Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Chiefs fired former head coach Todd Haley in the middle of the 2011 season but not the team could indirectly be responsible for helping Haley get another head coaching gig.

After leaving the Chiefs, Haley was hired to be the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, the Arizona Cardinals, the team he left to come to the Chiefs, is requesting permission to interview Haley to be their head coach.

From Jason La Canfora:

And with it now murky as to whether Andy Reid ever makes it out to AZ; Cards preparing to request permission to interview Todd Haley…

— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) January 3, 2013

The Cardinals were reportedly very interested in Andy Reid, but the Chiefs intercepted him yesterday in Philly. The interview lasted nine hours and the most recent reports suggest Reid is close to a deal with KC. As such, Reid has pushed back his meeting with the Cards.

Now the Cards are looking at other options, which clearly include Haley.

It would be pretty funny if the Chiefs ended up inadvertently helping Haley get another shot as a head coach. We shall see.

I was never on the bandwagon for firing Todd Haley last year.

Of course, this all sounds like “I told ya so” talk now, but I enjoyed going back and reading my articles defending Haley and expressing skepticism about Crennel for an entirely different reason: It was a simpler time.

Looking at the old AA pieces I wrote, I realized it was like re-reading diary entries from childhood in the days of innocence before some traumatic event. Back then, we had excuses for our poor play and it seemed like good football was on the horizon. Our coach and quarterback had been disappointing but were still winning some games. The team had an architect that we could still give the benefit of the doubt.

Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

Now that innocence is gone and we recognize our parents are not paragons of virtue and strength but flawed mortals. The world is full of people who lie and mean people don’t always get punished. This team is off the rails. The last four years have been basically wasted. We have no coach, no QB, no GM and an owner who seems to be conducting a social experiment to determine how long before fans burn Arrowhead to the ground in rage at his inaction.

Back then, we could still say that we had a QB on the roster good enough to get us through games, that we were full of young talent and we were growing a dynasty. Just add water. Today, nothing looks good and people in Chiefs country are dying of anguish and frustration.

It really cannot be overstated. At 1-9, the Chiefs have matched their worst opening to a season in the history of the franchise. I will be honestly stunned if we win another game this year. By every major metric other than rushing production the Chiefs are a disgrace. At this point, both Haley and even Herm Edwards look attractive.

But, it’s really not just because of how bad we are right now. I’ve always thought Haley got a raw deal.

In 2009, Haley was one of 11 head coaches hired. Like Todd, most were successful coordinators somewhere else. Of those 11, only two still have their jobs — Jim Schwartz in Detroit and Rex Ryan in New York, and they’re both 4-6 right now, by the way. By the time Haley was fired only four of those other coaches from the class of 2009 had a better win-loss record – Ryan, Jim Caldwell, Mike Singletary and Jim Mora Jr..

John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

So, while that was an admittedly uninspiring crop, Haley was among the most successful coaches hired that year. Also, statistically speaking, it was nearly certain that the Chiefs would have a bad season.

Thirty NFL teams between 2002 and 2009 increased their season-to-season records by five or more games like the Chiefs did between 2009 and 2010. Of them, 24 (80 percent) had worse seasons following their surge – with 13 (43 percent) of them losing at least four more games after their surprising season. There are lots of reasons for this of course, the main one: changes in the strength of schedule. Also, the NFL is just a hard place to maintain success. Let down years are inevitable.

But even Haley somehow won five of 13 games without the ACL crew. He even got a win with Tyler Palko at quarterback while the team this year has only even had a lead in two games so far.

It’s also not as if Haley had a whole lot to work with. In addition to the fact that Pioli was diametrically opposed to putting a quarterback on the field not named Matt Cassel, KC’s defenses were nearly always inconsistent, showing up big in some games and melting away in others. He also had to deal with a sociopathic boss who collects candy wrappers, wiretaps his employees and in the end essentially fired him because he didn’t shave or wear a new hat. (Seriously, I’m quite certain that when Pioli gets off work he goes to sit and stare quizzically at an array of severed heads in jars).

But mostly, I just realized that I honestly liked our team that year. I’m finding it very hard to say the same in 2012. In 2011, we were a team ravaged by injuries playing above our level of talent and clawing for every win. Now, we’re just a bundle of undisciplined players making dumb mistakes and barely giving opponents any resistance as they march up and down the field.

Haley was known for being overly brash on the sidelines, which is something I would love to see these days. Someone needs to yell at these guys. When I heard the criticism about him being verbally aggressive, I always thought it was way overblown. These players are grown men and this is an emotional game – or at least it is unless your name is Romeo. If so, then game day is a time when the bad people make you stand outside for three hours and all you have to read is a laminated sheet of paper while you stare blankly at the field while repeating soup recipes in your head. Or at least that’s what I think he’s doing. Your guess is as good as mine. All I can tell you is that it is not inspiring.

So here we are. Refreshing football news websites over and over hoping to see that someone has been fired. This is what it has come to. We have come of age and discovered that the adults running things are even more screwed up than us little people down below and there’s nothing to do about it.

But, family is family. So, next Sunday and the Sunday after that, I will tune in to watch the Chiefs play. I will cringe and guffaw, and write another piece, although I’m running out of things to say.

Maybe next week this column will be about soup.

Jan 2, 2011; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley reacts during the game against the Oakland Raiders at Arrowhead Stadium. The Raiders defeated the Chiefs 31-10. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

According to Jay Glazer of Fox Sports, the Kansas City Chiefs still have not paid former coach Todd Haley the remainder of his contract from when he was fired with three games remaining last season. There were reports at the time that the Chiefs were claiming that Haley was fired “with cause” which essentially voids the remainder of the contract. Once the Chiefs moved on and hired Romeo Crennel to replace Haley the issue was forgotten by most KC fans.

Now Glazer is reporting that the issue still hasn’t been settled.

On “Fox Sports Sunday” Glazer reported that the issue is now in arbitration. This would line up with Haley being “mum” on the upcoming match up with his former team and with reports that behind the scenes Haley is wanting to run things up on Kansas City when the teams meet on Monday Night Football. If this issue is still in negotiation, then Haley wouldn’t want to say anything that the League would disapprove of if they are going to have some say on if he gets his money or not.

The issue of Haley being upset with KC and wanting to embarrass them on MNF is a short-term issue. If the Steelers blow out the Chiefs, it will be just one more bad loss in a season with too many of them to count.

In my opinion, the bigger issue is how this makes the Chiefs look in the eyes of possible GM and head coaching candidates if/when KC has positions open again. Firing a coach “with cause” basically means that the coach didn’t just lose too many games, but did something that violated their contract. My guess would be (just speculating) that the Chiefs (or more accurately, Scott Pioli) was upset about comments Haley made to Kent Babb that ended up in his now famous “Arrowhead Anxiety” story for the KC Star.

The only other team that I can remember firing a coach “with cause” in recent memory is the Oakland Raiders while still under the control of the late Al Davis. That’s not great organizational company to keep.

I think the Chiefs would be well served to fire Scott Pioli ASAP and give Todd Haley whatever money he is owed in hopes that it would send a message to possible HC and GM candidates that this was a Pioli problem and not a KC Chiefs organizational problem. Otherwise, even if Clark Hunt does clean house, he may have a hard time finding anyone good that is willing to come to KC to fill his openings.

What do you think, Addicts?

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

The Todd Haley Revenge Bowl is fast approaching and it appears the stakes could be significantly higher than we originally though.

Chiefs owner Clark Hunt has got to be getting a little but hot under the collar as the humiliating losses keep piling up. GM Scott Pioli has assembled a team that is bumbling its way into the history books. The Chiefs have failed to hold a lead this season, a feat no other NFL team has accomplished through as many games since the Pony Express was still delivering packages.

When the schedule came out, we all circled Monday the 12th, not just because it was a primetime game for our favorite team but because we knew the whole Haley vs. the Chiefs storyline would be compelling.

With Pioli’s job in clear jeopardy, the game becomes even more important. There is no telling what Hunt is thinking. He has been largely silent while his team descends into the depths of football hell.

Monday has the chance to be the final straw for Hunt. It is a nationally televised game. Monday Night Football. The whole world will get to see what a horrendous mess the 2012 Chiefs are. A loss will knock KC to a 1-8 record, effectively pulling the plug on their already critically injured season. If Haley is able to use the Pittsburgh offense to run up the score, thus adding to what will likely already be an embarrassing situation, he could force Hunt’s hand.

Clark strikes me as the kind of guy who would like to wait until the end of the season to fire Pioli. Whatever Hunt does, it is likely to be well thought out and planned. But with the evidence mounting against keeping Pioli, even for the rest of the season, we may see Hunt pull the plug.

After all the bad blood that supposedly passed between Haley and Pioli, you have to believe that Todd wants to stick it to his former boss. Like, really stick it to him.

If he does, it may be Haley who has the last laugh.

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

Peter King of SI.com visited the Kansas City Chiefs for his training camp report a while back and in his column he has some very interesting quotes regarding QB Matt Cassel and former Chiefs head coach Todd Haley.

Other than Bill Belichick, Cassel only ever played under Haley as an NFL player. One could argue the Cassel’s two best seasons in the NFL were when Haley had the least control over him; his first season in NE and his 2010 Pro Bowl season in which he was working with Charlie Weis.

King doesn’t have any quotes of Cassel bashing Haley but he does have one where Cassel seems to indicate that life is much better under Brian Daboll.

“I like how he lets me play the quarterback position,” Cassel said. “I’m not afraid to give my opinion, or to change the play. Some other times, I’ve been afraid to do that. But [Daboll] says, ‘You’re the quarterback. If you see something different out there, you’ve got to act on it.’ ”

Hmmm. If that wasn’t intriguing enough, one Chiefs player (anonymously) came right out and said he thought Haley’s ways were impacting Cassel.

But there’s little doubt these players are breathing easier with a coach they like and respect more than Todd Haley. “It had to happen,” one player said of Haley leaving and Romeo Crennel replacing him. “Players were afraid of speaking up. The environment just wasn’t healthy. I think it really wore on Matt.”

Cassel has been excellent so far in the preseason. As King points out, he has completed 75% of his throw thus far in the preseason. More importantly, the KC offense has been finding the endzone, something they had a hard time doing while Haley was the head coach.

It is way too soon to predict how Cassel will perform once the games start counting but the early returns of the Daboll offense are encouraging.

What do you think, Addicts? Was Haley holding Cassel back?

In 2011 the Kansas City Chiefs were coming off a 10-6 season and a division title. The NFL was coming off a lock out that wiped out the entire offseason program. Every team in the NFL was scrambling to get ready for the coming season. Then head coach Todd Haley decided that these special circumstances warranted a new approach to training camp and the preseason. Haley decided that instead of jumping right in and hitting, he would put an emphasis on conditioning. He wanted to get his team in shape and try to protect them from injuries that might occur if they rushed into things before the players were ready.

Let’s just say that thing didn’t go quite as he had planned. The Chiefs looked horrible in the preseason, going 0-4 and getting outscored by a margin of 90-42. Unfortunately, the hangover from the preseason lasted into the regular season where KC would be outscored by a whopping margin of 89-10 in the first two weeks. To make matters worse, not only was the team not ready to play, but also his plan to protect his players from injury was equally unsuccessful. By the time the curtain closed on week two of the regular season the Chiefs had lost three vital players in Jamaal Charles, Eric Berry, and Tony Moeaki. The early season blows proved too much for both KC and Todd Haley to take. The Chiefs finished 7-9 and in last place in the AFC West and Haley was fired with three weeks left to go in the season.

Fast forward to 2012 and it doesn’t take an expert to see that the Chiefs have a different approach this season. In fact, it literally appears that KC is dead set on making sure that no trace of the “Haley Way” of doing things can be found. The Chiefs started having physical practices right out of the gate in training camp. The Chiefs came into the first preseason game and looked ready to play football. The first team players got extended looks and even seemed to run plays that might be used in the regular season instead of the “vanilla” play calling of the Haley era.

What really caught my attention during the game were the quotes from both Clark Hunt and Scott Pioli as they sat in the announcers’ booth at different points in the game. I’m paraphrasing here, but Clark Hunt pointed out that the Chiefs underachieved last year and Pioli commented on how much more prepared the team was this year and specifically pointed out how much more effective the staff was at getting the plays in to Cassel (a clear shot at Haley’s OC by committee disaster last season that often led to Cassel barely having time to get the play off). Hunt and Pioli did everything but say, “Todd Haley really messed things up last season and now that he’s gone we think we’ll be a lot better.”

Does the blame for last season lay solely at the feet of Todd Haley? I don’t know. He certainly deserves a lot of the fault, but was it his idea to keep Barry Richardson at RT, Thomas Jones at RB, Tyler Palko as the primary backup QB, and Sabby Piscatelli as an NFL player? We’ll never know how much of that was on Haley and how much was on Pioli. What we do know now is that the anti-Haley approach to training camp and the first preseason game this year produced un-Haley like results.

In other words, the Chiefs won.

In Haley’s three seasons as the Chiefs head coach the Chiefs went 0-3 in preseason openers and 1-11 overall in the preseason. Not only did the Chiefs go 0-3 in preseason openers, but they scored only 6.7 PPG in those games and didn’t score a single first quarter point as they were outscored in that quarter a combined 20-0. That’s a far cry from Friday night when they scored 27 points and led 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Does this mean that KC will play better when the games count? I don’t know. I do know that last season’s preseason opener against Tampa Bay was one of the worst preseason games I’ve ever seen and the Chiefs followed that up with one of the worst regular season openers I’ve ever seen (a 41-7 home loss to the Bills). The sad part is that Tampa Bay went on to finish 4-12 and Buffalo only 6-10. So even if Arizona isn’t very good this season, the Chiefs are still clearly off to a better start after one preseason game.

How much better? Take a look for yourself.

Basically, everything was heads and tails better this year. The one area that looks worse is rushing yards allowed and that’s only because the backups allowed one 67-yard long run by William Powell. The interesting (or sad) thing is that TB was actually the worst team Haley faced in the preseason opener in terms of their end of the year record that season (4-12). KC also lost 20-10 at Atlanta (13-3) in 2010 and 16-10 to Houston (9-7) in 2009. If you average out the numbers from those 3 games and compare them to Friday night it is still equally favorable.

Finally, Matt Cassel’s play was by far the best we’ve seen in a preseason opener. In the other three preseason openers combined Cassel has gone 8-13 for 40 yards and no TDs or INTs. So on Friday night when Cassel went 5 of 6 for 67 yards and a TD he threw for more yards and TDs than he had in his other three preseason openers combined. He also led his only two first quarter TD drives in a preseason opener.

All in all, Friday really couldn’t have gone much better than it did. Again, we don’t know if that will lead to more regular season wins. After all, Tampa Bay had a FANTASTIC preseason opener last season and ended up going 4-12. The only thing we really know is that the “Todd Haley Way” is no longer the Kansas City Way. Based on the early results, it looks like that might be a very good thing.

Other random observations from Friday:

I REALLY like Brian Daboll. Based on what I saw at training camp and how he called the game and had the offense ready on Friday I think there is every reason to be excited about KC’s new offensive coordinator.

I stand by my prediction that Peyton Hillis will end 2012 with more touches than Jamaal Charles. Not because Charles won’t be healthy or effective, but because Hillis will be productive and KC will try to keep Jamaal fresh and explosive.

Steve Maneri could just be a starter in the making. I expected him to win the third TE job because of his blocking ability (and Jake O’Connell stinks), but if Maneri can catch (and run) like he did Friday he could become more than just a third TE. Imagine if KC lines up in a three TE power/short yardage set and then goes play action, who is going to get the least attention from the defense in coverage? Maneri, of course, and if he can consistently catch the ball like he did Friday it gives Daboll one more toy to play with.

The offensive line gets a great big thumbs up from me. They made me eat my words. I reported that pass protection looked bad the day I was at training camp, but they didn’t allow a single sack. Not only did the first string look good, but the backups held their own as well. That’s a HUGE improvement over last preseason when poor Ricky Stanzi ran for his life on every single snap.

Justin Houston beat Tamba Hali to the QB for a sack. Just take a moment and think about how scary that is for the teams KC will face this year.

Abram Elam, welcome to KC. Donald Washington, say hello to Sabby Piscatelli for me.

Did anybody else notice that Matt Szymanski booted every kickoff he did for a clear touchback and then did a pretty good job punting as well. There’s no place for him on the roster, but keep that guy’s number on speed dial in case something should happen to one of our kickers.

I think that’s it for this week. Let’s hope the good times keep rolling against the Rams this weekend.

As always, thanks for reading and GO CHIEFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, after Paddy put together a great piece on the crucial offseason question: “If Chiefs Were Characters from the Wire,” I felt it necessary to move this important thought-experiment beyond the realist, Dickensian epic about the failures of city institutions to the world of fantasy. If there are any of you out there who still haven’t gotten hooked on Game of Thrones, get on it (but watch the first two episodes before passing judgment; the first one is a bit scatter-brained).

Furthermore, if you aren’t acquainted with the show, STOP READING THIS NOW, this is going to be chalk-full of spoilers.

Tamba Hali as Sandor Clegane, “The Hound”

"I smell Philip Rivers."

Tamba Hali is a big, scary, not-particularly-pretty man. He has been loyal to the Chiefs through leadership changes, which have included a variety of eccentric characters on the throne. Although he terrifies everyone around him, everyone that serves at his side realizes he is a man of honor who lives to massacre quarterbacks – just don’t get fire anywhere near him or he’ll go all Frankenstein on you.

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

Todd Haley as Joffry Baratheon

"We shall go forth on 4th down a 4th time!"

Egotistical, sadistic, deluded and an awful tactician when it counts. On the plus side, um … cool crossbow?

David Butler II-US PRESSWIRE

Matt Cassel as Daenerys Targaryen

"You're not just going to throw out my appendix after the surgery, right? Whew, what a waste that would have been."

Essentially sold in a marriage-trade that was meant to allow the Chiefs to reconquer Westeros, Cassel spent 2009 powerless, being repeatedly raped behind a horrid offensive line with no friends or allies to throw to. But, after facing down trials and tribulations, Cassel grew in strength and confidence, giving birth to dragons and … breaking his hand and watching his division rival ride out his team to the lost year’s best victories … this metaphor needs some work.

John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

Casey Wiegmann as Ser Rodrik Cassel (absolutely no relation to Matt Cassel)

"Roadkill is the new black."

Old, wizened and dependable. If it wouldn’t have gotten in the way for Casey’s gameplay, these two men would have undoubtedly shared the same hairstyle as they held down the fort defending the House of Stark. However, despite their reliability, at some point, it was time for some young gun to behead them both.

Michael Hickey-US PRESSWIRE

Jon McGraw as Tywin Lannister

"I just one deep back safetied your mom."

Although respected and decorated, these veterans have been outfoxed by younger, faster competition. However, with the game on the line, these old hands know how to pull out a victory.

Rob Grabowski-US PRESSWIRE

Dwayne Bowe as Bronn

"Right back at you Cassel. No, I don't think I'm going to aim for your 'general vicinity' with this one."

Not everyone likes him, his style or his attitude. But, everyone agrees, this man is damn effective at what he does.

Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

Scott Pioli as Petyr Baelish “Little Finger”

"As a matter of fact, yes, I do run a whore house."

The ultimate man behind the curtain, Pioli has used his suspicious seduction and mischief to build a winning team in record time. Everyone has to watch their back around this man.

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

Dontari Poe as Gregor Clegane, “The Mountain”

"Ok, yes. I may have eaten one or two practice squad kickers. But, if you don't want me to eat special teamers, why do you leave them lying around all the time?!"

He is big, strong and furious. He can behead a horse with a single blow, and yet we’ve seen him do little more than lose jousts to effeminate challengers and guard a burnt-out prison camp. Will his amazing strength and power actually come to use on the battlefield?

Douglas Jones-US PRESSWIRE

Romeo Crennel as Tyrion Lannister

Seriously, why has no one made a similar mural for Crennel yet?

A master strategist with a heart of gold. While he has rarely gotten credit for his work, Crennel has been an essential part of the family and saved it from total destruction at the end of the season.

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

Chan Gailey as Balon Greyjoy

"I left potato salad in the workroom fridge. I will take back what is mine."

What, you don’t see the resemblance? Aside from that, these two are bitter men who live in their cold miserable bitterness in the North, waiting to strike back revenge in Week 2.

Robert Mayer-US PRESSWIRE

Derrick Johnson as Khal Drogo

"My helmet protects you."

The Horse King will hurt you, and he will do it in the most badass way available to him. But, please, Chiefs medical personnel, do not resort to black magic to cure his infections.

Rob Grabowski-US PRESSWIRE

Barry Richardson as Samwell Tarly

"Time for my signature move -- Contagious Incompetence!"

Fat, whiney and utterly useless. I hope the White Walkers got ‘im at the end of last season.

Michael Hickey-US PRESSWIRE

Well, Chiefs fans, today is Valentine’s Day, and that means only one thing: margaritas.

However, while it might be our tradition to spend every Valentine’s Night at a Mexican restaurant (the tacky-red-paper-hearts-per-person quotient is much lower), I realize everyone approaches this fake holiday in his or her own special way. Even back in third grade—which, frankly, is where the celebration of this day should begin and end—when societal norms and, more specifically, Mrs. Brockmeyer demanded that we give paper valentines to everyone in class, we had to decide which valentines best represented us, as well as which of our secret crushes would receive the more risqué—and risky—messages.*

*Was “You rock, Valentine!” coming on way too strong?

Just as a set of perforated Transformers valentines (“Let’s roll, Valentine! You’re a Mega Friend!”) perfectly represented who I was back in 1984, today’s Kansas City Chiefs fans need valentines that speak to us, that capture the angst and occasional joy of this tumultuous relationship in which we’ve entangled ourselves. And among all the boxes of Harry Potter, Shrek, and Smurfs valentines at the local CVS, I couldn’t find any. So—you can guess what’s coming next—I had no choice but to make a few of my own.

Feel free to print, perforate, and share as you wish. Perhaps—just like the Indianapolis Colts on draft day—you’ll get lucky.

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So, that happened. Another NFL season (and postseason) has come and gone. Forgive my lack of enthusiasm as I watched the New York Giants win the Super Bowl for the fourth time in my lifetime, and the New England Patriots lose it for the fourth time (to go along with their three championships). In fact, in the 38 Super Bowls I have lived through (not that I really remember Super Bowls IX through, oh, XV or XVI), 27 different teams have participated. Not one of them has been the Kansas City Chiefs—their Super Bowl appearances live in other people’s memories.

But the good news, of course, is that as soon as Tom Brady’s last “Hail Myra” pass landed incomplete in the end zone and Super Bowl XLVI officially came to an end, the Chiefs were immediately back in contention. All eyes, and odds, are now focused on 2012-13, and the earliest probabilities are already in. The MGM Grand Las Vegas and at least one leading gaming site have opened betting season with the Chiefs as 50-1 shots to win Super Bowl XLVII, which is as good or better than 13 other teams. Not quite as favorable as the 40-1 odds they were given a year ago, but much better than the one-in-100 chance set before the Chiefs’ 2010 AFC West Championship season.

In other words, the odds-makers don’t really know what they’re doing, at least at this stage—out of last year’s top five preseason favorites, three didn’t even make the playoffs. But for fans, it’s amusing to see just how favorably (or not) our team’s prospects are marked in the books of various distinguished sports-betting establishments, and ask ourselves, “What if…?”

Last year at this time, I made a list of the XLVI reasons the Chiefs could win it all. A number of those “reasons” are now no longer with the team or else tore up their knees within the first few weeks of the season. So I’ve learned my lesson—and I’m not about to try to come up with XLVII reasons now. After all, so many things can happen: the most important players can get hurt, the coach can go crazy, the GM can go crazier…I mean, what are the odds?

Ah. Good question. Why don’t we find out?

(more…)

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

According to multiple sources, including Jason La Canfora of NFL Network, former Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Todd Haley will join the Pittsburgh Steelers as their new offensive coordinator.

According to La Canfora, Haley has been offered the job and is expected to take it. He also reports that the Steelers were in touch with former Raiders coach Hue Jackson over the weekend, just in case things fall through with Haley.

This news is a perfect opportunity to highlight the fact that sometimes, the media just gets things dead wrong. As recently as today, we were hearing reports from respected national media sources that Haley’s job interview with the Steelers was a sham.

From Peter King of SI.com:

The interview with Todd Haley for offensive coordinator was a courtesy interview. There’s a sense Haley’s too tough to get along with. That plus the fact that on his way out of Kansas City, he implied to the Kansas City Star that the team was bugging his phone. Leveling unfounded accusations against your employer (and if there is anything to them, then let’s have the proof) to the media is not a very good way to get a job in a league where other teams think those who own and run the Chiefs are good men.

That quote is from King’s Monday Morning QB column that came out today.

Oops.

Here is another report from Pro Football Talk on Jan. 31:

blockquote>There’s some scuttlebutt in media circles that Tomlin and the Steelers are considering Haley as a courtesy, given that his father played for the Steelers in the 1960s and thereafter worked in the team’s front office. Todd Haley once served as a Steelers ball boy. Even if the Steelers aren’t interested in hiring Haley, interviewing him — and declaring that they have done so via the team’s website — could help him generate interest elsewhere.

Scuttlebutt, eh? You always have to watch out for that scuttlebutt. It’ll get you.

I am more ok with the PFT quote than the King report because PFT never makes any attempt declare this “scuttlebutt” as true. PFT is a blog, like AA and while they sometimes break news, they also pass along rumors.

King’s quote, however, I do not like. He acts as if there is absolutely no doubt that Haley’s interview with the Steelers was a courtesy.

“The interview with Todd Haley for offensive coordinator was a courtesy interview.”

This is unfair to Todd because if I am another team looking at King’s report and I am thinking about calling up Haley for an interview, King’s words here might turn me off to that idea. I might think “well hell, if the Steelers are just doing him a favor and they won’t even consider him then why should I bother?”

To King’s credit, he has owned up to his mistake via Twitter:

Re Haley to Pittsburgh, if he gets the job, which it appears he will, my bad. Got some bad info. No one to blame but me.

The story also wasn’t just national. A local Steelers reporter, Gerry Dulac of the Post Gazette, gave a chat here:

They do think the world of Dick Haley, which is why I think they granted his son, Todd, an interview. Todd Haley has had a difficult time getting any interviews since he was fired by the Chiefs, and part of the problem is his reputation for being unable to get along with players and, more importantly, his fellow coaches. The Steelers, in my opinion, are merely doing Haley a favor, which is why I also think they announced his interview on their website. Since when did they ever do that? Did they announce on their website that they interviewed Jim Caldwell for the same position two days earlier? Of course not. They want to help

I approved of Haley’s removal as the Chiefs’ head coach. I felt bad for him after I read some of the reports about what it is like to work at Arrowhead. And now it looks like the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t think Todd Haley is nearly as crazy as the media might like to believe he is.

I’m not saying the media is always right or wrong. It may be that the Steelers did decide to interview Haley as a courtesy but perhaps Todd gave such a great interview that they were forced to reconsider their position.

Regardless, this incident is a nice lesson to all of us to be a little more careful when just spooning up and eating any bit of information the media throws at us. Especially when it is coming from a source.

And yes, even if that news is a negative view of Scott Pioli or Clark Hunt.

Let’s just cut to the chase here. Unless you guys want to hear about my hilarious adventures over the weekend?  See, there was this dinner party, and I couldn’t keep my zipper up……

Clark Hunt

You all know how I feel about Clark Hunt.  My opinion hasn’t changed.

But let’s take opinion out of this for second and look only at what Clark Hunt has done in comparison with other owners.  Because that’s what we need to do if we want to assign him a grade.  Obviously this isn’t a leader who can inspire confidence.  His personality is wooden, his soundbites are sleep-inducing, and he has no connection whatsoever with his team’s fan base.  I’ve literally never seen a less charismatic public figure.  But does that matter?  Maybe not.

Obviously it would be nice to have a likable owner, but none of us would worry too much about that if the team was good.  So if we want to assign Hunt a grade, it should be based not on his personality (or lack thereof), but on how well he performs his duties as owner.

And what are those duties, exactly?  His apologists would like you to believe an owner’s only duty is to sign a GM.  According to them, Hunt should be given an A+ on that front because Scott Pioli seemed like the best candidate at the time.This perspective is flawed on several fronts, the first and most obvious being the actual performance of the team since Scott Pioli took over.  Hunt only scores points for signing Pioli if Pioli succeeds at his job. So far, he has not. Was the right hire still the right hire if it was the wrong hire?*

*According to Scott Pioli, yes, actually, this is true. see Haley, Todd

You don’t get credit for making the choice that seemed right, you get credit for making the choice that was right. Hunt interviewed the most obvious candidate, was delighted to discover he was a like-minded penny-pincher, and pulled the trigger. In true Chiefs fan fashion, we dismissed all potential problems and assumed Hunt had made a slam-dunk hire. Three years later, Pioli’s Chiefs are 21-28.  Can an intelligent brain really come to the conclusion that Hunt gets an A in 2011 for a sub-.500 hire he made in 2009? I’m sorry, but that’s crazy talk.

Still, the Hunt apologists are correct, in a way. There isn’t much an owner is supposed to do.  Choosing a GM is one aspect. But even that is only done at most once every few years. The other aspect, which more often than not is the only thing an owner really has to do, is spending enough to keep his team on an even playing field. And in this aspect Hunt, as ever, has been woefully inadequate.

Make excuses for him if you like, but there is no getting around the fact that every year we spend less than about 30 other teams. Pioli says Hunt has never refused to spend on a given player, and maybe that’s true. But if you’re naive enough to think that tells the whole story, then I just may know a Nigerian prince who could use your assistance.

Hunt talked openly in an October interview about instructing Pioli to manage the cap prudently. This when the team was more than $30 million below the cap, and hadn’t sniffed the ceiling since Lamar passed away. And Clark is instructing him to “manage the cap prudently?” I ask you, what is he really saying there?

I’m going to leave adjectives like “greedy” and “cheap” out of this. In his six years of ownership, Hunt has spent considerably less than his peers, and his team’s record is 36-62. He clearly places profit above winning. That might not make him a bad person (although yeah, it kinda does), but it definitely makes him a bad owner.  Final Grade: F

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David Butler II-US PRESSWIRE

More bad press is on the way for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Mike Jureki of ETRA 910 radio in Arizona is tweeting that the Chiefs may be refusing to pay Todd Haley for the final year of his contract.

Hearing the Chiefs R refusing 2 play Todd Haley the remainder of his salary, was terminated 4 cause, another words 4 a specific reason.

Under normal circumstances, since the Chiefs fired Haley before the end of his agreement, the team would have to pay him him the remainder of his deal. Unless of course, they fired him a specific reason. I’m no lawyer but the way I understand it is that if the team just thought he was bad at his job, they could fire him but they would have to pay him what he was owed. But if Haley in some way engaged in behavior that broke his contract, then the Chiefs might have a case to not pay him.

If this is true, it will bring more bad press on the Chiefs. Haley and the Chiefs are unlikely to agree over this matter which could mean a semi-public squabble. Unless the Chiefs release news that Haley did something serious, this isn’t likely to help convince those that think the organization is pinching pennies to feel any differently.

I wonder if this could be happening because of the Kent Babb report where Babb mentioned that Haley thought his phone might be bugged. The Chiefs could be saying that Haley talking to Babb like that was a violation of his contract. Even though the Chiefs had already fired Haley before the contract broke, the team still might be able to get out of paying Haley if he does something wrong during the period of the contract. It’s confusing and we really won’t know a whole lot until the details, if there are any details, begin to trickle out.

This incident is just another in a long line of reports that are shining an ugly light on the Chiefs.

-Three former employees are suing the Chiefs for age discrimination

-Pioli had to fire his first head coach in less than three years

-The Babb report that quoted many current and former employees complaining about the atmosphere at Arrowhead

-Haley’s belief that his office and maybe even his phone were bugged

-And now the organization potentially refusing to pay Haley the balance of his contract

I know a lot of you think the media makes too much of these kinds of things. Some of you also don’t necessarily believe all of these allegations. That is fair. There is no proof that the Chiefs bugged Haley’s phone. There is no proof that this report about the Chiefs refusing to pay Haley is true. The Babb report could be just a bunch of ex-employees making things sound worse than they are.

I generally tend to believe that when there is smoke, there is fire. Especially if there is a lot of smoke. No matter what side of the fence you are  on, you can’t deny that there is a lot of smoke around Arrowhead these days and that means the organization is going to look bad.

Take just a few comments from the readers over at Pro Football Talk. PFT also posted a story about this report.

riverhorsey says: Jan 26, 2012 9:02 PM

The Chiefs and Pioli are dysfunctional. Good coaches in the future will pass on them pretty quick.

Hunt needs to dump Pioli and move on.

azbroncos says: Jan 26, 2012 9:17 PM

Come on now Chiefs! Thought the organization was better than that. When your situation is compared to the Raiders there’s a problem.

binarybulge says: Jan 26, 2012 8:59 PM

AFC West = AFL = Amateur Football League.

buzzbissinger says: Jan 26, 2012 9:25 PM

After all those years of talking smack about the Raiders, now the sterling Chiefs organization is the ones not making good on contracts, bugging offices, tapping phones. Before you wise guys start chirping about the Raiders and Al Davis, check your own closet for skeletons.

ownbay says: Jan 26, 2012 8:48 PM

The Chefs are becoming the raiders.

This is getting ridiculous. If I were Pioli, I would stop trying to pretend everything is great in Kansas City and dish out a dose of reality. I’d hold a presser and try to clear up as many of these issues as I could so that my side was out there.

The problem is that Pioli is unlikely to do that. He believes in keeping the veil of secrecy over the organization which, as we’ve said many times, will lead to speculation. Speculation isn’t always true but if the Chiefs can’t set the record straight on these matters then folks are going to make up their own minds. And I’m not sure sending mark Donnovan out to say “This is 100% false,” for every incident that comes up is going to work forever.

What do you think Addicts? Do you think the Chiefs are refusing to pay Haley? If so, do you think they have a good reason for it or do you think they are trying to get back at him for the Babb report? Or do you think they’re just cheap?

It has not been a good couple of months for former Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley.

After being fired by the Chiefs, it looked like Haley was going to land on his feet. First there were rumors that he would return to Arizona, where he once served as offensive coordinator. Shortly after that, there were reports that Haley might join former Dolphins head coach turned Jets offensive coordinator Tony Sparano in New York. The belief was that Haley would coordinate the receivers while Sparano focused on the running game.

Then came Kent Babb’s story in the Kansas City Star last weekend that, among other things, mentioned Haley believed that Scott Pioli may have bugged his office and perhaps even his personal cell phone. While Pioli has taken a lot of heat in the wake of Babb’s article, there have also been plenty who have called Haley’s stability and credibility into question.

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According to Pro Football Talk, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told them via email that the NFL had no plans to investigate the recent accusations that the Kansas City Chiefs may have bugged former head coach Todd Haley’s office and/or tampered with his personal cell phone.

The allegations, of course, stem from Kent Babb’s article in the Kansas City Star that was published last weekend.

From PFT:

“The Chiefs have notified us that these claims are completely false and no such allegations have been made to our office,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told PFT by email on Wednesday morning.

Basically the NFL is saying that what is printed in Babb’s article doesn’t mean much so long as nobody comes to them with evidence or claims against the Chiefs. Unless Haley or one of the team’s former employees calls the league, the NFL will likely leave this alone.

According to a report from Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News, former Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Todd Haley will likely not be joining the offensive staff of the New York Jets.

There had been reports that Haley would join former Miami Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sparano, who was recently hired as the Jets’ offensive coordinator, as an offensive assistant. The thinking was that Sparano would focus on the running game while Haley would coordinate the passing attack.

According to Mehta, Haley and the Jets came to a “mutual decision.”

You have to wonder if the recent report from the Kansas City Star alleging that Haley believed Chiefs GM Scott Pioli was bugging his office and phones might have made the Jets wary of bringing Haley on board.

There have also been reports that Haley has met with the Arizona Cardinals and that he could return to the team he helped reach the Super Bowl before coming to Kansas City.

“Winning isn’t everything—it’s the only thing.”

This legendary sports quote is most often attributed to legendary coach Vince Lombardi,* but rarely is it reprinted in its entirety: “Winning isn’t everything—it’s the only thing I love more than picking up candy wrappers.”

*Speaking of Green Bay, I didn’t get to see much of the games this past weekend, but I’m looking forward to Sunday. What time is Saints-Packers?

In the history of sports and coaching—particularly the rarified domain of big-time professional sports ownership and leadership—there have always been idiosyncratic personalities. That’s not news, and it’s one of the reasons why Kansas City Star reporter Kent Babb’s examination of “Arrowhead Anxiety” was as credible in its concept as it was dreadful in some of its details.

The sidebar—“Gold, greed lead to murder”—is actually unrelated.

Babb’s story was a solid piece of reporting, based on weeks of investigation and reflection and more than 30 interviews (as it should be—I wish I hadn’t been so pleasantly surprised by its thoroughness). For that alone, it deserved to be on the front page. As to whether it deserved to be the front page—for anyone who hasn’t seen the hard copy, Babb’s story (and its accompanying, menacing graphic) occupy about 80 percent of the broadsheet (right)—or to be the only sports story discussed in Kansas City and to make its way to many other markets, I have mixed feelings.

Actually, not mixed at all—I hate that we’re talking about this, because even though football is the undercurrent and the reason we care, actual football-on-the-field is removed from this discussion. I understand it’s interesting that Chiefs executives may seem more preoccupied with the surreptitious routes their employees take to lunch (so as not to be seen fraternizing with one another) than they are with Dwayne Bowe’s pass routes,* but does that mean we should be? Can’t we all just get back to relishing the end of Tebow Time?**

*I stole that clever route comparison from Nick Wright, who spent about four hours—three-and-a-half hours too many—discussing this on his show yesterday.

**And its return next fall, which, I feel, will ultimately be a good thing for the Chiefs (and all of the Denver Broncos’ opponents).

Yes, I’m writing about it right now, and no, I don’t think I’m hypocritical for doing so. Not wanting to talk about something and believing it can’t be ignored are two different things. I’m adding to the hubbub,* but I hope that by talking it out now, we will all see this story fade away sooner.

*Couldn’t decide whether to go with “hubbub” or “hullabaloo.” Hullabaloo? Yeah, I should have used hullabaloo.

Because I don’t have much at all to add—it’s hard to imagine how anyone could—to the comprehensive scrutiny laid down by Big Matt and Lyle yesterday. I appreciate the points made all around. I agree with most of Matt’s observations and roughly 100 percent of Lyle’s conclusions (and in the comments, it sounds like Matt agrees more than disagrees, too). So before I leave it at that, I will share just a couple of my own, none-too-profound reactions to the article and its allegations…

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According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, former Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley is going to interview with the New York Jets.

There had been reports that Haley might return to Arizona but those rumors have since cooled.

According to Schefter, the Jets may hire former Dolphins coach Tony Sporano as their new offensive coordinator and that Haley could come on board as assistant head coach. Haley and Sporano have worked together in the past, and there is some feeling that the two could team up in NY with Sporano working on the run game, and Haley having input on the passing attack.

Haley has worked in NY before and this would be something of a homecoming for him. Plus he might fit in nicely with Rex Ryan’s in-your-face demeanor.

“I want [my players] to be strong, I want them to be tough, I want them to be physical, I want them to be aggressive, I want them to be tenacious….did I forget anything? Smart? Yes, that should’ve been at the forefront.”

—Romeo Crennel, upon accepting the job as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs
January 9, 2012

Yep, the Kansas City Chiefs and Romeo Crennel made it official. This interim is over, and yesterday they got together to let the world know: They are in love. For now, at least. Even when you’ve started out as friends, any serious relationship takes work—What’s the give and take? How do we want to raise our family? Who will be our starting quarterback?—and this partnership might take more work than most.

The Chiefs, of course, are at a crucial juncture. Some think one small tweak* could lead them to the Super Bowl. But the possibilities are downright Shakespearean. Will we see tragedy, as we did for too many recent years, or comedy—you know, the good Shakespearean kind that always has a happy ending but for some reason isn’t really funny at all? Or just another comedy of errors?

*Peyton Manning?

Crennel has said all the right things publicly—he is here to win a championship and thinks it can happen and soon—but what is he really thinking?

At times when I feel like I don’t have nearly as much as others to add to this ongoing Chiefs conversation in terms of facts, figures, and analysis (these times include the off-season, the pre-season, the post-season, and, occasionally, the regular season), I opt to have some fun and squeeze my ramblings into rhyme or rap or greeting cards or even Mad Libs.

So here we go: In tribute to Romeo Crennel’s namesake* and with apologies to Bill Shakespeare (or whoever really wrote Romeo & Juliet and those other plays that bear his name) and to all of you, I offer our fair Romeo’s first inner monologue as Chiefs head coach—yes, in iambic pentameter (except, you know, when it’s not)…

*Seriously, Crennel is named after Shakespeare’s Romeo. He even has a sister named Juliet.

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I’m liking this Crennel hire more and more by the minute.

According to Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star, one of the first things Romeo Crennel did upon becoming interim head coach of the Chiefs was call out Thomas Jones.

Actually, the first thing he did was bench Tyler Palko.

From Mellinger:

Crennel is 18 years older than Pioli, strikingly comfortable in his own skin and secure in his own accomplishments. He calls his boss Scott, and the first thing he did upon taking over was switch quarterbacks. The second thing was to tell Scott that he switched quarterbacks.

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According to Jason La Canfora of NFL.com, former Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley will rejoin the Arizona Cardinals as a member of the team’s offensive coaching staff.

Haley was the offensive coordinator for Arizona the year the team nearly defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl. After that game, Haley was hired to be the head coach of the Chiefs.

I think this is a pretty good move for Haley. His reputation is somewhat tarnished from his time in KC. Rather than take time off, he will be able to jump right back into coaching in a familiar situation. Haley is young and may be able to coach his way into another top job should he do well again in Arizona.

We wish Haley the best out west. Except when he goes up against the Chiefs of course.

As the Chiefs begin their head coach search, most analysts seem to point to interim head coach Romeo Crennel as the most likely candidate to get the job. Crennel has obviously been great for this team as a defensive coordinator and the team played well under him in the last three games of the season, ending 2-1 including a win against Green Bay and a razor-thin overtime loss to Oakland.

Still, I have my qualms with him.

I think Chiefs fans need to take a hard look at the entirety of this season and what Crennel can take credit for and what he can’t. There was also a lot I saw in the games Crennel led that had me pulling my hair out – tendencies I think could spell death for the Chiefs in 2012 if Crennel remains in charge of the game plans.

My problems with Romeo after the jump. (more…)

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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Earlier this last week when I was talking to my wife about who the Chiefs played on Sunday I concluded my observation with “so we’ll probably lose by 30 points, but then again it would be just like the Chiefs to play horrible for weeks and then be the ones to knock off the undefeated world champions.” When I said it it, I was joking and didn’t really think we had a shot. Little did I know I would end up being right. The Chiefs really made a statement to the entire NFL yesterday. They have not given up even after debilitating injuries, a disappointing season, and a head coaching change. More importantly, they sent a message that when they add Eric Berry and Jamaal Charles back to this roster teams should be afraid.

On a day like today it is important to enjoy this great win. The Chiefs are still in all likelihood out of the playoffs, but after a season like this it was a great moral boost. Chiefs fans deserve to be happy and enjoy this win for a while. That having been said, we should also resist the urge to go overboard on what this win means. Some fans are already talking like Crennel and Orton are now destined to lead us to the Super Bowl next season. They both had fantastic debuts on Sunday. They both deserve a ton of praise for their performances (as do the offensive play callers). So just how much weight should we put into what we saw on Sunday?

After the jump I’ll give my thoughts on Crennel as the long-term HC, Orton as the long-term QB, and life without Todd Haley.

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No, my title isn’t in reference to the Chiefs’ amazing upset win over the Packers. That was definitely magical, but the moment I’m referring to happened before the game even started.

I told them we’re making a change at quarterback, that we’re changing the quarterback and that Tyler [Palko] would not be the starter this week. [Kyle] Orton or [Ricky] Stanzi will be the starter. Which one? I’m not exactly sure yet because Orton has a finger that he has got to work through, and we’ll have to see during the week how his finger is and how he comes along and if he can handle it with that finger. Stanzi is a rookie and if Orton is able to go and can do it, then Orton is going to be the quarterback. If Orton cannot do it, then Stanzi will be the quarterback, and I told the team that today

That quote reached into my soul and called to me. (Cue a whispery female ghost voice. Something like the Lady Galadriel, if she were dead.)

“Follow this man, Big Matt…..he was asked a question, and he answered it……he didn’t lie…..”

Seriously, can we all take a look at how easy that was? Get asked a question, answer it. Fuc*%n’ crazy, right? It’s like he’s not interested in deceiving us. What gives?

Crennel went on to voluntarily offer that he made the decision before consulting Scott Pioli. He said that without being asked. This was a really unexpected breath of fresh air. Like somebody finally cracked a window in the dank, putrid basement the Chiefs have been keeping us in for the past five years.

And what did this heinous leak in the Arrowhead secrecy structure cost the team? Nothing. The players know the score, the fans know the score, and ill feelings in the media instantly dissipate. This is what I’ve been begging for ever since The Patriot Way was installed.

The Chiefs got a big win yesterday. Huge. I’d love to see us win out. The positive vibes that would create around Crennel would be well worth the drop in draft position. But even if we lose the last two, I’ll probably still be behind Crennel as next year’s head coach based on that one answer alone and what it tells me about him.

Get the obvious stuff right, and explain your reasoning. Do those two things, and you’ll find an enthusiastic supporter in Big Matt.

more after le jump:
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I actually originally wrote this post before Todd Haley was fired. The content is still valid as we move forward I just had to tweak some of my thoughts from “can Todd Haley be the guy to fix this?” to “who should the Chiefs look to in order to fix this?”

When I say the Chiefs aren’t built to win in today’s NFL I’m not just making a random observation. I spent the last week looking over the numbers from the last three seasons to see what areas of success on the field translate best into Ws in the win column. The results that I found did not exactly give me a lot of confidence in the Chiefs going forward. Unfortunately I’m not just talking about the final three games of this season either. If the KC Chiefs want to be a legit Super Bowl contender the stats say that they need to make some real changes.

Here’s what I did.

I looked over the stats from the first 12 games of this season (so this last weekend’s games aren’t factored in). I also looked at the numbers from the 2010 and 2009 seasons. I looked at 7 statistical areas.

Points Per Game
Points Per Game Allowed
Turn Over Margin
Passing Yards Per Game
Rushing Yards Per Game
Passing Yards Allowed Per Game
Rushing Yards Allowed Per Game

Then I looked at the top 10 teams as well as the bottom 10 teams in each of those areas for each year and looked up the records for each of those teams. What I was looking for was to see if certain areas of success translated to more wins then others. I only did the last three seasons because I feel like with how the NFL is constantly evolving this would give the best snapshot of how teams are winning right now.

My results after the jump.

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Now that recent Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Todd Haley has been “relieved of his duties” (and, presumably, his salary), it’s time to dust off that resume. This is a tough time to be looking for employment, and prospects are especially grim for a man whose primary job skills are his ability and tendency to yell at quarterbacks and NFL officials (honestly, the only place an NFL coach can get hired right now is Coors Light). Fortunately, it seems that Haley has already been busy revising the top part of his resume to reflect his hard-earned experience as a member of the Chiefs organization. Let’s take a look!

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Former Kansas City Chiefs T Jared Gaither, who the team surprisingly cut two weeks ago, turned in his second strong performance in a row Sunday for the San Diego Chargers.

“I did it more for what we have done offensively,” Chargers coach Norv Turner said. “Then, when you watch the tape, he was deserving of the game ball. I don’t know where we would be if we didn’t get Gaither.”

There are a lot of people who deserve to take some crap for the Gaither disaster. Todd Haley and Bill Muir were out there watching the guy play every day so they are at the top of the list. Right behind them is Scott Pioli who actually made the personnel move.

Kansas City Chiefs coach Todd Haley was fired yesterday after nearly three years with the organization.

Chiefs owner Clark Hunt and GM Scott Pioli held a press conference in the afternoon which you can view at KCChiefs.com

Later in the day, Haley released a statement.

“First, I would like to thank Clark Hunt and the kansas city chiefs for giving me the opportunity to coach this historic franchise. Growing up in the NFL, watching my Dad help build those great Pittsburgh Steeler teams, I have a profound love for this league. This opportunity has been a dream come true.

I would like to sincerely thank my coaches and my players for their commitment and loyalty throughout my time with the chiefs.

The rest of Haley’s statement is after the jump.

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Todd Haley had to go.

Over the next week or so there will be plenty of conversation and debate about Scott Pioli vs. Todd Haley. Blame will be placed on both men. We’ll try to make as much sense of the situation as we can piecing together quotes and tweets and reports of secret conversations that happened four months ago between a reporter and the head coach or GM. Reporters will start releasing tidbits of information they’ve been sitting on for months before because they were sworn to secrecy.

Heck, it’s already begun.

But what shouldn’t be lost among the attention-grabbing “I knew this was going to happen all along” headlines that we will see in the next few days, is that regardless of what went down over the course of Todd Haley’s tenure with the Chiefs, the axe needed to fall, and it needed to fall now.

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Drums, drums in the deep (via newshopper.com)

So much crow.  So many people.

“Pioli and Haley’s relationship is fine.”

“No chance Haley gets fired.”

“These guys play their hearts out for him.”

“Todd Haley is a great coach.”

There is a lesson here.  Allow your personal feelings to influence your judgement, and you risk a shaming.  Those who thought Brodie Croyle had a golden arm?  Shamed.  Those who thought Glenngarry Glenn Dorsey was going to be a “beast”?  Shamed.  Those who thought Thom Jones was a good addition to this team?  Double-shamed.  And those of us who thought Haley was a good coach?  Looks like we’re officially shamed as well.

We all want good things to happen for the Chiefs, but what we want has no bearing on the reality of the situation.  If being a Chiefs fan has taught us anything, it’s that.  We have to recognize the difference between what we want to happen, and what we think will happen.  Because they aren’t the same thing.  With this team, they usually aren’t in the same ball park.

When reading Paddy’s Haley piece last week, I was struck by a remarkable difference between his positives and negatives.  The negatives (immaturity, blowout losses, ridiculous preseason “freshness” strategy, love of awful running backs) are all remarkably clear.  They cannot be argued.  Many have tried.  All have failed.

His positives, on the other hand, are extremely debatable.  The “master motivator” label, which was always dubious, became more laughable with each blowout loss.  Yes, when gifted the NFL’s easiest schedule in the league’s easiest division, Haley led the team to a division title.*  Norv Turner did that three times in five years and nobody is saying he should keep his job.  Last season was fun, no doubt, but backing into the playoffs and getting exposed right off the bat is not a justifiable reason to keep a head coach for another two years.

*The same could be said for Matt Cassel.  Does that make him a good quarterback?

more after le jump:

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The Kansas City Chiefs have fired head coach Todd Haley.

We’re monitoring the reaction and fall out. Here are some notes about what we are hearing so far.

-Romeo Crennel will be the team’s interim head coach.

-There are reports that GM Scott Pioli is telling folks that Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, Pioli’s good friend, is the leading candidate to replace Haley.

-Perhaps not coincidentally, Chiefs QB Ricky Stanzi played under Ferentz at Iowa.

-Some players are speaking out. On Twitter, a fan tweeted at Jared Gaither that if Haley had been fired two weeks ago that Gaither would still be a Chiefs.

Gaither’s reply?

“That’s the way the cookie crumbles.”

And then we saw this from former Chiefs safety Jarrad Page:

@JarradPage44
What goes around comes around!!!!

Jason La Canfora of NFL Network is reporting that defensive coordinator Romeo Crenel will be named the interim head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs in the wake of Todd Haley’s firing.

Crennel is the logical choice to take over the job for the rest of the season. He has head coaching experience with the Cleveland Browns and is someone that GM Scott Pioli trusts given their time together in New England.

Crennel could also be a potential candidate to take over the job permanently should Pioli desire to give it to him. Crennel will take over the team with three games to go.

The Kansas City Chiefs have decided to fire head coach Todd Haley before the end of the season. The news is fresh but we wanted to get your initial feelings on the move.

Midway through the third quarter of the Chiefs’ humiliating loss to the New York Jets I decided I no longer wanted Todd Haley to be the head coach of my beloved Kansas City Chiefs.

Haley’s refusal to use Ricky Stanzi in yesterday’s blowout loss was absolutely irresponsible. The Jets have a very good defense and Haley was dealt a bad hand with injuries to Matt Cassel, Jamaal Charles and Tony Moeaki but the Chiefs had four total yards at halftime yesterday. Four.

This, for me, was a moment of truth for Haley. I said as much in the AA Radio mini-cast I recorded at halftime. What Haley needed to do in the second half of that game was crystal clear. He needed to send Ricky Stanzi into the game to see if the rookie could spark the offense.

The score was 28-3. The team’s playoff hopes were hanging in the balance. This was Todd Haley’s last chance to do something drastic to save the season.

And what did he do?

He sent Tyler Palko trotting back onto the football field while Ricky Stanzi stood on the sideline with a bewildered look on his face. In fact, every time I see Stanzi these days he has a bewildered look on his face.

Who can blame him?

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The Kansas City Chiefs got demolished by the New York Jets Sunday.

The rout was on pretty much from the beginning when the Chiefs allowed the Jets to march down the field on their first drive for a TD.

The Chiefs managed to pull within four after a great Dustin Colquitt punt and a three and out by the Jets allowed the Chiefs to get close enough for a 53-yard FG from Ryan Succop.

The KC defense managed to get another stop before Tyler Palko threw an interception to set the Jets up with favorable field position. NY would take advantage and punch the ball in for a 14-3 lead.

From there the KC offense pretty much gave the game away. They failed to move the ball at all, keeping a tired Chiefs defense on the field. The game was over at halftime.

There was some hope that Todd Haley would give Ricky Stanzi a chance to spark the offense but he stuck with Palko and the Chiefs continued to lose.

We’ll have more later but for now, join us for the Arrowhead Addict Chiefs Post Game show live at 3:30 central on Block Talk Radio.

Arrowhead Addict writers seem to have had a fickle relationship with our two-year head coach, and I think expectations play a big role in that. But first I want to adopt a rule to all discussions about potential coaching changes: it is not enough to simply say that someone should be fired. You have to say whom you will replace Haley with.

In that case, let’s look at the potential candidates:

Bill Cowher, Super Bowl-winning, ex-Steelers coach – Would be great, but he’s spent years surveying the field of teams he would potentially be interested in taking over, and he could have nearly every job in the NFL if he wanted to. First of all, he would almost certainly never choose the Chiefs — all reports indicate he wants to go to a strong team with audacious, non-meddlesome management, preferably in a warm climate. Also, if he wanted to be coaching at all, he probably would be.

Jon Gruden, Super Bowl-winning, ex-Bucs coach – Ditto. He re-signed with ESPN in 2011 for five more years of sports casting. He’s also one of the most coveted coaches and, again, I doubt he would settle for a small-market team with a stingy owner.

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One of the big decisions that Kansas City Chiefs GM Scott Pioli will have to make this offseason is whether or not to retain head coach Todd Haley.

2012 is the last year of Haley’s contract and rather than go into the season with a lame duck coach, Pioli may want to decide now whether to extend Haley or cut him loose. Switching coaches after only three years seems to go against Pioli’s slow and steady, substance-over-sizzle style. Then again, it may be that Haley has shown way to much sizzle for Pioli. There have been multiple rumors, both locally and nationally, of strife between the GM and his head coach.

Regardless of whether the rumors are accurate, Pioli has a decision to make and he has to make it soon. Let’s take a look at some bullet points of both the good and bad that has been Todd Haley.

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Somewhere in a dark room within the Chiefs practice complex a film projector is rolling.  In the room, instead of a group of players or coaches, Todd Haley and Kyle Orton sit alone.  Rolling on the projector is not film from last Sunday’s defensive battle* between the Chiefs and Bears, but an old game tape from late December in 1990 between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Diego Chargers.  Those of us old enough to remember or smart enough to Google it know that this game clenched the Red and Gold a playoff berth that year.  I’d like to imagine that Haley is talking to Orton not about how Chiefs QB Steve DeBerg played, but instead that he is pointing to the broken pinky on his non-throwing hand that had a peg driven through it.  He’s replaying every hit that DeBerg took.  Haley’s message is as blunt as it is clear: This is what is means to be a Chiefs quarterback.  We spent more than 2 million dollars making you a Chiefs QB to salvage the end of our season so you better man up and get on the field Sunday.

*Although it was indeed a spirited effort by the KC defense last Sunday, this is one of my most loathed euphemisms in all of sports.  It’s used to describe a struggle between two offensively inept teams that, despite having all of football’s rules changed to enhance scoring, still are incapable of moving the ball into the end zone.

It’s no secret that I am a big DeBerg fan, those of you that have been reading the site long enough may remember that I centered my first post around ol’ Steve-o being my favorite Chiefs quarterback.  Yet this article isn’t about how tough DeBerg was.  It also isn’t about saving the Chiefs’ season or the fact that I incessantly get shit from people here in Denver about KC picking up Denver’s garbage for one play while they all pray at the Tebow alter.  This article is about mental and physical toughness at the quarterback position, and whether or not Orton wants to salvage his career.

More after the jump…

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Some weeks I start planning my “Armchair Addict” column several days in advance. I like to dig around and do some research and maybe see if anyone else in the blogosphere has written anything similar to what I’m brainstorming. Sometimes I’ll even write the complete column a day or so in advance and then go back and “tweak” it leading up to it hitting the site if I have a new idea or come up with a better way to get my point accross.

This my friends, is not one of those weeks. I’ll spare you all the personal details and just say I’ve been under the weather. So this week, for better or worse, you’re just getting my unfiltered random thoughts coming off the Chiefs 10-3 win over the Bears.

* First off, am I the only one that found this game hillarious to watch? I mean from the absolutely inept offenses, to the injury to Orton on his FIRST SNAP, to the Chiefs finally needing a deflected Hail Mary pass to break their TD drought, to the debilitating penalties by both teams at the worst possible times, the Bears’ missed FG, Hanie throwing a pick in the end zone and overthrowing a wide open WR for an easy score, or my favorite the wide open Barber TD pass that was called back by a penalty, I just felt like the entire game needed the Looney Tunes theme playing in the background. Anybody else find this game funny or has the combination of lack of sleep and medication just made me slap happy?

* Even though I found it humorous that the Chiefs needed a deflected Hail Mary to break their TD drought doesn’t mean I think the play was complete luck. To my eye, McCluster was clearly assigned the job of standing in front of the “jump mob” to watch for deflections. His back is to the QB and he’s watching the jumping players. This makes since given that McCluster is so short that he’s not out jumping anyone for a ball in the air. That’s good coaching.

* Thomas Jones had 36 yards on 16 carries. That’s 2.3 yards per carry. The sad part is that we can’t scream that those carries should have gone to Battle because he still averaged almost a yard less per carry then Jones did. If we can’t find a QB that can throw more than short crossing routes and screens, our RBs have no chance. Dex was the only one that was effective at all on a couple of delays and draws.

More after the jump:

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The Kansas City Chiefs have almost no hope of defeating the New England Patriots tonight on Monday Night Football. KC has lost their starting QB, S, TE and HB to injuries. Three of those players were Pro Bowlers in 2010. The Chiefs are a shell of the team that won the AFC West a season ago.

Still, this is the NFL, and the Chiefs can’t give up. Strange things happen all the time in this league. To help soften the blow of what could be a very ugly game for KC fans, I’ve come up with five underhanded ways the Chiefs might be able to beat the Pats.

Hope springs eternal. This is how it could go down.

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As we all know, the Chiefs have dealt with some devastating injuries this year.  To their credit, they have not used this as an excuse, at least not that I’ve heard.  Scott Pioli, in fact, was recently quoted as saying that, “No one else cares about your problems.”  Herm Edwards complained about injuries when he had one of the healthiest teams in the NFL, so it was a real breath of fresh air to see Pioli take the high road when his team actually has lost some of its best players.

Haley, although prone to the occassional idiotic soundbite, is not an excuse-maker generally.  This is probably what I like best about him.  He did come dangerously close to insinuating that the four-game winning streak was due to his ridiculous preseason “freshness” strategy, but the blowout loss to Miami stopped that thought process in its tracks.

Maybe Haley just can’t talk about injuries because of what a dismal failure his injury prevention strategy was.  The whole topic is probably somewhat taboo for him at this point.  And as the season gets uglier, he may be sorely tempted to reach for that excuse in order to save his job.  But I don’t think he will.  At least I hope not.  If/when Haley loses his job, I would at least like my favorite character trait of his to remain intact.

Still, whether or not Pioli and Haley use injuries as an excuse, the PR department most definitely will.  I’m fully expecting to read an article from Josh Looney at some point referencing the Chiefs’ “historic bad luck.”  It will likely come in the form of some sort of seemingly innocuous fun-fact.  “Did you know no team has ever had 3 starters tear ACLs in the first month of the season?  Weird, huh, guys?”  It will sound innocent, but the directive to write that article will have come straight from the top.

And even if Looney doesn’t go there (which he will), the apologist brigade certainly will.  In fact, they already have.

What I’m saying is, Pioli and Haley may not publicly make excuses, and for that they deserve some dap.  Still, the excuse will most definitely be made, on multiple levels.  The question is, just how valid is the injury excuse for this year’s Chiefs?

Your boy Big Matt’s take after the jump:

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First things first. Get rid of Jones.

The Kansas City Chiefs may end up having a very disappointing 2011 season but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t begin taking steps now to ensure that they have a successful 2012.

There are a number of moves I think the Chiefs should make as the 2011 season winds down and as the offseason begins that can give them a head start on turning things around next season.

Here are 13 moves I think the Chiefs should make.

1. Cut Thomas Jones

They’ll never do it. At no point would the Chiefs want to lose his locker room leadership or disrespect the veteran RB.

Yet it can’t be ignored that Jones’ biggest contribution to the 2011 Chiefs has been decking Jonathan Baldwin and costing the rookie half of his rookie season.

Despite their love affair with Jones, not even the Chiefs are stupid enough to bring him back in 2012.

So why not cut the cord early? The Chiefs need to get a good, hard look at Jackie Battle, and they have Shaun Draughn on the practice squad who could be brought up to see some action.

Jones is finished. It is just silly to hold back young talent that might actually develop to save the feelings of a millionaire running back whose time in the NFL is up. Especially in what is sure to be a lost season. Draughn could have a future with the Chiefs. KC will likely get a chance to see him in action in games that don’t matter. They should take advantage of it.

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Give the man the ball.

The Kansas City Chiefs look to star in their very own David and Goliath story this Monday Night when they travel to New England to take on the heavily, heavily favored Patriots.

The Chiefs will pretty much have to play a perfect football game while hoping the Patriots have one of their worst games of the season. That might be a pessimistic view but considering the Chiefs are coming off back to back home losses to the Dolphins and Broncos and are going into this game with Tyler Palko as their starting QB, I’ve not been given a lot of reason for optimism.

Still, this is the NFL and the difference between really bad teams and really good teams can close quite quickly in certain circumstanced.

Here are five KC players who will need to be on top of their game if their team hopes to compete with the explosive Patriots.

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Kansas City Chiefs Coach Todd Haley told reporters today that QB Matt Cassel underwent surgery on his injured hand and that things went “really well.”

Haley noted that the team was still holding out hope that Cassel could return at some point this season and indicated that his first week of recovery following the surgery should give the team a pretty good idea on a timetable for Cassel’s return.

Until then, the Chiefs will hold off placing Cassel on IR.

For now, it’s the Tyler Palko/Ricky Stanzi show.

Remember who the last Chiefs QB was to wear #4?

Fortuna is the Roman Goddess of luck and fortune. She can bring both good and bad fortune.

If she’s real, one has to wonder what the Kansas City Chiefs did to piss her off.

The Kansas City Chiefs knew they were facing a tough task when the 2011 NFL schedule told them they would have to go to New England to play the Patriots on Monday Night Football.

What they probably didn’t bet on, however, is that they’d be facing the Patriots with their backup QB, backup strong safety, backup TE and fourth-string running back.

The good news here is that their fourth-string running back turned out to be better than their second- and third-string running backs. The bad news is, they haven’t seemed to have figured that out yet.

The Chiefs still have weapons, but it is going to take one hell of a game plan for their offense to keep pace with the Patriots, particularly when that offense will be led by a man making his first NFL start ever.

Yes, Todd Haley’s team has been put in a tough spot indeed and while Fortuna certainly hasn’t been kind to them thus far in 2011, perhaps there is a way they can get back in her good graces.

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Now that Kansas City Chiefs QB Matt Cassel has gone down with what is likely a season-ending hand injury, it is time to step back and evaluate his performance with the Chiefs.

Kansas City is a team at a crossroad. They’ve suffered a multitude of devastating injuries in 2011 that they likely won’t be able to recover from. Despite all that, it is clear that the defending AFC West champs have significant talent on both sides of the football. Regardless of how 2011 plays out, the Kansas City Chiefs could very well be a good football team in 2012.

The two remaining questions in KC, however, are the two most important questions facing any NFL team. Questions that must be answered.

Do we have the right QB?

Do we have the right head coach?

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As the final seconds of another disappointing game ticked away yesterday I wasn’t sure I’d be able to write my piece this week. I HATE being “doom and gloom” about the Chiefs. Life is stressful enough on its own. My view point has always been that I follow the Chiefs because it brings me enjoyment and is a good get away from life’s stresses. So why would I sit around and stress out about something that is suppose to be my escape from stress. That’s why I focus on the positive. That’s why I tend to be optimistic. That’s why I don’t like to write negative pieces, because I don’t like to think that way and I know some of you are like me and don’t want to read piece after piece that talks about how bad things are.

Which brings me to why I didn’t think I’d be able to write a piece this week. I don’t have much positive to say. Are the Chiefs only a game out of first place? Yes. Do I think they have a shot at winning this division at this point? Not unless the other teams fall flat on their faces. I thought about writing a piece about all the pieces the Chiefs have in place for next season. As I was thinking about that topic I thought to myself “I’d really like to know what most fans think about all these areas.” Then I remembered one of my first pieces here at AA. It was a fan quiz that determined what kind of fan you are (i.e. homer, hater, etc). So that’s the angle I’ve decided to go with today. The only difference is instead of figuring out what kind of fan you are, we’re going to figure out how close or how far you think the Chiefs are from being a legit Super Bowl contender.

Come take the quiz after the jump.

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Things can change quickly in the NFL.

Just three months ago, the Indianapolis Colts were a perennial Super Bowl contender with one of the greatest QBs of all time leading their offense.

Now they’re the league’s worst team, and their offense is led by the blond guy Bruce Willis killed at the end of Die Hard.

At the end of the 2010 season, the Kansas City Chiefs were a young, up-and-coming division champion. They were looking to use the offseason to fill holes and surround their developing QB with the receiving tools he needed to take his game and his team to the next level.

Three games into the 2011 season, Matt Cassel was a bum and head coach Todd Haley was likely just games away from getting canned.

Fast forward a few weeks, and the 2011 Kansas City Chiefs were a first place team; Matt Cassel was building chemistry with his receivers; Jon Baldwin was in the mix; and Todd Haley was getting the very beginnings of Coach of the Year buzz.

And now?

Well, if you aren’t confused yet, you haven’t been paying attention. Hell, even if you have been paying attention you are likely flummoxed.

The NFL narrative changes that fast.

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Offensively, I think you have to start with Tim Tebow. I think he’s done a terrific job in there. Like I said, they’re getting more and more comfortable as are most teams in the NFL. I know our team [is]. Each and every week you can see it on tape. They’re finding an identity. That identity is to run the football for a lot of yards, make plays in the passing game when their great run ability creates and allows that, and they’ve got a number of good receivers. I think you can see this [Eric] Decker is a good, young player, good at his position, makes a lot of plays, gets the ball thrown his way a bunch. Eddie Royal is a dangerous, dangerous receiver and returner. We’ll get to that in a minute. Demaryius Thomas is a good, young receiver, up and coming that has had some injury issues, but when he’s out there, he looks pretty good. In the running game, when you have a quarterback that can run the ball the way that Tim does, it creates major issues for defenses, as you see on tape.

From www.kcchiefs.com (share this quote)

Check out the full text of Haley’s presser at KCChiefs.com.

Apparently, the Chiefs don’t do so well against AFC East opponents at home in 2011. That is one thing we did learn this weekend. Not only did the winless Miami Dolphins’ streak of, you know, being winless come to an emphatic end with a 31-3 exorcism at Arrowhead, but a couple of other streaks fizzled out on Sunday, too, starting with K.C.’s own recent undefeated stretch. So it looks like there will be no unprecedented 13-3 season after an 0-3 start, no 16-game run to a Super Bowl title. Oh well.

Perhaps, too, this marks the conclusion of Head Coach Todd Haley’s days as a bedraggled, unwashed sideline hobo. “I want to take my hat off to Miami,” he said after the game, effectively announcing an end to the streak in which he has worn the same streaked cap since the autumnal equinox.

But what’s weird, or not so weird, is that—other than dropping the Chiefs back to 4-4 for the first half of the season (and, hey, who saw even that as a strong possibility back in mid-September?)—the unfortunate events of November 6, 2011, tell us almost nothing about what is coming next for this team in the second half of the season.

Will these Chiefs beat the Denver Broncos at home this Sunday? I have no idea. Probably? Maybe not?

Will these Chiefs win the AFC West? I have no idea. Maybe? Probably not? It is possible. Of course it’s possible. They are currently in a three-way tie for first, and as rough as their second half looks, the road facing each of their divisional compatriots looks just as tough. This team could still end up 6-10 or 8-8 or even 9-7, but which nine? Which seven?

So, at the midway point, I might as well make one semi-bold prediction:

The Kansas City Chiefs will beat the Green Bay Packers.

That’s right. You read it here first. Unless, of course, you’d already read it somewhere else, and that’s okay, too.

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