I’m a statistics man, Addicts. They fascinate me. They can tell a hidden story, they can alter reality. Some stats I enjoy are the ones from the Herm Edwards era, in my opinion one of the worst in KC history.
Yours truly making the trek to a preseason win at Chicago's Soldier Field in 2008.
Why?
I’m a firm believer that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.
So without further delay, here are a couple I think we need to remember.
1. Of the 53 players on the Chiefs kickoff roster in 2008, only seven joined the team prior to Herm Edwards arrival in 2006.
2. Six rookies were in the Chiefs starting lineup on kickoff weekend in 2008. Thats the most for any KC team since the Chiefs became the Chiefs.
What do I take from that?
Herm and Carl thought they had time. Lots of time. All the time they needed to blow up the KC highrise from the basement up and start building from the ground up.
They thought the KC fans that Carl Peterson brought to Arrowhead (yours truly being one of them), would keep coming. No matter what. No matter how many losses. No matter how embarrassing those losses might be.
And they thought the Hunt family would keep them in their cozy offices at Arrowhead for as long as the view pleased them.
Well as we all know they were wrong. Dead wrong. Out of the NFL wrong.
But was Herm given a chance?
From my seat at the top of Arrowhead I would look through my Tasco’s and see that Herm was the worst game day KC coach ever to take the sidelines at Arrowhead.
But I could also see the results of some damn good draft choices taking the field. And he had no quarterback worth squat to work with.
As I made that three hour trek home from the 2008 games, it was becoming more and more obvious and more and more frustrating that we were losing but not by much. And so we come to the third stat for 2008:
In six of the last nine Chiefs losses, the margin of defeat was seven points or less.
At the time my outlook was that we were playing to the level of the competition. We didn’t want it bad enough. But was that reality?
What can we draw from these stats AA’ers? What do you think?
Was Herm making progress? Did Clark pull the plug to soon? Did we remove the head to cure the headache? Are we headed in the same direction with the current regime? How long do we give Pioli and Haley?
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I can’t comment regarding Herm making progress or Clark pulling the plug too soon. I do agree Herm was a lousy gameday coach for sure.
I think we give Pioli and Haley 3-4 years to get us on track, so the meter is running…Sounds like we have gotten a couple good prospects this week, so here’s hoping we learn and move forward in a POSITIVE direction. There’s an old saying, when you hit bottom, stop digging.
Well i am one here who has been a fan for 40+ years so i am not goin to say i am expert or close to one. I was one of those who thought who got screwed yes screwed. I read your site and many of sites who cried for a rebuilding for he Chiefs and Herm did exactly as you all wanted he only needed a few more years and i am not saying a superbowl team but a a very competitive to that could have had potential. But now that we are here with the new regime i am backing them with my whole fan strength. I live in Washington State now …… GO CHIEFS
I admit Herm wasn’t the best coach out there, but i do beleive he wasn’t given a great chance to succeed.
Look at the team he was given;
An old QB with no real decent back-ups.
An old / mostly retiring O-line, again with no back-ups.
A great RB who was dependent on a good Oline.
No wide receivers.
A great but old TE, again no replacement.
A terrible defence minus Hali.
He had to come in here and build a team from scratch. We had no great talent’s or depth at the time and this was due to the way the team was built the previous 5 years.
EVEN with all that stacked against him, we were close and competiting in so many winnable games.
EVEN If we just had a sure thing kicker, our W-L would of changed.
Herm was coaching a team like he was only their for a year. Just like pioli and Haley are doing now. They are building with a vision in mind for the future.
Don’t forget Herm got us to the playoffs. If he had more team and a chage in coaching staff, i beleive we would be a playoff team last year and this year.
Randy:
Great post. The answer is, no, he was not given a fair chance.
Great comments all, thanks Merlin. I would say Herm was not given a fair chance if it were not for my belief that he simply cannot make good game day decisions. I truly believed as I drove home from many of those well Tim nailed it, they were WINNABLE games. I think his poor decision making lost us many of them. PATRICK WHAT DO YOU THINK HERE??????
Randy:
I think those are seperate questions. Herm was not given a chance to rebuild the team. That, I think is indisputable. Herm’s competence, or lack of is a seperate issue.
Your right about that Merlin. Thanks for getting me back on track. I would be very interested in your view of Herman’s competencies.
or lack there of.
Also what about Gunthers one year Merlin? Did he get a rightful chance?
You ever think that Carl P. kmew he was on the hotseat and put the screws to the team so they would be lousy? Herm wasn’t in the know until to late?
why would he want the team to be lousy dubl??
History repeating itself, 5k. I have been a die-hard Chiefs fan since they moved to K.C,. My brother rode Warpaint 3 times at old municipal stadium. The Hunt’s have a long history of using the Chiefs as a write off. Or another case of an ego maniac losing his ticket to be on tv. Look at Hall of Fame Coach Stram, left after “his” failure to improve the team thru the draft. Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy had such a lousy team he had to run a single wing offense, started to build the team and was fired. All management decisions which kept this team from contending. Why did Herm say he never wanted to be a head coach again? Sick of nasty office politics or understanding his own limitations. W/o inside knowledge of what went on we can only speculate, but history says do not discount the self destructive nature of this teams leadership.
I was going to post an article for Paddy’ fan blog and it would have been “Instilling a Winning Attitude”. I am strongly encouraged by what is happening now at #1 Arrowhead Drive. It appears that that is the greatest challenge Pioli and Haley have to deal with, and some of the questionable personnel decisions arise directly from that need to instill this mindset throughout this team. The mindset of losing is a pervasive, insidious attitude that is like a cancer, if it isn’t excised it spreads.
that would have been a good one Dubl, submit it next time Id love to read it
If haley has another lousy year,do we throw him out and bring in Bill Cowher,sounds good to me.
Fanatic I would love to see Cowher, I am conflicted on the giving Haley a chance thing. Gotta leave the emotions out if Cowher is available you get him he is a proven head coach.