Looking at the title of this post, one would think I was talking about the Chiefs’ previous game against the Raiders and some of the positive things I saw during the course of that match.
Unfortunately for a select group of players, coaches, and front office personnel on the Chiefs, I am not going to discuss anything of the sort today, and considering how bad the Chiefs played on Sunday, anyone who expected otherwise is out of their mind.
What I’m going to talk about today is much more pertinent to the Chiefs moving forward in the right direction, at least in my mind it is. I’m going to break down three steps the Chiefs could take right now that would improve the level of play for this team from today on. None of these moves are easy decisions to make, but they cover the entire organization, and in my opinion they will allow our beloved Chiefs to return to glory much quicker.
So sit back, grab a beverage of your choice, and enjoy the ride…
1. Fire Gunther Cunningham
It’s been pretty apparent to me since Herm Edwards came to the Chiefs as the head coach close to three years ago that Gun is out of his element trying to coach a defense that is based primarily on the Tampa 2/Cover 2 defense. Gun is fairly good at motivating his players on the practice field, but once he moves up to the booth to call the plays, it’s as if he becomes completely oblivious to the proceedings on the field. I rarely see any adjustments made from half to half, and it has never been more evident then it was last Sunday.
There is absolutely no reason why any team, let alone the Raiders, should be able to rack up 300 yards and 2 TDs on the ground in one game, especially when you look at how good our defensive line and linebackers are at stopping the run. I can understand one bad play where an opposing RB romps for a big gain, but to see it happen over and over and over again during one half of football is simply unacceptable.
Despite what Herm might tell you in his post-game press conferences, the responsibility for these mistakes falls directly back on the coaching staff, and not on the players. If coaches cannot make the right calls to place their players in a position to succeed more often than not, they deserve to be fired in my opinion. Hence my decision to let Gun go elsewhere and get someone in here right now that is capable of running our defense effectively.
2. Ban Herm Edwards from any offensive decision making
This one is really a no brainer. Herm Edwards has no business whatsoever making any sort of offensive decisions for the Chiefs, because he has proven time and time and time again to be a complete idiot when it comes to that side of the ball. Herm is an outstanding motivator of players and his defensive acumen is pretty solid as well, but when it comes to handling any portion of his team’s offensive gameplan, he is so far out of his league, it’s not even funny.
Chan Gailey was brought to the Chiefs in the off-season to do one thing only: revamp the offensive side of the ball by making smart playcalling decisions on a consistent basis. From what I’ve seen so far, that has yet to happen, and instead of watching our young offense grow from week to week, we’re regressing to the point of utter disaster because Herm has once again placed handcuffs on his offensive coordinator.
Herm did this with our previous OC, Mike Solari, and he’s doing it again with Gailey this season. I understand his desire to keep the offensive mistakes to a minimum, but last I checked, you have to score more than six points a game to win in the NFL. And to do that, you have to be willing to take some risks by throwing the ball down field on a semi-regular basis.
That’s why Herm needs to step back and allow his offensive coaches to call the plays the way they want to, and stick to his motivational speeches and quality soundbites for the media instead. At this point, we have absolutely nothing to lose by going down that road, and in the long run, it will make our team that much better because they will have the experience to make the plays they need to win the game.
3. Buy Damion McIntosh a one way ticket out of town
Watching McSack, as I’ve taken to calling him, stand around on the field while an opposing defensive end cruises right by him en route to destroying our QB, makes me violently ill. This guy couldn’t block a flea, let alone a NFL-caliber DE, yet for some odd reason the Chiefs coaching staff continues to trot him out there each week, even though they have to know that the well-being of whatever QB is on the field at that time is in serious jeopardy.
I’d much rather watch a young rookie like Barry Richardson fail occasionally, and learn from it in the process, then see McSack out there trying to impress the matador scouts in the stands. It’s as if his feet are permanently attached to the field, wherever he might be playing, and he cannot free them in time to put up any kind of blocking effort against his opponent on the other side of the ball.
If the Chiefs want to see their QBs have any health remaining at the end of the season, they’ll toss McSack out on the street tomorrow, and go with Richardson at the RT spot instead. McSack has clearly demonstrated that he has nothing left to give, on the field or anywhere else for that matter, and the longer the Chiefs wait to pull the plug on that horrific experiment, the worse this offense will be.
Final Thoughts
All of these moves would take guts on the part of the coaching staff and front office, however I think it’s pretty clear at this point that they are absolutely critical to make this team a better one in the future. At times like these, the teams that are capable of making the tough decisions in favor of making their organization better in the long run are the ones who wind up having post-season success more often than not.
Keeping untalented coaches and players because of a self-serving interest in being proven right is detrimental to franchise as a whole, and until the Chiefs realize this, and make the adjustments in their staff/team that need to be made, we’ll be seeing more of what we were forced to watch last Sunday in the near future.
Chris Kolb is the owner and lead writer for KCChiefsFanatic.com
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After a thoughtful read through of your post, and a probing in depth analysis of it’s contents by myself, I have decided to address your assertions individually. Herewith are my carefully measured responses:
1. Amen!
2. Double Amen!
3. Amen!
Ok, If any of you remember my posts of many months ago, I mentioned that Gunther had lost it and has not had an answer on Defense since he came back. We should give him one more week. If Matt Ryan embarasses this Defense, then he needs to go.
Herm was brought in to revamp the defense, instead he has dismantled this team. I am so sick of his interviews too. He makes me want to vomit.
Damion McIntosh has gotten slow. He should be moved to Right guard, and Herb Taylor put in at Right Tackle. He is still a big body and would be better suited at Guard.
when you state…
“especially when you look at how good our defensive line and linebackers are at stopping the run.”
I really have to disagree with you on that one, when since DV took over have the line and linebackers been good at stopping the run?
The “McSack” nickname, I love that, I think we need to keep that and I couldn’t agree with you more.
Steven, I think our LBs and D-line have the talent to be an elite defensive front seven, but they’re being hampered by poor defensive schemes that leave them out of place to make the play. That reflects directly on the defensive coordinator IMO, and thus my reasoning on why we should toss Gun out the door with McSack
Not to get off subject but I noticed something in the last game and somewhat in the game before it. The Chiefs don’t run to the left side very often, or at least it seems to me. The longest run in the loss to NE came on the left. A step in the right direction in my opinion would start to the left.
I see what your saying…I thought you were implying that these guys were good at one time at stopping the run. You mean, they should/could be good if they were being coached up a little better. I can’t argue that one.
Chris, Gunther may or may not be the right guy for the job, but you need to go back and watch some tape of our linebacker situation.
Donnie Edwards and Derrick Johnson are playing pretty good, but Pat Thomas represents a major drop-off in performance. If you can stomach it, go back and watch Sunday’s game…you’ll see Thomas miss his gap on multiple occasions (I counted five in the second half—all which resulted in gashing runs). Sometimes these misses were mental, but on many of them, he was simply blocked by the full back or tight end. An NFL MLB cannot be blocked that easily. Fullbacks that consistently block MLB’s go to the pro bowl. That was ridiculous to have Pat Thomas blown out of there so regularly!
Also, there was the play when Brandon Carr effectively screened Donnie Edwards from making the tackle on Darren McFadden’s touchdown run.
Our Defensive Line will be good in time. They flashed several times at New England and Turk’s injury hurt us yesterday. Boone can still disrupt but he doesn’t have the same impact at DE that he seemed to have at DT. Tamba Hali has more motor than skill right now, but I think he’ll get there. Tank Tyler is growing up before our eyes and Dorsey is going to be a force…but they are not there yet.
I don’t think Gunther is the problem on Defense…I think the fact that the defense had to be on the field for 80% of the game was the problem on Sunday.
Thus, your thoughts on offense are right on…we need to get that fixed and quick
i would like to see the stats half to half on sunday’s game. if i remember correctly most of the rushing yards came in the 2nd half, which would lead you to believe either
1. the players got worn down from being on the field for so long OR:
2. the players quit. and who could blame the youngs if they did after watching the HORRIBLE offensive play calling, execution, game plan, ETC.
i agree that GUN should be on his way out, and take mac with him. maybe they can sit somewhere, hold hands and reminisce about when they actually mattered in the nfl.
I also believe that if herm continues to allow (or demand) that type of offensive game plan then he needs to find the door also
also i feel as though herm made a MAJOR mistake by down playing the raiders as a rivalry, it may not mean much to vets but to a young team it might have made a world of difference, and PLEASE dont give me the “free agency killed rivalries” B.S. because these kids we are playing dont know a damn thing about free agency or for the most part any other team. all they know is college games and if you think it doesnt matter in college look at ANY college rivalry game and you WILL SEE
Me and my pops were talking the other day, and we discussed the point of how much better off we’d be, had we only kept Kiwika Mitchell and Scott Fujita. Fujita is getting up there in age, but still makes a decent OLB. Kiwika, well, he only managed to win a ring, and then when he went to Buffalo; I heard nothing but great things about him “Oh what a great FA pickup!” “A top quality ‘backer in free agency” blah blah blah. They weren’t big names when they left. But they’d have made huge impacts in the years we’ve missed them. We may not have picked up Kendrell Bell, Napoleon Harris, or Demorrio Williams (at least not all 3, for sure) and we would have EVEN MORE cap room to work with (Bell probably had more money in his contract than the rest of them combined.) and we may have been more likely to target secondary help the last few years, or offensive help the last.. 3-4 years.
I would argue that had we kept EITHER of those linebackers, thus having an even better (and more gelled) front 7, and had we signed even one decent name on offense (like JUSTIN SMILEY who raped, pillaged, and beheaded Dorsey, virtually singlehandedly, in the pre-season,) we’d be 2-0 right now, and instead of talking about the worst team in X amount of years, they’d be talking about how we were contending with Denver for the top spot in the AFC West. Of course, as is mentioned in the article, if the coaching, and more to the point, the play-calling, was still this bad, I doubt even if we had my wet-dream of trading for Anquan Boldin and ANY, I repeat, ANY other QB, we’d still score a measely 10 points a game.
Great post as always, Chris.
What about Sackintosh? I do like McSack, too. Sounds like a greasy bag full of cold fries they are about to throw out at McDonald’s that you can buy for half-price.
Why does the team look soooo much different than the opening drive against the Bears? I saw more creativity in that game than in these?
I don’t know what to think about Gun. I havn’t noticed, but where does he spend his time during the game? If he is in the booth, how can he properly coach the linebackers? If he is on the sideline, how can he properly see the formations on the field?
Do we know that Herm is handcuffing Chan, or has Chan just done a horrible job making adjustments?
I am behind you 100% on Mac’n’sac. I don’t know what he is at this point, but he is NOT a starting tackle. Richardson may struggle with the pass, but at least he has a chance to get better. He is supposed to be a very affective run blocker.
I also agree that letting Kawika go was a mistake. He was never very good at dropping into coverage, but the guy could stop the run.
I’m not getting to upset with the coaching staff…yet. I think that we will see them shake things up with the personell a little bit on the line. But I don’t know what the answer is with the MLB. Nap can’t be worse can he? Lets hope he gets healthy and pulls his head out of his hiney.
That being said, if we have to watch them try to run up the gut for no gain another two dozen times my tune will change in a hurry.
Excellent post. I’m afraid to say that after that last game, I wasn’t upset. I was numb. Shocked. And because of that, which is a worse feeling than anger, I have completely given up on Herm Edwards. I think I echo the sentiment of many fans: I was on board and very supportive of him, but this is it. It’s over with that guy. I used to always, ALWAYS blame the OC for a bad game, but now I realize that all along, it was Herm and his fraidy cat philosophy. I’m so sick of his idea that we need to win every game by a score of 10-7 in the last two minutes of each game. Bull. I will watch every game this year, but there is a true anger and hatred growing inside me for what I’m seeing in the coaching department.
I’ve got to agree with all your points, although I’d probably hold on to McIntosh for depth especially as a backup LT. I don’t remember him being this worthless last year, so it’s either a case of trying to teach an old dog new tricks, or he’s just lost it completely.
As far as Cunningham goes, the Chiefs haven’t been able to stop the run for a long time now. LB’s and linemen have come and gone, but Gunther is the constant. It seems his coaching isn’t getting the job done. The inability to make adjustments is glaring, not only on his part, but on Herm’s too.
sorry dakotadave but when kawika was here we had a horrible run d, doesnt anyone remember that?
In Herm’s first year that is true. Previous to that I seem to remember havin the longest streak in the league not allowing a 100 yd rusher. We just couldn’t stop a jr. high passing attack. I’m not saying Kawika would be the answer, I just think he would be much better depth than we have right now.
no SINGLE 100 yard rusher. remember that, teams actually rushed on us. just by committee
fair enough. I guess you’ve got to take your stats where you can get them.
He also led our team in tackles each year after Fujita left, if I’m not mistaken. And Fujita led our team in tackles for like.. 3-4 years straight. Letting two of our top two tacklers (especially at a time when our Defense couldn’t tackle high-school JV teams) was a mistake, I don’t care how badly they ‘didn’t fit into the scheme’, as I think I remember that’s why Fujita was sent packing, because he played sideline to sideline, and we wanted an attacking defense. Well we sure could use a freakin’ 125-tackle-a-season MLB, and we sure as hell could use a sideline-to-sideline OLB (another one, to pair up with DJ.) I don’t think anyone can argue that. When Kawika was here, our secondary BLEW. Our line had Eric Hicks, Ryan Sims, Junior Siavii, etc etc. I’d think we can all agree that our secondary is MUCH improved, and our D-line looks better, at least on paper, than what we had. Add those decent, above-average LB’s into the mix with an aging Donnie, a studly DJ, and a fast, if nothing else, special teamer in Demorrio, and not only do we have depth; we have a fairly good D. The sad thing is; we have the money, we just don’t know how to use it.
Anybody think the Jared Allen trade was a mistake? I see it paying off.
Alright. I’ve been silent long enough. I call bullshit on anyone blaming this loss on Gun and the defense. How can any defense be expected to perform late in the game when they’ve been on the field for 75% of it or so? Sure there were things that they could have done better, but they put the team in a position to win. It wasn’t their fault.
During the first half the D held the Raiders to 67 yards rushing and forced a turnover. They forced a 56 yard field goal on one possession (unmakable by most kickers) and held strong, forcing a field goal when the Raiders started on the Chiefs’ 9 yard line after an interception. They held the Raiders to 6 points! I think that’s acceptable.
The offense, meanwhile, did absolutely nothing but give the Raiders a shot to score. Thier ineptness only accomplished one thing – winning overall time of possession by a bit.
The second half was all Raiders. How can you blame the D for breaking down when the offense doesn’t help them? Hell, they even gave them a second turnover! I’d be demoralized by watching that offense too.
Yes, the run defense did break down in the second half, but I think that can be expected. They were run ragged, just like every game last year. And just like every game last year they gave the offense an easily obtainable shot to win and they couldn’t get it done.
As for anyone that thinks Gun has lost it, I disagree. 1 – Derrick Thomas. 2 – Results.
Did DT make Gun’s defense outstanding the first time? Hell yes he did! He would have for anyone. It would be insane to think that a big chunk of the success from the 90’s couldn’t be attributed to him. Those are some huge shoes to fill. You can’t blame Gun for not having Superman on his team any more. In fact, Gun deserves credit because Jared Allen was starting to become the man that could help fill that gap and Gun helped develop him.
And as for lack of results – where have you been? Cunningham has improved the Chiefs defense EVERY YEAR since he came back to the team. The D moves up in defensive rankings every single year! Within a year or two they can be a top 10 defense.
2004 – 31st
2005 – 18th
2006 – 16th
2007 – 13th
Tell me those aren’t results. What more could you possibly ask for? Oh right – a little help from the offense for once!
Wow a positive post and one that makes sense and is right on!