The 2014 Kansas City Chiefs: How To Stop The Bleeding
The Kansas City Chiefs entered their season opener against the Tennessee Titans with hopes of building off their remarkable 11-5 playoff season in 2013. Unfortunately, after a 26-10 defeat in front of their own home fans, “hope” is no longer a word that seems to fit the 2014 Chiefs. I was there in attendance at Arrowhead as the worries of a poor preseason became validated regular season problems right in front of our eyes. Hope was hard to come by. You could see the concern and frustration on the faces of just about every fan in attendance. It was as if the collective Chiefs Kingdom were all thinking:
“Was last year a fluke?”
“Is this going to be 2012 all over again?”
It definitely felt more like 2012 in the stadium then it did 2013, but while I’m not willing to declare that the sky is falling. I’m also not here to tell you that everything is going to be fine. Yes, it is only one game, but it was supposed to be the easiest game in the front end of the Chiefs schedule. You can make a strong case that the next five games are all potentially more challenging than the Titans game.
at Denver
at Miami
vs New England
at San Francisco
at San Diego
Four of the five games are on the road. Four of the five games are against playoff teams from last season. Three of the five are against teams that played in their conference championship game last season. The only non-playoff team of the group is the Dolphins and they just handed the Patriots a loss in their home opener.
The bottom line, my fellow Chiefs fans, is that if the team that took the field against the Titans is the team that shows up for the next five games the Kansas City Chiefs will start the season 0-6. That’s not “negative nancy” talk. That’s not being an over reactionary doom and gloom profit. That’s being realistic given how bad they played on Sunday and how difficult the schedule is over the next five games. Also, keep in mind that the Chiefs are now just 2-7 since their magical 9-0 start to 2013. So it’s not like going 0-5 in the next five games is that far fetched.
Here’s the good news.
After those five games the schedule does get easier. Six of their final ten games are at home and seven of the ten are against teams that missed the playoffs in 2013. In order for Kansas City to have any chance of salvaging the 2014 season they must stop the bleeding quickly. They must find a way to prevent starting 0-6. Even just going 2-4 may put them in position to battle for a wild card spot down the stretch. While that may seem impossible given how bad they played against Tennessee coupled with the loss of two defensive starters (especially Derrick Johnson) to injury, I still believe there are things they can do to help right the ship.
I’ve got five easy steps that the Chiefs could follow that I believe would give them the best chance to turn things around. They aren’t far fetched. You won’t find any “they should trade (insert KC player) for a Pro Bowl caliber offensive lineman” crazy talk here. I feel these are all realistic steps that could improve on the train wreck that was the Titans game.
Let’s start with the easiest (and most obvious) fix…….