We always want to believe we’re right, but we ain’t none of us perfect.  My yearly IWWAs are a recognition of that.  For this, the fourth annual IWWAs, I got a little help from my friends.  This way those of you who don’t believe I could ever be wrong about anything can skip my section and move on to the rest of the staff.  Or, for those of you who Internet-hate one of us, take delight in watching the object of your hatred participate in the ceremonial eating of crow.

We’d also like to hear your biggest IWWAs in the comments.  This is a healthy process.  We will emerge stronger, and smarter.  Much like Barry Richardson will, after one more year of development.  B-Rich in ’12!

Big Matt

1) I thought the insanity would stop with Thom Jones.  I was wrong.  Sometimes coaches just like bad players.  If following KC sports has taught me anything, its that.  Vrabel, Yuni, Willie Bloomquist, Dexter McCleon, Ross Gload, Kyle Davies, Larry Johnson, Mike Brown (QB of the defense!), there really is no point in continuing this list.  It’s a mile long.  Bad veterans who the people of Kansas City have been told are good.  Why?  That bizarre combination of age, intangibles, and affordability that this city’s sports leaders have always loved so well.

Jones, though, is the worst.  He averaged 3 yards per carry this year and led our team in carries.  There is no excuse for that.  I knew he’d get his touches this year, Jones ALWAYS gets his touches no matter how bad he is.  This is not his first season averaging under 4 per carry.  It’s his seventh.  In fact, his career average is a tick under 4.

Still, I assumed after last season that nobody would be crazy enough to feature him.  I was wrong twice, because both our head coaches did just that.  Thomas Jones is this century’s Rasputin.  Discuss.

2) I thought Wallace Gilberry would have a breakout year.  I was wrong.- I love pass rushers and loathe block eaters.  So naturally, Wally Gilby is my boy.  His production dipped this year, which was disappointing.  But then again, his PT seems to have dipped as well.  Gotta stop that run though, right?  After all, if a team can run on you, you’re toast!  Oh, wait…..

Personal misgivings about the D-line aside, this was not the year I’d envisioned from Gilberry.  So yes, I was wrong about him.  I still expect him to sign with a 4-3 team and do very well.  But who will nosh the blocks for that team while Gilberry is showing off with the sacks and the forced fumbles?  Luckily we’re too smart to ever encounter that problem.  LSU Block Skwad: FOUR MORE YEARS!  FOUR MORE YEARS!

3) I thought Haley would insist on starting Studebaker over Justin Houston.  I was wrong.  What an awesome surprise Justin Houston was.  Turns out marijuana users can function in society!  Still, it is illegal.  Better to drink a dozen beers and get yourself out in public, I say.   Smoking this plant at your house is simply too destructive.

In all seriousness, I assumed Haley would give Studebaker the Vrabel treatment and Houston the Studebaker treatment this year.  Since we found out The Student Baker is bad, it was time for him to become the Teacher Baker.   That’s just how Haley rolls, right?

Happy to be wrong here.  Houston was maybe the biggest bright spot of this entire season.

4) I thought Pioli would pick up more locker room leaders in the draft.  I was wrong. We like to give Scott Pioli a hard time around here, and rightly so.  His excruciating pace and sloth-like level of activity are deserving of ridicule.  As are “the right 53″, “substance over sizzle”, and any other junk catch-phrases he and his cronies come up with to justify basement payrolls.

However, his draft this year was downright interesting.  I didn’t think he had that in him.  2010 was a good class, but the focus on the locker room seemed to be par for the course.  The 2011 draft was anything but.  I’m sure this class will take its lumps; the learning curve was already shown to be pretty steep for a lot of them.  Still, I was extremely happy, and surprised, to see Pioli going for talent rather than team captain status.  Turns out he can make exciting picks……if Bill Belichick tells him to.

5) I thought Romeo Crennel’s press conferences would be pretty similar to Todd Haley’s.  Thankfully, I was wrong.  Is it possible those non-answers were Haley’s idea all along?  Surely Pioli encouraged that, right?  Did he wise up and instruct Crennel to provide real answers?  So many questions.  I know some of you don’t care about this stuff, but I want answers!  My attempts to spy on the Chiefs in the past haven’t gone well.  Time for a new disguise.  Do you guys think I could pass as Bill Muir?

6) I thought Todd Haley’s preseason strategy was ridiculous. Way off on that one, clearly.  Did you guys see how much fresher we were after Crennel took over?  We have Haley to thank for that!

The rest of the staff after le jump:

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“Is Muir the best or worst OC, we do not know because anywhere Haley stuck his nose, the picture is distorted.”

-tm1946

I think we can be fairly certain Bill Muir isn’t the best offensive coordinator, but still, this is a money quote from AA mainstay tm1946.  What was pretty obvious last season is even more obvious now: Todd Haley had trouble coexisting with his fellow coaches, and was unable to restrain himself from meddling in the offense.

Haley did have an offensive background, so maybe he was entitled to meddle a bit.  Of course, if you really want to dig into the past to justify the present, you have to be willing to look at Haley’s entire past.  He was gifted a job with the Jets by his father when he was already pushing 30.  His degree was in communications and he’d been a golf pro.  No coaching experience, no scouting experience, no playing experience.  Promoted twice in his first three years while his father was still with the organization.  So if the past is in play here, maybe that “offensive expertise” we heard so much about should be taken with a massive grain of salt.

I digress.  This post isn’t meant to bash Haley.  He’s gone, and very few of us wish him any ill will.  I just mean to say, his tactics make it harder to accurately judge Bill Muir.  We can’t even be totally sure who was calling the plays.  It seemed to me at the time that Haley promoted Muir precisely because it would allow him to control more of the offense.  Either that, or he thought a 104-year-old man with no play-calling experience was the best option.  You tell me which is more likely.

To be honest, I was never really willing to give Muir a chance.  It just felt like Mike Solari all over again.  Chiefs lose a good coordinator, and respond by promoting a confused offensive line coach. Surely this Muir guy was going to be awful.

And he was.  Or at least, the offense was.  But is that is fault?  Does the man deserve another chance?

find out my answer after the jump:

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So we have some kind of important game tonight, right?  Who is our opponent again?

You’re going to have plenty of Chiefs/Chargers articles to read today, Addicts, so I thought I’d switch things up a bit.  Normally Big Matt Monday focuses on the previous day’s game.  Since there was no game on the lord’s day this week, I’m free to go off the reservation.  What follows is a day-by-day account of the week I spent undercover as a cleaning lady in Clark Hunt’s Texas mansion.

Just kidding.  “Operation: Wipe Clark’s Butt” did not go as planned.  My costume was choice, but when Mrs. Hunt asked me my name I choked and said Junior Siavii.  Things got pretty hairy.  I ended up having to stab one of my fellow cleaning ladies just to create a diversion and get out of there.  Sweet Consuela.  I’ll miss her.  She taught me so much.

I think the Chiefs will win tonight.  Of course, I thought they’d win last season’s playoff game, too.  Whenever the Chiefs look decent, I let myself believe they’re really good.  I’m a sucker that way.  I’ve seen three wins, my brain has me believing the fourth is in the bag.  But this is still the Chargers.  What can I say, it’s going to be a very exciting game.

Sometimes with a game like this on the horizon, I get so keyed up that focusing on anything else (or even eating) becomes difficult.  So I thought it might be nice to take a break from stressing about tonight’s showdown, and take a leisurely stroll through some recent Chiefs history.  After le jump, my list of the best and worst Chiefs personnel moves of the aughts*.

*For the purposes of this exercise, “aughts” will refer to 2001-2010.  Brian Waters was signed in 2000, and I didn’t want to have to include that, while excluding 2010.  I think we can all agree it’s far more interesting to discuss 2010 at this point.  2011, however, cannot be included, as we don’t yet have enough data to evaluate that offseason.

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