Alex Smith: Time for Chiefs to bench him?

The Kansas City Chiefs need to do something. On Monday night, the Chiefs were blown out by the Green Bay Packers, despite the final score being 38-28. At one point, the score was 31-7, and Kansas City was being outgained something like 400-90.

Alex Smith was the epicenter of the disaster, completing 2-of-7 passes for 39 yards before being intercepted in the third quarter. Smith’s final line was 24-of-40 for 290 yards with a touchdown and the aforementioned pick, but it was much worse than that.

During the game, folks like ESPN’s Louis Riddick were calling for Smith to be benched. At halftime, I felt it was time to put Chase Daniel in the game. Afterwards, I tweeted that thought out, and ex-Chiefs defensive lineman Shaun Smith retweeted it.

This morning, former Kansas City receiver Marc Boerichter was championing a piece by Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star, who blamed the loss on Smith.

Hell, former New York Giants and Chiefs kicker Lawrence Tynes tweeted this out:

Hard to disagree with any of this. The worrisome thing is Smith is regressing despite a ton of weapons around him.

The popular argument in his favor is the offensive line, which was brutal last night. Yet, there are plenty of good quarterbacks who move the ball and score points with mediocre protection. If you want a few examples, look at Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Carson Palmer, Ryan Tannehill, Andrew Luck and Ben Roethlisberger. Hell, Roethlisberger and Drew Brees shared the passing title last year, and neither team could block at all.

Nobody expects Smith to play like Roethlisberger or Brees, but can he ever have a game with 300 yards passing? Can he ever convert on third down? Head coach Andy Reid calls a ton fo short stuff and screens, but it appears to be because he does not trust Smith.

At this point, Daniel can’t be worse than Smith. Outside of the first half of the first game, Smith has looked like a rookie … or a backup.