The Breaking Of A Homer

Hi, my name is Lyle Graversen. I am a Kansas City Chiefs fan.

Up until this season, I was a “homer.”

Not just a little homer, a great big ole homer.

When I first started writing blog posts about the Chiefs on another blog, I literally adopted the Kool-Aid Man as my avatar because people were constantly calling me a Kool-Aid Drinker because of how positive I was about the team. I have, on more than one occasion, publicly stated that I choose to focus on the positive because if I follow the Chiefs as a means of entertainment, it doesn’t make sense to me to focus on the negative and be upset all the time. Yes, all sports fans will have moments of disappointment, but overall following your favorite team should be fun. So in the words of Bobby McFerrin, “Don’t worry, be happy,” right?

Well KC fans, this admitted homer has found his breaking point. As I sat in section 316 of Arrowhead Stadium yesterday, watching a BAD football team dominate my favorite team, my fan status officially shifted from “homer” to “disgruntled.” The Kansas City Chiefs are a HORRIBLE football team and there is no positive spin that any rational human being can put on them.

The Oakland Raiders are NOT a good football team. The Raiders were 2-of-12 on third downs in that game and still dominated the Chiefs. We were so inept on offense that even though we were only down two scores at one point with a full quarter to go, people were leaving because they knew there was no way on God’s green earth that the Chiefs were going to get two touchdowns in one quarter. By the end of the game my beloved Arrowhead Stadium, once one of the most feared stadiums in all of sports, looked like this:

Chiefs fans are nowhere to be seen and the area once known as the “Sea of Red” turned into a Midwest version of the “Black Hole.” It’s gut-wrenching. The folks at saveourchiefs.com are planning a “blackout” for the Chiefs home game against the Bengals. We now have a pretty good idea of what that will look like. Let’s hope Clark Hunt is smart enough to know that the black shirts for that game are part of a protest and not just that the Raiders fans had so much fun at Arrowhead that they decided to come back!

What is clear to me now (and keep in mind, this is coming from a blogger that has written multiple posts on how I support Scott Pioli and Matt Cassel) is that the Chiefs are a total disaster.

They have the worst QB situation in the NFL. Matt Cassel or Brady Quinn? It doesn’t matter. They are both completely unable to manage even a moderately competent NFL offense. They both have shown an amazing ability to turn the ball over at a record-setting level.

The roster in general is not ANYWHERE NEAR as good as we thought it was before the season. Even with horrible QB play and horrible coaching (I’ll get to that in a moment), a talented NFL roster would at least compete. They would at least hold a lead for a few seconds of regulation through seven games. They would make a stand. They would show some heart and pride in their play. None of that is happening. This team is BAD from a talent standpoint.

This is the worst coached team in the NFL, and possibly in the history of the Chiefs franchise. I’ve only been following the Chiefs since the 80s, but I’ve seen some bad coaches in that time (Gunther Cunningham and Herm Edwards), but Romeo and his staff are making them look like Vince Lombardi. Let’s for a moment look past the fact that Romeo has, on multiple occasions, admitted to the press that he didn’t know why the team played bad. Let’s ignore the fact that when asked why the Chiefs’ best offensive player (Jamaal Charles) only carried the ball five times, he responded “Now that I’m not exactly sure either.” Let’s pretend that for some reason Romeo actually does know why, but has decided its a good idea to play dumb in the press (If so, he is doing a REALLY good job).

Even if that was true, the Chiefs are still the worst coached team in the NFL. You know why? Because after two weeks to prepare to play a bad football team at home they came out unmotivated and unprepared. The Raiders were the more aggressive and more physical team from the get go. The offense looked like they had no clue of what to do against the Raiders defense. Often times when teams come off the bye, their first offensive drive is a prearranged, scripted drive designed to attack the weaknesses that they’ve seen in the opponent’s defense. So KC came out for their first offensive drive, with energy high after an opening drive Carson Palmer interception for Oakland, and did what? Went three-and-out.

They had all that time to prepare and couldn’t design a play to even get a first down. Then they come out after halftime where one would think that the coaches would have them refocused and motivated to turn it around, and supposedly the coaches should have made adjustments to the game plan based on what had happened in the first half, and what do the Chiefs do? They fumble the snap on the first offensive play and turn the ball over.

This team is making a living off stupid, bone-headed, momentum-killing mistakes. Make a defensive stop before halftime? Oops, muffed a punt. Old Seabass actually misses a FG? Don’t worry, the Chiefs jumped offside so he can try again! Actually have a WR run a decent route AND the QB saw him downfield AND got the ball to him? OHHHHHHHH, bounces right off his hands.

Seriously, no well-coached team plays like that. Not for this long. The Chiefs have played 420 minutes of regulation football and have NEVER HAD A LEAD! Think about that.

I wish I could still be a homer.

I wish I could write something for you fellow Chiefs fans that could lift your spirits and give you some hope for the rest of the season.

I’ve got nothing.

The Kansas City Chiefs have stomped the homer right out of me.

I still love this team. I will still root for them to win every week.

I just see no hope until large scale changes are made. Scott Pioli must be fired. Romeo Crennel and his staff must be fired. The Chiefs must draft a REAL franchise QB.

Maybe I do have one positive thing to leave you with!

The Chiefs are on pace to draft any QB they want in this year’s draft. I guess there’s that.

As always, thanks for reading and (heavy sigh) GO CHIEFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!