I know a large segment of my readers are, like me, disgruntled, impatient, but loyal, fans of the Kansas City Chiefs. And since the fall of the 'House of Peterson', getting any information out of One Arrowhead Drive has been next to impossible. So in an effort to keep you as informed as the Pioli/Haley regime will allow, I'm going to pass along everything I currently know plus some opinion. So here's your red meat Chiefs' fans.

How did we get into such a hole?

We had an owner, Lamar Hunt, who was loyal to a fault. Mr. Hunt was a good man, a man who had a lot invested in Kansas City. But quite simply he stayed with Jack Steadman as general manager for ten years too long, then sadly, he didn't learn anything from that & he kept Carl Peterson about ten years too long as well. Peterson's self proclaimed "five-year Super Bowl plan" lasted 19 years & never provided  that trip. Our 1st round draft picks were never signed by the start of training camp & were always behind the learning curve. We suffered thru 3 coaches that should never have been here. We haven't won a playoff game in 15 years but the stands were full to the point there was a substantial waiting list for season tickets, at one time. The Chiefs led the league in attendance for many years. You couldn't go 2 blocks in a 4-state area without seeing a fan proudly wearing a Chiefs' jersey, cap or jacket. Sports talk radio was about 80% Chiefs' talk radio all year round. The Chiefs were as popular as a team could be without being a consistent playoff winner.

Since I've never been privy to see the Chiefs' draft board, I have no idea if their scouting department is major culprit of this seemingly endless stream of lackluster talent. I have written about the draft for almost 30 years, I watch over 250 college games a year &  feel like I have somewhat of a clue regarding draftable players. For nearly 15 years their drafts have been abominable for the most part. Is it the scouting? Is it the way the coaching staff interprets the scouting reports? Is it an iron-fisted general manager who picks who he wants? 

The draft is a very large part of the problem. The draft that gave us the talent to set an all-time NFL record for the fewest sacks in a season. How can you beat a record set during a strike season? Tennessee & the mighty Oakland Raiders both ran for over 300 yards at Arrowhead, something that was unheard of for the better part of two decades. Mighty Buffalo hung 54 points on our Chiefs, also at Arrowhead.

Is it the coaching staff & the schemes they implement? That is absolutely part of the problem. This team's been thru 3 head coaches, 2 of them were supposedly defensive coaches, Cunningham & Edwards. Late last season Herm Edwards said the team was "nearly 80% built, they just need playing time". That told me not only is the scouting department absolutely clueless, but the coaching staff was as well. Unless they were moving to the Arena League, this team was nowhere near ready to contend. Our GM continued providing talent off the waiver wire, picking up such gems as Devard Darling, Pat Thomas & B.J. Sams.

Put all of these failing pieces together & you have the perfect storm. You have a 2-14 team that was a 4-12 team the year before & certainly capable of another horrific season if Clark Hunt hadn't intervened. He  has about $200 million in stadium renovations to pay for in a really bad economy. They have a roster of about 18 NFL quality players. That's eighteen players on a 53-man roster. Plus we'd probably be looking at another lousy draft next month.

Here's more fascinating facts; the Chiefs used 4 of the last 7 first round picks on defense. The Chiefs used every second round pick they possessed, 6 in all, the last 7 years on defense. The Chiefs used 4 third round picks in the last 6 years on defense. That's 14 premium picks spent on improving a lousy defense. How did we do? Let's take a look.

Ryan Simms-def. tackle-#6 overall pick in 2002. Simms got a couple of sacks in his first game & that pretty much summed up his career highlights in Kansas City. Albert Haynesworth, he of the $100 million contract last month, was picked in that same first round, 9 picks after Simms was selected. But then so were many time all-pros, Dwight Freeney & Ed Reed. Ryan Simms = total bust.

Derrick Johnson-linebacker-#15 pick overall in 2005. A serviceable but unspectacular player picked right after Shawne Merriman & DeMarcus Ware, both all-pros.

Tamba Hali-def. end-#20 overall pick in 2006. Racked up 10 sacks his rookie season, but he was playing opposite Jared Allen. Injured for most of '07 & last season was moved into Allen's old spot at right defensive end & he was virtually invisible.

Glenn Dorsey-def. tackle-#5 overall pick in 2008. Dorsey did very little last season to be enthused about but I will give him the benefit of the doubt. He was a dominating player in college, plus I think the scheme the Chiefs used him in was totally wrong. If 2009 brings the same poor results, he'll be called a total bust.

Eddie Freeman-def. tackle-2nd round pick in 2002. We wasted both top picks in '02. The only damage Eddie Freeman did while he was a Chief was to bust up teammate John Tait's face in training camp, end of story. Total bust.

Kawika Mitchell-linebacker-2nd round pick in 2003. I blame Guenther Cunningham for his very slow development. He left as a free agent in '07 & was signed by the Giants. He looked like an entirely different player & the Giants won the Super Bowl. He took his ring & signed for big money in Buffalo, where he played very well last season.

Junior Siavii-def. tackle-2nd round pick in 2004. I watched this lethargic slug play at Oregon & I was much more impressed with his running mate at tackle, Igor Olshansky, who has started every game since he was drafted. Total bust.

Bernard Pollard-safety-2nd round pick in 2006. Not an all-pro, but a decent starter who answers the bell every week.

Turk McBride-def. end-2nd round pick in 2007. Has made little impact so far, injured most of last season.

Brandon Flowers-cornerback-2nd round pick in 2008. Finally, we have a real prospect. He started as a rookie, & although he's not speedy, he has good anticipation & superior ball skills. He should be a starter for years to come.

Julian Battle-cornerback-3rd round pick in 2003. He was a boom or bust pick from the start. 'Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane' tells the tale. Big, fast & strong, he hardly played in 3 seasons. No one else wanted him either. Total bust.

Keyaron Fox-linebacker-3rd round pick in 2004. Good player on kick coverage, but you can get those guys in the 7th round or as undrafted free agents. Couldn't hold his ground in the run game so he was never a threat to crack the starting defensive lineup.

Tank Tyler-def. tackle-3rd round pick in 2007. Big, strong guy who is more interested in a rap career than playing up to his potential as a defensive tackle.

DeJuan Morgan-safety-3rd round pick in 2008. I was sour on this pick the instant it was made. I wanted a guard, Jeremy Zuttah of Rutgers, picked right after Morgan.  He couldn't play well enough to get on the field with this miserable defense & made zero impact on special teams. By the way, Zuttah started for Tampa Bay.

O.K. that's the 14 I spoke of. I didn't even mention the 4th thru 7th round disappointments. Nor did I mention 2001 def. tackle, Eric Downey or 2000 cornerback, William Bartee both busts. Counting Downey, the Chiefs drafted 6 defensive tackles in the first 3 rounds. See anybody who scares you?

Onto another sore subject, the offensive line. I'm not going to name all the names, just enough to show you the Chiefs were as clueless on this side of the ball. Brandon Albert is the first offensive lineman drafted by the Chiefs, to start 15 games since John Tait. That was 10 years ago. Remember drafting Tim Grunhard, Will Shields, Dave Szott, John Alt, hell even Victor Riley? While we were blowing so many premium draft picks on the defense, we used our 4-7th round picks to not bolster the O-line. Darnell Alford, Alex Sulfsted, Bret Williams, Jordan Black, Jeremy Parquet, Kevin Sampson, Wil Svitek, Tre' Stallings & Barry Richardson were all drafted since 2003. Let's not forget the spiffy free agents signed in the last 3 years for the O-line; Adrian Jones, Damion McIntosh, Kyle Turley, Rudy Niswanger, Anthony Alabi & Wade Smith. They once had the best offensive line in football with Roaf, Waters, Weigman, Shields & Tait. During this time, they were unable to add one single player who would later become a starter for them.

It's easy to complain about the Chiefs, they've made so many bad personnel moves over the years. I'd like to point out a truly ridiculous one they made in 2007. Going into the draft it was apparent they needed a place kicker. Colorado's Mason Crosby was considered the best by virtually every scout, both pro & amateur. This one was truly a no-brainer. So in the 5th round, the Chiefs pick a kicker, not Crosby, but UCLA's Justin Medlock. Green Bay then chose Crosby, 33 picks later. Medlock was cut by the Chiefs & they've tried several kickers since with limited success while Crosby made 58 of 73 in his 2 seasons kicking for the Pack. Don't try to reinvent the wheel, you're not smarter than everyone else doing this, your track record proves it.

And now the last part of my "How did we get into such a hole"? We've been through a lot of quarterbacks but when was the last game the Chiefs won with a starting quarterback that was drafted by Kansas City? Sadly, the answer is Todd Blackledge in 1983. That was 26 years ago. Their failure to draft & develop a franchise quarterback explains  a lot about this team. I like Matt Cassel, I think it was a great trade & Scott Pioli was left with little talent to build on. 

I promise I'll be much more positive tomorrow with "How do we get out of this mess?"