play was extraordinary. The one shining spot beside the Charles run was probably our punter Dustin Colquitt's long booming punt that went out of bounds at the Browns 4-yard line. How great was that. But how awful was that, too, that a punt is regularly the coolest thing about a Chiefs game.
Oh the joy of that day in the future, whenever it is, when we can field a team that is as good as the other team on a regular basis.
Guess we can dream. Yet again, it's all we have.
_
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
Chiefs Game Last Sunday
I felt the need to write another post about last weekend's events, as they were.
I'd realized that a thread I'd been using in this blog just before the weekend was about this question:
What exactly is the worst thing that can happen to the Chiefs?
Insane, really, when I think about it. The timing of it.
I thought I really should qualify that, because there are a lot of things way worse than losing a few football games. Of course one of those things is what happened Saturday.
What could even be worse than that is how much we've been finding out as the full story emerges about what was really going on with Jovan Belcher and his relationship with his girlfriend. That story involves discovering quite dysfunctional behavior on Jovan's part that could have been bright red flags for what actually happened. What should we make of this? Were the Chiefs and the NFL complicit in some way by not taking more substantive action in all this?
This is hard to say because also revealed was that the Chiefs organization itself was helping Jovan and his girlfriend by providing help and counseling for them. In this sense then the Chiefs were doing all they could to help Jovan, and it is obvious that they always did have very high regard for Jovan. What are you going to do? Jovan still did what he did, made the choices he did.
The NFL complicity could be seen in the possibility that any pain Jovan was enduring -- pain that derives from the physically demanding and often brutal aspects of the game -- had reached a level which Jovan could no longer tolerate. This is the whole Junior Seau and Dave Duerson effect -- these were players who also took their own lives presumably because the prospect of continuously living with football-generated chronic pain became intolerable.
What to do with that?
Yes, the extremes range from a complete ban on the game to doing nothing more and allowing players in this extraordinarily fast and furious sport to be subject to more near-lethal injuries. Or perhaps someday there on the field there will actually be a lethal one. Well, in a real sense several players have experienced that lethality, just much later in life.
I must say that as a fan I do struggle with this. On the one hand we do need to be in there in life getting messy and dirty with it -- football is great with that. I wrote about that earlier. But then how far do you go until it gets to be simply too dangerous for thoughtful, considerate, civilized people to do?
There is so much more to talk about regarding all this. There's the whole controversy about guns and gun control, but I'm just not going to get into that here, now.
All I'm saying is that while we may not fully be able to articulate the very worst of the worst things that could ever happen about some thing or all things, there are some things worse than others.
Yes, this blog is about bitching and moaning about how awful the Chiefs are without a solid coach and studly quarterback. That's a pretty crappy thing, it is.
But there are worse things.
No matter how much longer the Chiefs are bad, and if it's a long time that's a very bad thing indeed, but no matter what happens on the field...
What happened Saturday and all the terrible news about how it happened and why it happened and what happened when it happened and all the stuff that's happening now and what's left to happen -- hey, there's that three month-old baby still with no mother or father -- all of that is way worse.
It goes without saying, really.
But sometimes we just have to talk about it, like I need to here in a blog post.
_
I'd realized that a thread I'd been using in this blog just before the weekend was about this question:
What exactly is the worst thing that can happen to the Chiefs?
Insane, really, when I think about it. The timing of it.
I thought I really should qualify that, because there are a lot of things way worse than losing a few football games. Of course one of those things is what happened Saturday.
What could even be worse than that is how much we've been finding out as the full story emerges about what was really going on with Jovan Belcher and his relationship with his girlfriend. That story involves discovering quite dysfunctional behavior on Jovan's part that could have been bright red flags for what actually happened. What should we make of this? Were the Chiefs and the NFL complicit in some way by not taking more substantive action in all this?
This is hard to say because also revealed was that the Chiefs organization itself was helping Jovan and his girlfriend by providing help and counseling for them. In this sense then the Chiefs were doing all they could to help Jovan, and it is obvious that they always did have very high regard for Jovan. What are you going to do? Jovan still did what he did, made the choices he did.
The NFL complicity could be seen in the possibility that any pain Jovan was enduring -- pain that derives from the physically demanding and often brutal aspects of the game -- had reached a level which Jovan could no longer tolerate. This is the whole Junior Seau and Dave Duerson effect -- these were players who also took their own lives presumably because the prospect of continuously living with football-generated chronic pain became intolerable.
What to do with that?
Yes, the extremes range from a complete ban on the game to doing nothing more and allowing players in this extraordinarily fast and furious sport to be subject to more near-lethal injuries. Or perhaps someday there on the field there will actually be a lethal one. Well, in a real sense several players have experienced that lethality, just much later in life.
I must say that as a fan I do struggle with this. On the one hand we do need to be in there in life getting messy and dirty with it -- football is great with that. I wrote about that earlier. But then how far do you go until it gets to be simply too dangerous for thoughtful, considerate, civilized people to do?
There is so much more to talk about regarding all this. There's the whole controversy about guns and gun control, but I'm just not going to get into that here, now.
All I'm saying is that while we may not fully be able to articulate the very worst of the worst things that could ever happen about some thing or all things, there are some things worse than others.
Yes, this blog is about bitching and moaning about how awful the Chiefs are without a solid coach and studly quarterback. That's a pretty crappy thing, it is.
But there are worse things.
No matter how much longer the Chiefs are bad, and if it's a long time that's a very bad thing indeed, but no matter what happens on the field...
What happened Saturday and all the terrible news about how it happened and why it happened and what happened when it happened and all the stuff that's happening now and what's left to happen -- hey, there's that three month-old baby still with no mother or father -- all of that is way worse.
It goes without saying, really.
But sometimes we just have to talk about it, like I need to here in a blog post.
_
Sunday, December 02, 2012
Panthers at Chiefs - Week 13 - Record: 2-10
"Emotional win" are words that certainly describe today's victory, but with what happened yesterday and the dealing with it today that cliche just wouldn't get at it all. Not even close.
Watching the broadcast I noted that they did no interviews with any Chiefs players, coaches, or managers. The only one who spoke, perhaps most appropriately for the entire team, was owner Clark Hunt. He didn't say anything different from what you'd expect him to say, but it was clear that he was speaking from the heart in addressing Jovan Belcher, what happened, the prayers and concerns for Jovan and his girlfriend's family et al, and how it all has affected the Chiefs personnel.
The game itself was actually the very best game the Chiefs put together all year. Was some of it due to the emotions running so high? Maybe, I don't know, you still gotta get the job done. Today they did it, and they did it by coming within five minutes of becoming the first Chiefs team ever to get no penalties and commit no turnovers in a single game. An ultimately meaningless delay-of-game call as they ran clock on the Panthers at the end undid that, but quite a testament to the industry and cohesiveness with which they played this game.
I could go into all the other details about this game as I usually do in this blog, but it just isn't the time. I'm sure every Chiefs player -- indeed along with every Chiefs coach, manager, employee, and fan are just not too giddy about today's win, whether or not it'd actually mean anything in the standings. Now's the time to reflect, offer condolences where needed, and continue to pray.
And that's the thing I just have to close with here in this relatively short post.
I never watch the pre-game stuff on television any more, simply because of my general sports celibacy -- it just drives me too crazy. But I did watch a bit of it today just to see what was going on with the Chiefs and the tragedy.
One of the people on those shows, I don't even remember who said it, said something along the lines of, "There is no guidebook to help us with these things."
Well, there is. It is the Bible.
It tells us that really crappy things like this do happen, way, way more than we'd ever want. Even when people don't physically murder someone they murder others all the time, emotionally, spiritually. I don't think there is any question Jovan was influenced by forces that encourage people do this, and in his situation it all just went too far.
The Answer is the One who knew this the most, and loved us the most that He died for each one of us. Yes, I am an unabashed follower of Jesus Christ who just happens to be a quite impassioned Chiefs fan. In light of what's happened I simply can't refuse to share a word here briefly about the only antidote to the violence.
So it is indeed a very good thing to do a lot of praying for family and friends, especially that little baby girl, especially her. And then stepping up and sharing with one another how much love means -- and I know lots of people feel that deep inside when they say things like "If you need help don't be afraid to ask!"
But when Jesus is in the mix then anyone dealing with this can know Who it is who loves beyond anything we can ever imagine, and then it isn't just "Get help" or "Tough it out" or "Get therapy for long periods of time," it is actually that the One who made you is also the One who buys you back from yourself, the world, and those wicked forces.
When a Panthers player was down on the field injured today, Dwayne Bowe was kneeling with his head down next to him. I've got to think that in and around what's happening as the rest of this week unfolds there in Kansas City, Jesus' name will be mentioned a few times.
He's the one thing that gives hope.
He is Hope itself.
_
Watching the broadcast I noted that they did no interviews with any Chiefs players, coaches, or managers. The only one who spoke, perhaps most appropriately for the entire team, was owner Clark Hunt. He didn't say anything different from what you'd expect him to say, but it was clear that he was speaking from the heart in addressing Jovan Belcher, what happened, the prayers and concerns for Jovan and his girlfriend's family et al, and how it all has affected the Chiefs personnel.
The game itself was actually the very best game the Chiefs put together all year. Was some of it due to the emotions running so high? Maybe, I don't know, you still gotta get the job done. Today they did it, and they did it by coming within five minutes of becoming the first Chiefs team ever to get no penalties and commit no turnovers in a single game. An ultimately meaningless delay-of-game call as they ran clock on the Panthers at the end undid that, but quite a testament to the industry and cohesiveness with which they played this game.
And that's the thing I just have to close with here in this relatively short post.
I never watch the pre-game stuff on television any more, simply because of my general sports celibacy -- it just drives me too crazy. But I did watch a bit of it today just to see what was going on with the Chiefs and the tragedy.
One of the people on those shows, I don't even remember who said it, said something along the lines of, "There is no guidebook to help us with these things."
Well, there is. It is the Bible.
It tells us that really crappy things like this do happen, way, way more than we'd ever want. Even when people don't physically murder someone they murder others all the time, emotionally, spiritually. I don't think there is any question Jovan was influenced by forces that encourage people do this, and in his situation it all just went too far.
The Answer is the One who knew this the most, and loved us the most that He died for each one of us. Yes, I am an unabashed follower of Jesus Christ who just happens to be a quite impassioned Chiefs fan. In light of what's happened I simply can't refuse to share a word here briefly about the only antidote to the violence.
So it is indeed a very good thing to do a lot of praying for family and friends, especially that little baby girl, especially her. And then stepping up and sharing with one another how much love means -- and I know lots of people feel that deep inside when they say things like "If you need help don't be afraid to ask!"
But when Jesus is in the mix then anyone dealing with this can know Who it is who loves beyond anything we can ever imagine, and then it isn't just "Get help" or "Tough it out" or "Get therapy for long periods of time," it is actually that the One who made you is also the One who buys you back from yourself, the world, and those wicked forces.
When a Panthers player was down on the field injured today, Dwayne Bowe was kneeling with his head down next to him. I've got to think that in and around what's happening as the rest of this week unfolds there in Kansas City, Jesus' name will be mentioned a few times.
He's the one thing that gives hope.
He is Hope itself.
_
Saturday, December 01, 2012
Chiefs Game Tomorrow - Maybe
This is without question the worst season the Kansas City Chiefs have ever endured. It has already earned that notoriety by far, but what happened today puts it light-years up there at number one. It'd be the number one worst season ever and you wouldn't even need to consider a single thing done on the field for it to be so. In fact, you could even easily make a case for this being the worst season by any NFL team in all of the history of professional football, because the tragedy that happened today has never happened before.
This morning linebacker Jovan Belcher took the life of his girlfriend in their home, and a bit later right after speaking with Scott Pioli and Romeo Crennel in the parking lot of the Chiefs training facility at Arrowhead, took his own life.
There isn't really a whole lot I'm going to write in this blog because of the numbness. I can't deny that I wondered about this football thing or that football thing, most of it related to how this abjectly miserable season could have contributed to Belcher's actions. I really believe it is a lot less than we think, but ya know? I really just don't think it helped any. I think of Donnie Moore, the major league baseball player who was a pretty studly pitcher for the Angels in 1986 when he simply could not get that last single strike to put his team in the World Series. Sometime later he was so despondent he killed himself.
I feel somewhat ashamed about how much I myself use "the Chiefs are trying to kill me" language in my blog. Yeah, I could cut myself a break because all blogging fans of their teams use the exact same twisted metaphorical hyperbole in their expressions of zeal. But right now? The whole thing is just unfathomable.
Some of the football thinking has to do with something I have thought about long and hard for years upon years. How important is this stuff? We take this game -- a game for cryin' out loud -- and watch it and hash it and obsess over it and rant about it like it is everything. And to the credit of just being the human beings we are, it is natural to want to compete and strive and struggle and take on the challenge to show we can do something great.
Holding up a Super Bowl trophy? That's something great? In the vast metaphysical nature of things probably not, but it does represent something pretty important, the use of industry and determination and ambition to merely gratify that very natural need to accomplish things, things that we must accomplish in order to thrive as families, communities, and nations.
Yes, just that Jovan did what he did is bad enough simply because his was beloved by so many, but hey, even if the Chiefs were 1-10 he got to be in there doing that. We certainly weren't going to hoist a Super Bowl trophy this year, but at least there was a game tomorrow, just tomorrow, and maybe you could win it and demonstrate just that day that you'd done something great. And if not there are going to be more splendid accomplishing opportunities the next day.
It is tough because sometimes it just doesn't seem like those days will come, and Jovan surely thought that so intensely in whatever way he did this morning that he did what he did.
Yeah, for a nanosecond I'd thought who's going to fill his spot, what's going to happen with the Chiefs, how's it going to be tomorrow and all that. That's just the more base nature of my humanness, and I do cut myself a break because we all do that.
For right now there is just the wondering, the grief, the despair -- there is the thinking about Scott Pioli and Romeo Crennel who were watching this, and of course Jovan's teammates, his family, his friends, his girlfriend's family and friends, wow, the guy had an infant daughter -- the whole thing is just crushing.
We, the Chiefs fans? I guess we're in the mix too. I don't think I'm anything compared to all the others who are impacted. But I am impacted. I rooted for Jovan and cheered him on every single game, so I know Jovan in that sense. But...
Well, what else to say. Just riffing here in a post to grieve some.
_
This morning linebacker Jovan Belcher took the life of his girlfriend in their home, and a bit later right after speaking with Scott Pioli and Romeo Crennel in the parking lot of the Chiefs training facility at Arrowhead, took his own life.
There isn't really a whole lot I'm going to write in this blog because of the numbness. I can't deny that I wondered about this football thing or that football thing, most of it related to how this abjectly miserable season could have contributed to Belcher's actions. I really believe it is a lot less than we think, but ya know? I really just don't think it helped any. I think of Donnie Moore, the major league baseball player who was a pretty studly pitcher for the Angels in 1986 when he simply could not get that last single strike to put his team in the World Series. Sometime later he was so despondent he killed himself.
I feel somewhat ashamed about how much I myself use "the Chiefs are trying to kill me" language in my blog. Yeah, I could cut myself a break because all blogging fans of their teams use the exact same twisted metaphorical hyperbole in their expressions of zeal. But right now? The whole thing is just unfathomable.
Some of the football thinking has to do with something I have thought about long and hard for years upon years. How important is this stuff? We take this game -- a game for cryin' out loud -- and watch it and hash it and obsess over it and rant about it like it is everything. And to the credit of just being the human beings we are, it is natural to want to compete and strive and struggle and take on the challenge to show we can do something great.
Holding up a Super Bowl trophy? That's something great? In the vast metaphysical nature of things probably not, but it does represent something pretty important, the use of industry and determination and ambition to merely gratify that very natural need to accomplish things, things that we must accomplish in order to thrive as families, communities, and nations.
Yes, just that Jovan did what he did is bad enough simply because his was beloved by so many, but hey, even if the Chiefs were 1-10 he got to be in there doing that. We certainly weren't going to hoist a Super Bowl trophy this year, but at least there was a game tomorrow, just tomorrow, and maybe you could win it and demonstrate just that day that you'd done something great. And if not there are going to be more splendid accomplishing opportunities the next day.
It is tough because sometimes it just doesn't seem like those days will come, and Jovan surely thought that so intensely in whatever way he did this morning that he did what he did.
Yeah, for a nanosecond I'd thought who's going to fill his spot, what's going to happen with the Chiefs, how's it going to be tomorrow and all that. That's just the more base nature of my humanness, and I do cut myself a break because we all do that.
For right now there is just the wondering, the grief, the despair -- there is the thinking about Scott Pioli and Romeo Crennel who were watching this, and of course Jovan's teammates, his family, his friends, his girlfriend's family and friends, wow, the guy had an infant daughter -- the whole thing is just crushing.
We, the Chiefs fans? I guess we're in the mix too. I don't think I'm anything compared to all the others who are impacted. But I am impacted. I rooted for Jovan and cheered him on every single game, so I know Jovan in that sense. But...
Well, what else to say. Just riffing here in a post to grieve some.
_
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