(Ahem, I just noticed in the photo to the right, the AFC is in all Chiefs colors. Hmm. Maybe it's a sign...)
I also looked at Arrowhead Pride, the best Chiefs blog there is (except, of course, The Chiefs Game Today, of course) and noted two key articles that relate to the subject of this post. One that I still did not read much of -- not that it wasn't quite thorough -- was about Alex Smith's responsibilities for the playoff loss to the Steelers. The other that I read none of at all -- at least not right now anyway -- was about the Chiefs very very very real possibility that they finally select that fine available quarterback high in the draft.
It is nice to see some people treating seriously the importance of having that thing I think I've emphasized no fewer than 57,209 times over the entirety of the blog effort --
Getting that drafted and developed winning quarterback.
What I've argued is something I'm seeing confirmed in more and more sources, such as this one that popped up in a somewhat unusual place, but it is still quite veritable. Without an elite quarterback, you're not going to the promised land.
I started this effort with a blog post I made right in the middle of an abjectly abominable stretch of Chiefs history known as the "2007-2009 Abjectly Abominable Stretch of Chiefs History". I did much more with this thread starting with this post, and detailed the horrific history of quarterback selecting in the draft. In fact I'd say that's being kind because calling it "horrific" implies that there was actually any real quarterback selecting at all.
Needless to say, the hypothesis that teams have long stretches of Super Bowl absences explicitly because they do not have strong long-term drafted and developed quarterbacks is being proven each year the Chiefs don't make it. This year they should have, they really should have, they had the team to do so, and yet -- and yet.
There are indeed a number of solid reasons the Chiefs simply cannot get past the first stages of post-season play. Those reasons have been bled to death in the blog. There're the charms-curses-lucky-bounces that always go against the Chiefs. There're the NFL/business/media/whoever-doesn't-get-a-dime-because-of-Chiefs-success machinations making the burden on the Chiefs much greater whenever they're fielding a fine team. There're the inexplicable ways Chiefs' weaknesses expand and strengths dissolve every time we put our feet on a playoff-game field.
But one of the most stunningly profound aggravations related to all of the supernatural -- as I've been calling it, and I think appropriately so -- is the Chiefs situation with drafting quarterbacks. Their "luck" -- shall we say -- at being at that right spot to snatch that guy who'll be our drafted and developed winning quarterback for many years has been the absolute worst in all of any professional football across the universe in every dimension of existence. Let's face it, we all know it is true.
And we all know how that "failure" -- shall we say -- has resulted in the absolute worst record in the NFL for reaching the AFC Championship Game since the merger. As I pointed out in the first post-Divisional-Game post, the Chiefs have a "record" of 1-13 for times making the AFC Championship Game and times in the playoffs not making it.
And a major major major component of that non-success is -- now for the 57,210th time -- our not having that D&D guy at the helm.
I've thought about updating the posts from 2012, the ones in which I do detail the horrors of our interminably painful quarterback situation, but I'm just not going to. No need to. The only thing that has happened since was we picked up Alex Smith (more on him in a minute that's not a whole lot different than what we know about related to The Quarterback Project) and that after the horrific 2012 season when we amazingly had a No. 1 pick there was, yep, no No. 1 quality quarterback for us. Oh there was one in in 2012 (after the 2011 season), and in 2011, annnd in 2010, annnnnnnnnnd in 2009 -- all exceptionally good quarterbacks for their teams, all still around playing well. (Just FYI they were, respectively, Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Sam Bradford, and Matthew Stafford.)
So, what the situation for now? What has to happen?
Please, because I actually do practice my sports celibacy with some stalwart rigor, I do not know any college quarterback coming out. Actually, forgive me, I do know of a couple, but only because I saw stuff about them long ago when watching some small bits of college football. I know about Chad Kelly, is he any good NFL-wise? All I know is they said good things about him on the television broadcast back then. I think I'd heard Deshone Kizer from Notre Dame was okay, but again, I know nothing about their prospects for the NFL because it is too painful to flail about trying to project any of this.
A long time ago I did pay rabid attention to it all, every year, got all excited -- "Brodie Croyle! Wonderful! We're going to the Super Bowl now for sure!" -- and was only crushed every single time these guys failed. So why go through the agony, why put yourself through that.
No more. Please don't get me wrong. I'm hoping this year we do get that good guy where we're at in the draft. Notice too I didn't mention Deshaun Watson, because while some thought he'd drop as far as the Chiefs draft spot, I'm sure he got catapulted up in the upper regions of the draft with his performance in the college football championship game where he had the exact kind of clutch super-important post-season game type of play the Chiefs desperately need.
And please know I'm great with Alex Smith having his career-year next season when he plays great enough to win post-season games too.
Now notice I said great enough. Much of the thread of that Arrowhead Pride piece Alex Smith vs. the Steelers was a reiteration of what I'd been sharing, that Smith was pretty damn good actually. Several of our players were pretty damn good. It's just that it was so typically not good enough, in the most perverse way imaginable, as usual.
When will it get to a point when the Chiefs play a string of post-season games with that vigorous confidence that tells you, that slams you with the truth that -- for a switch -- we're going to win this game no matter what. Yes we've got the talent, but when will it be for that good, slugged-out, close playoff game, against an opponent with a very good quarterback themselves, with several clutch plays going our way because we willed it to happen.
Again I'm very great with Alex Smith winning Super Bowls in each of the next two years he'll be running things for us. That is, should the Chiefs make that happen because again, I'm not sure where he stands with his contract and all. My presumption is he's got two years left.
But then, that's why this draft thing is so critical right now. I will always hope the very best for the Chiefs, as always, but I'm not sold we'll get to the Big Dance simply because, yes, we don't have that D&D guy which is so undeniably essential. Alex Smith? I like him! I want him to have rings, I really do!
But I'm not holding my breath.
I will hold my breath, however, if we can get that guy. Watson, Kizer, Kelly, whoever else there is who the absolute perfect fit at No. 26 or wherever it is we draft, and then -- hey, here's a thought --
Watch Andy Reid to use his skills with quarterbacks to mold and shape him into The Drafted and Developed Guy.
I've said many times before in this blog effort, "This is the time". And while indeed it may have been the time way back then, each and every time it hasn't been. That's The Quarterback Project for you, in bright living color. So yeah, now it's about looking forward to 2022, 2023, when the guy we get this year will be fully ready and able to get Chiefs rich, wholesome Promised Land delightfulness.
You know what's also great about that, and this is a good note to end this post on. It is that John Dorsey and his personnel team have shown they really do know what they're doing out there, making great calls on players. Damn, if we can have a draft like this last one where we snatched two first-rounders way out in the 2nd round (Chris Jones) and 5th (Tyreek Hill), then we're well on our way to complement that D&D QB.
It's also very encouraging that Clark Hunt has gone a long way to establish a secure, stable, and strong organization -- fully willing to scour it clean of any of the toxicities of the Scott Pioli incompetencies and the Carl Peterson abrasions and even, yes, with the greatest deepest respect, the Lamar Hunt ineptitudes.
There is great hope for the Kansas City Chiefs -- truly fully authentically so, and we all know it.
Now we just need to enjoy seeing that fine QB drop into our draft selection spot...
__
There are indeed a number of solid reasons the Chiefs simply cannot get past the first stages of post-season play. Those reasons have been bled to death in the blog. There're the charms-curses-lucky-bounces that always go against the Chiefs. There're the NFL/business/media/whoever-doesn't-get-a-dime-because-of-Chiefs-success machinations making the burden on the Chiefs much greater whenever they're fielding a fine team. There're the inexplicable ways Chiefs' weaknesses expand and strengths dissolve every time we put our feet on a playoff-game field.
But one of the most stunningly profound aggravations related to all of the supernatural -- as I've been calling it, and I think appropriately so -- is the Chiefs situation with drafting quarterbacks. Their "luck" -- shall we say -- at being at that right spot to snatch that guy who'll be our drafted and developed winning quarterback for many years has been the absolute worst in all of any professional football across the universe in every dimension of existence. Let's face it, we all know it is true.
And we all know how that "failure" -- shall we say -- has resulted in the absolute worst record in the NFL for reaching the AFC Championship Game since the merger. As I pointed out in the first post-Divisional-Game post, the Chiefs have a "record" of 1-13 for times making the AFC Championship Game and times in the playoffs not making it.
And a major major major component of that non-success is -- now for the 57,210th time -- our not having that D&D guy at the helm.
I've thought about updating the posts from 2012, the ones in which I do detail the horrors of our interminably painful quarterback situation, but I'm just not going to. No need to. The only thing that has happened since was we picked up Alex Smith (more on him in a minute that's not a whole lot different than what we know about related to The Quarterback Project) and that after the horrific 2012 season when we amazingly had a No. 1 pick there was, yep, no No. 1 quality quarterback for us. Oh there was one in in 2012 (after the 2011 season), and in 2011, annnd in 2010, annnnnnnnnnd in 2009 -- all exceptionally good quarterbacks for their teams, all still around playing well. (Just FYI they were, respectively, Andrew Luck, Cam Newton, Sam Bradford, and Matthew Stafford.)
So, what the situation for now? What has to happen?
Please, because I actually do practice my sports celibacy with some stalwart rigor, I do not know any college quarterback coming out. Actually, forgive me, I do know of a couple, but only because I saw stuff about them long ago when watching some small bits of college football. I know about Chad Kelly, is he any good NFL-wise? All I know is they said good things about him on the television broadcast back then. I think I'd heard Deshone Kizer from Notre Dame was okay, but again, I know nothing about their prospects for the NFL because it is too painful to flail about trying to project any of this.
A long time ago I did pay rabid attention to it all, every year, got all excited -- "Brodie Croyle! Wonderful! We're going to the Super Bowl now for sure!" -- and was only crushed every single time these guys failed. So why go through the agony, why put yourself through that.
No more. Please don't get me wrong. I'm hoping this year we do get that good guy where we're at in the draft. Notice too I didn't mention Deshaun Watson, because while some thought he'd drop as far as the Chiefs draft spot, I'm sure he got catapulted up in the upper regions of the draft with his performance in the college football championship game where he had the exact kind of clutch super-important post-season game type of play the Chiefs desperately need.
And please know I'm great with Alex Smith having his career-year next season when he plays great enough to win post-season games too.
Now notice I said great enough. Much of the thread of that Arrowhead Pride piece Alex Smith vs. the Steelers was a reiteration of what I'd been sharing, that Smith was pretty damn good actually. Several of our players were pretty damn good. It's just that it was so typically not good enough, in the most perverse way imaginable, as usual.
When will it get to a point when the Chiefs play a string of post-season games with that vigorous confidence that tells you, that slams you with the truth that -- for a switch -- we're going to win this game no matter what. Yes we've got the talent, but when will it be for that good, slugged-out, close playoff game, against an opponent with a very good quarterback themselves, with several clutch plays going our way because we willed it to happen.
Again I'm very great with Alex Smith winning Super Bowls in each of the next two years he'll be running things for us. That is, should the Chiefs make that happen because again, I'm not sure where he stands with his contract and all. My presumption is he's got two years left.
But then, that's why this draft thing is so critical right now. I will always hope the very best for the Chiefs, as always, but I'm not sold we'll get to the Big Dance simply because, yes, we don't have that D&D guy which is so undeniably essential. Alex Smith? I like him! I want him to have rings, I really do!
But I'm not holding my breath.
I will hold my breath, however, if we can get that guy. Watson, Kizer, Kelly, whoever else there is who the absolute perfect fit at No. 26 or wherever it is we draft, and then -- hey, here's a thought --
Watch Andy Reid to use his skills with quarterbacks to mold and shape him into The Drafted and Developed Guy.
I've said many times before in this blog effort, "This is the time". And while indeed it may have been the time way back then, each and every time it hasn't been. That's The Quarterback Project for you, in bright living color. So yeah, now it's about looking forward to 2022, 2023, when the guy we get this year will be fully ready and able to get Chiefs rich, wholesome Promised Land delightfulness.
It's also very encouraging that Clark Hunt has gone a long way to establish a secure, stable, and strong organization -- fully willing to scour it clean of any of the toxicities of the Scott Pioli incompetencies and the Carl Peterson abrasions and even, yes, with the greatest deepest respect, the Lamar Hunt ineptitudes.
There is great hope for the Kansas City Chiefs -- truly fully authentically so, and we all know it.
Now we just need to enjoy seeing that fine QB drop into our draft selection spot...
__
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