The days of torture in America are over. Just days after Barack Obama made the executive order to shut down Guantanamo Bay, Chiefs GM Scott Pioli made one to shut down Herm Edwards. Most of us are jumping for joy, knowing that this coaching imposter can never “Harm” us again with his unique brand of torture. But…
Like with Gitmo, the Chiefs have to make sure they clean up the mess without making things worse.
I think Scott Pioli is up to the task. I like how he’s handling things so far. He appeased both his new boss and the fans in his handling of the Harm situation. Given that Clark Hunt wanted Herm to stay and most fans desperately wanted him to go, Holy Pioli played both sides masterfully. I agree with Jason Whitlock’s stance on this one. Joe Posnanski, get a grip, dude. No need to cry for Herm and his $3 million golden parachute. I wish life was that “cruel” to me. You don’t want to get fired? Then don’t go 6-26, you loser. If any of us were that unefficient at our jobs we’d get canned, too. What’s really cruel is that Chiefs fans like you and me splurged on Chiefs tickets and NFL Season Ticket only to be tortured by Hermball.
Anyway, in order to fix this mess, Pioli must first find the right head coach.
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen is sticking to his Mike Shanahan story.
NFLN’s Adam Schefter is swearing that the Shanny story is nonsense.
My gut tells me to trust Schefter on this one. He’s a former Broncos beat writer, and I think the NFL is more concerned with accuracy while ESPN is more concerned with the story.
So, no, I don’t think Shanny is going to be walking through those doors anytime soon (which Peter King is now backing up). I would take him with open arms if he did, though.
In his worst season ever, Shanny won six games. That’s two seasons worth of work for Herm Edwards! In 15 full seasons as a head coach in the AFC West, Shanahan went .500 or better all but two times. In those seasons he won six and seven games. He made the playoffs seven times, the conference championship three and won two Super Bowls. His record was 22-7 against the Raiders, after they fired him and he swore vengaence. Wouldn’t you like him to do that to both the Broncos and Raiders in Kansas City. I hate those franchise more than I ever hated him, so I could put my personal feelings aside for the greater good.
And like Upon Further Review points out so masterfully, great offenses definitely can win championships.
But Shanahan to the Chiefs is a pipe dream, folks.
Nor do I think that one of the Bills — Cowher or Parcells — will walk through that door either. I’m still convinced, and hoping, that our guy is Todd Haley.
I also like Leslie Frazier of the Vikings. Frazier is an outstanding coach who coached under Andy Reid, Marvin Lewis and Tony Dungy before landing his current gig. He was with Dungy when the Colts won it all, and was the man behind the improved play of that secondary. Most importantly, I like what I’ve heard about his interview in Detroit. From the Detroit Free Press:
“I can tell you this: We had a difference of opinion in how we saw the current Lions and going forward,” Frazier said today during Senior Bowl week. “That was probably the biggest thing in my interview. We had a different perception.”
In what way?
“I’d rather not get into it, but we had different perceptions of the future — where to go and the time to get there,” Frazier said. “We were really far apart in that.”
Did you think it was a bigger job than they did?
“I don’t want to say,” Frazier said. “But I just would say that we had a different philosophy and (vision) for two years from now or a year from now.”
That’s music to my ears. The Lions are the franchise that waited about four years too long to fire Matt Millen. The Lions are the franchise that just hired Gunther Cunningham and Scott Linehan. With those two hires, are they trying to lose? Apparently, even the Lions said he interviewed great. I just don’t think the enjoyed the horse pill of reality he made them swallow. The Chiefs have been masters of self-deception for far too long. We could use someone like Frazier (or Haley).
Unfortunately, despite the Rooney Rule, I don’t think Kansas City is progressive enough for the Chiefs to hire a second consecutive black head coach. I’m actually not sure that it’s ever even been done in the NFL, and I’m pretty sure we won’t be the first to do it. Come to think of it, I can’t really remember it being done in even the NBA. I don’t think Frazier will be our next coach. (Correction: Jim Caldwell was a Head Coach in waiting for the Colts — avoiding the interview process — but that still counts. That also just happened. Thanks, Whir.)
And then there is Chan Gailey. Gailey is kind of like the Ron Paul of this coaching search. He’s Tom Cruise getting nominated for a Golden Globe for Vermieling off in Tropic Thunder. Most of us realize that he isn’t a serious candidate, nor should he be.
You don’t get canned more than Tuna because you’re NFL head coaching material. You just don’t. I actually think the suggestion is somewhat laughable. Gailey’s Arrowspread offense won one game, and that only happened because Tom Cable gave the Chiefs a freebie touchdown on that idoitic fake field goal attempt. The Arrowspread is Arrowdead. It made watching Harm’s team almost bareable, but that’s about it.
What about Jon Gruden? Yeah, he’s just the guy you want working with a young quarterback, which is exactly what we will have whether we stick with Tyler Thigpen or bring one in.
Kirk Ferentz, Paul Pasqualoni and Ron Rivera are also potential candidates. Out of the three, I prefer Pasqualoni because of his long-time relationship with Pioli and experience in the pros. He’s almost a mixture of Ferentz and Rivera, actually.
Only time will tell who our next coach will be. For now, I’m just glad Herm Edwards can’t waterboard me every NFL Sunday. Even in HD, that sh** hurts.
(Quick note: Some of you were experiencing problems with our site in older versions of Internet Explorer. The source of those problems has now been discovered and eliminated. Thanks for your patience. Please spread the word. – Adam)
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Can’t wait for the announcement of the new HC. Looks like it will be at least another week now.
I can only hope we do better than Shanahan. But if it does become him then we are instantly better off than with Herm. In the 3 years here he won 15 games out of 48 on a declining scale of at least 50% (9,4,2). To hear Pioli wants to go in a new “direction” is awesome! Let’s win more instead of less games. That would be a great direction.
And if Matt Milen can be a color comentator, then why not Herm? He’s done way better than Milen over the last 9 years.
Getting Pasqualoni might be a trick though. But then again, Ferentz or Rivera isn’t going to be a cake walk either. You didn’t even mention Haley. Is he out as far as you’re concerned?
I mentioned Haley and think he is our guy.
Yup, right there it is. Sorry I missed it, I think Haley has so many up sides. But “Tim” wants D guy. Do you have a “D” guy possibility for Tim? (Just trying to help a fellow addict out here you see)
Adam:
You wrote “like Upon Further Review points out so masterfully, great offenses definitely can win championships”
Masterfully? A observation that seven times out of thirty eight times the number one offensive yardage team won the Super Bowl qualifies as masterfull? The article didn’t take into account the performance of the defense at all. It also raises the question of what happened the other thirty one times. This qualifies as masterfull analysis to you?
I do give the author of that article credit. He does state his bias up front. He states: “The major reason I like Shanahan is his emphasis on offense. As I’ve said before, I don’t care about defense except that it has to exist and it can’t suck like the Chiefs in 2008.” I am glad he is honest about it. Do you agree with his viewpoint that defenses only have to exist and can’t suck?
I think a decent example of your point, Merlin, will take place this SB. Pittsburg defense versus Arizona offense. Although Arizona’s defense does somewhat more than mere exist.
As a recent example; while Brady was setting records all over the league, the Giants D stuffed him.
Indy just hired their second consecutive black head coach. Unless I’m wrong.
Or how many rings does Marino have?
Mort already backed off his story anyway. Shanny will never coach the chiefs. Thank god. We need to win over Cowher.
Adam, I do hope you are kidding or being sarcastic about Gruden…The man who has never developed a QBOTF ever…”He’s never developed a young QB, he has driven a few crazy though” as Warren Sapp pointed out….
Now that I’ve typed it…I imagine u were kidding…but just in case
Woody, are you sarcastically challenged or something? Wow…just kidding, man. Yes, I was being sarcastic.
Merlin, your new nickname is Daddy Defense. Every damn time I say anything about offense, you go all Daddy Defense on me.
Offense is a hard sell here. Vermeil ignored his defense, so people in K.C. automatically think great offense means horrid defense. Not to me it doesn’t.
First off, I think the Cards are going to beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl. The Stillers have zero chance of stopping Fitzgerald. The Eagles have arguably the best secondary and defensive coordinator in the league, and he torched them. Blitzburgh will stay true to it’s name, and then they’ll wind up more like Blitzburned. They also won’t be able to come back from behind like Philly did with Big Ben and that pedestrian offense. And Boldin is going to be healthy. Just watch. I’m telling you.
Seven No. 1 offenses winning it all is bad? Only eight No. 1 seeds have won the freakin’ game (link)! I’m curious as to how many No. 1 defenses have won it now. Someone can go look that up if they want to, but I doubt it’s much higher than seven. Actually, I doubt it even surpasses seven. I am very impressed with seven, especially how dominate those seven were.
I think you can win with either a great offense or defense, as long as the other side of the ball performs in the teens somewhere, preferably mid to low. We’ve pretty much had the best offense vs. the best defense two years in a row, so it’s clear you can get there and win it. The Pats were one miracle David Tyree catch away from winning.
In today’s NFL, dominate running backs and running games are becoming extinct. I just fully discovered that this year myself. This is very much a passing league now. That’s where it’s headed — airing it out and leaning on 2- or 3-deep running back platoons. Pass plays that are more like runs (Reggie, MJD, etc…), and passing formations used to run (Wilcat) are becoming way more common as well. Defenders are so big, fast, strong and physical nowadays, that running backs are breaking down like never before. Also, newer rules benefit receivers and quarterbacks. Players are also faster than ever, which is why there’s never been a better time to get them out into space.
Most Kansas City fans want “meat and potatoes” football, but it doesn’t always get the job done. Ask Carolina and Baltimore. We are closer to being a prolific offense anyway, and in my opinion, in today’s NFL, it’s the better route to go when choosing our team identity.
Daddy Defense…always busting my balls. I love it! You sure you’re not just mad because I am taking your boy Herm to the woodshed.
Adam:
Daddy Defense here (lol). The balance between running and passing tends to swing back and forth. We are seeing more running back by committee, that is very true.
There are a few things you might be surprised about. First, I really enjoyed the Vermeil Chiefs. Offense can win, but it’s less common than Defense winning. Second, Herm is not my boy. I like Herm, but he had to go when we let Carl go. I loved your yelling out the window on your vlog.
Oh, I called Carolina. They reminded me that most teams in the playoffs were defensive teams. The Ravens reminded me that they played the Steelers for the right to go to the Super Bowl. Then, Philly called to remind me that they were one of three defensive oriented teams in the final four this year. The Giants, Titans and the Vikings sent emails.
Adam, keep bringing it!
Th Eagles were the ninth best offense and the sixth best passing offense. They had a lot of offense, too, especially when Westbrook was healthy and McNabb was right. The Vikings have Adrian Peterson, a one-man offense. The Giants lost because they didn’t have Plaxico Burress. The Titans because they couldn’t outscore the Ravens.
If the Cards win, we will be one David Tyree drop away from three great offenses winning in a row. Think about it.
Thanks on the whole yelling out the door thing. Not sure what came over me. It must have been the improv I did in college or something.
Haha…I took all that time typing it on the iPod Touch and then realized your language was obviously sarcastic…but figured I worked so hard…and some people may not have heard that stuff….might as well…
That picture is pretty disturbing…
The reality didnt set in til tonight that no longer will we see sideline shots of Herm looking up at the jumbotron confused….No more will we have to boycott the word “obviously” because we have heard it too much in his press conferences to use it intelligently. No longer will the preacher shift blame!
Well said, Woodman.
You know what, looking back at some of the posts and things I’ve done on this site…yeah, a bit disturbing. But it’s all to prove a point and make us laugh in the midst of the hard times. Basically, I’m harmless.
Actually, we’re all Harm-less! I love it.
I’m not sure if it will be Haley. On ESPN yesterday Mortenson said that he has been told that the media is trying too hard to connect the dots on that one. I don’t know much about Frazier. I heard it didn’t help his chances when he would talk to the media about things from his interview. I’ve read that might have hurt his chances. I read that he did that after interviewing with the Rams. If that is the case I can’t see Pioli wanting him around. Although he seems to be a hot candidate. It will be interesting to see who ends up coaching the Chiefs. The only people that know are Clark and Pioli. The media is just making guesses at this point.
You actually listen to Mortensen still?
I Believe I know who will be named the head coach of the chiefs…
Russ Grimm..
finalist for the job in chicago lost out to lovie smith, finalist with wisenhunt and tomlin for HC of the steelers, he was a Hog, 13 year pro, 3 super bowl wins, 4 appearences(as a player) Also won in 2005 as the O-line coach for the steelers…
hes only 49, can be a 10 year coach, and makes more sense than Haley since his experience will help, also with Pioli.
I am pretty convinced…Russ Grimm..HC KC Chiefs, after an extensive interview process.
I like it….
It is below the radar…I think it would be good…get a power running team back…with some defense hopefully.