Two weeks ago, in those heady days of early January Before Babb’s Bounty (B-Cubed), I was grading the Chiefs.  My plan was to tackle the offense last week and spend this week ranting about Clark Hunt and Scott Pioli.  Kentucky Babb’s delicious dish stalled the process a bit.  So we’ll just have to wait until next week to give Pioli his dap for the sweet deal he got on Darryl Harris (one word: substance).

This week I grade the offense.  Naturally, you can expect them to score quite a bit worse.

Bad offense is as much a part of  our identity as good defense.*  Vermeil rocked the boat for a few years, but Herm Edwards was able to dismantle that juggernaut within a year.  Since then, it’s been a parade of bad quarterbacks and scared play calling.  In 10 years, will we look back on Bill Muir and Tyler Palko as rock bottom?  I don’t know, for me that was probably Mike Solari and Brodie Croyle.  Muir and Palko are like a poor man’s version.

*I refuse to believe this is because of bad quarterback play.  The real culprit?  We needed bigger backs!

Regardless, our offense was bad this year.

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I should be used to this by now.  Should be, but most definitely am not.  I had actually tricked myself into believing we could take this one.  As it turns out, all those “doubters” were absolutely right.  The Chiefs weren’t ready.

This isn’t the time for harsh criticism.  You don’t want to hear it, and I don’t really want to sling it.  The Chiefs won more games than I thought they would.  Three more, to be exact.  A pleasant, though not earth-shattering, surprise.

But this isn’t the time for praise, either.  Not after two consecutive blowout losses to end the season.  The reality is the Chiefs had an opportunity to do something special here and they didn’t.  Once again, “wait til next year” will be our battle cry.  That’s a hard pill to swallow.  There have been too many next years.  Far too many.  I barely remember our last playoff win and I turn 30 in June.  That is some pretty serious futility.  But hey, at least the business has remained profitable.  Three cheers for Clark Hunt!  That man is a HERO.

My initial intention was to wait a week or so to start my report card.  But now I’m thinking grading players might be a good way to take shelter from my grief.  And despite how it ended, some of these guys (particularly on defense) played really well over the course of the season.  They deserve to be recognized.  Hopefully this process of recognition will help soothe our troubled football souls.

Your boy Big Matt drops his grade card after the jump:

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Whitlock’s got a great sense of humor. He’s not a fence sitter, always willing to give his opinions. Most of all, he’s got his own style, and an entertaining one. He’s carved a nice little niche out for himself in both Kansas City and the sportswriting world. Honestly, I’d probably get along with Jason in real life — I like The Wire and occasionally frequent Blonde and Kona Grill when I’m back in K.C.

The problem I have with Jason is that when it comes to the Kansas City Chiefs and the NFL, he’s wrong more often than he’s right. An even bigger problem I have with Jason: Every time he’s wrong he has the most conviction that he’s right. Well, and then there’s the part where I think Arrowhead Addict covers the Chiefs better (we actually watch the games, buddy). But that’s just my personal opinion on the matter.

I just finished reading Jason’s grades for the Chiefs over at The Kansas City Star. While he did an admirable job for the most part, we strongly disagree with some of his grades. Here’s where Jason went wrong…

(By the way, thanks for sticking up for our guy Bobby Sippio. It is definitely inexplicable why he didn’t get the rock at the end of the year. Just for that, I won’t call you Jabba anywhere in this post. I promise. And if we don’t give Sippio a real shot in the post-Parker, post-Solari era of Chiefs’ offense, I will lose it. Another story, another day.)

The Jason Whitlock Grade Check:

Boomer Grigsby (85): This is out there, even for you. Maybe you just compared him to Kris Wilson and graded with a curve? Regardless, the only high grade Boomer should get is for his off-field comedy value. His on-field play didn’t merit a “B.” Fullbacks have to do more than just make a decent initial block and then fall down. He was playing a new position at the highest level possible, though, so we’ll give him some grace. A.A.’s Grade: 75/C

Dwayne Bowe (81): This is the most glaring error of all of Jason’s grades. When you are the best rookie among all the other rookies that play your position in the entire league, yeah, that gets you an “A.” Grading him against Michael Irvin as a rookie is a little farfetched. Even for you, Big Sexy. Bowe wasn’t the best rookie reciever of all time, but he was the best Chiefs’ rookie WR of all time. That paired with being tops among rooks in the NFL earns him an “A.” A.A.’s Grade: 95/A

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