HEY, I'M JUST HAPPY TO TALK ABOUT A WIN
I really mean that, I had zero confidence our Chiefs could get a win in Chicago. In a game that set the skill of offensive gameplanning back about 50-years, the Chiefs got really lucky & won 10-3. How lucky? Phillip Rivers fumbling the snap lucky. When Matt Forte left the game in the first quarter, the Chiefs were essentially playing a mirror image of themselves. No starting QB, no Pro Bowl RB, receivers that committed penalties that got a touchdown called back & then for good measure, flubbed a touchdown pass into an interception. When you include the 'high percentage' Hail Mary touchdown into the equation, the Chiefs were damn lucky. But I'll take it, winning beats losing any day even when it's ugly, just ask Bronco fans.
I've already gotten two emails whining about the win costing us a draft spot or two. I'm sorry, I hate losing & there's been entirely too much of that around this franchise for more than a decade. We were actually happy all afternoon after the win, something we haven't experienced enough of this season.
What we need to take from this win is Romeo Crennell is the hottest coach on that staff, his guys are playing hard every snap, jeez there was even a couple of Tyson Jackson sightings. They've played very well three games in a row. care to make it 4? Besides just winning, the part I liked the best was the emergence of OLB Justin Houston as a pass rushing force. Yes, the Bears offensive line isn't the best & yes their QB is like a deer in headlights at times, but Houston showed us the potential we thought he had. The rookie from Georgia recorded 7 tackles, 3 for loss, 3 sacks, batted down a pass, forced a fumble & got 2 additional QB knock downs. That's a helluva day for DeMarcus Ware or Jared Allen. It looks to me like the Chiefs defense is headed down the right path, the kind of path we watched for nearly 10-years with Marty Schottenheimer back in the 90's. Holding the Bears to 0-11 on 3rd down was huge. Get Eric Berry back, sign Brandon Carr to a new contract, get another impact player for the D-line, another inside linebacker for depth & development & all you need is better depth at safety. Now you got yourself a defense. The other side of the ball, well that's another problem altogether.
Offensively, the Chiefs squeezed just enough out of an excellent Bear defense to win. Without the Hail Mary, they might have played to a 3-3 overtime loss. Kyle Orton comes in to start the 2nd quarter(wait till you hear Haley's explanation of that) & he lasted one play after banging his hand on a blitzer's helmet, dislocating his right index finger. Done for the day, back to Tyler Palko. I got an email about an hour ago comparing Palko's first three starts to Tim Tebow saying they were comparable & I should give Palko a chance, maybe he could become Tebow II. You're comparing apples to oranges, Palko has never approached the level of success Tebow has at any level of football. Tebow is a strapping 6' 3" 245 while Palko is barely 6' & 210. Neither possesses an accurate arm, but Tebow's is way stronger plus Palko is in no way a running threat the way Tebow is.
The same culprits surfaced to stall drives making the defenses' job that much harder. Barry Richardson gave up a sack, he was penalized for holding, false start & whiffed on several blocks completely. Ryan Lilja & Casey Wiegman were manhandled too often by the Bear DT's. Leonard Pope got penalized but at least Anthony Becht didn't wreck anything. Running on the Bears isn't done by even the best teams, so Thomas Jones' 2.9 per carry & Jackie Battle's 1.4 shouldn't surprise anyone. But Kansas City ran the ball just enough to keep them from having to throw every single down. But honestly, when you win & your only touchdown in 5 full games is on a Hail Mary, your offense stinks.
Did you notice Todd Haley was calling the plays every time he was on camera? Bill Muir looked like a spectator to me. Dustin Colquitt did a good job punting to Devin Hester. He got one return for 44-yards but his only other return lost 5-yards. Great punting, good coverage.
The Chiefs, with their 5th win, put themselves behind all the other 4-win teams going into the weekend except Seattle & Arizona, who also posted their 5th wins. But draft position isn't as important as building something we can count on for the future & Crennell's defense appears to be the real deal. If Dick Vermeil had a defense this good, he might have really done something back in '03. You've heard the old adage "Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships." There's a lot of truth to that & for the first time in many, many years, I see potential for a stout defense. Losing for draft position is a loser's strategy. What we need is for Scott Pioli to make the picks we have count. The Steelers don't have high draft picks & yet they're competitive every single year. Green Bay doesn't have high draft picks, hell they picked Aaron Rodgers with the 24th overall pick. Make the picks you have count.
I feel pretty good after writing this post, a lot better than I did the past 4 weeks. I'll take winning over losing any day. So should you.
I've already gotten two emails whining about the win costing us a draft spot or two. I'm sorry, I hate losing & there's been entirely too much of that around this franchise for more than a decade. We were actually happy all afternoon after the win, something we haven't experienced enough of this season.
What we need to take from this win is Romeo Crennell is the hottest coach on that staff, his guys are playing hard every snap, jeez there was even a couple of Tyson Jackson sightings. They've played very well three games in a row. care to make it 4? Besides just winning, the part I liked the best was the emergence of OLB Justin Houston as a pass rushing force. Yes, the Bears offensive line isn't the best & yes their QB is like a deer in headlights at times, but Houston showed us the potential we thought he had. The rookie from Georgia recorded 7 tackles, 3 for loss, 3 sacks, batted down a pass, forced a fumble & got 2 additional QB knock downs. That's a helluva day for DeMarcus Ware or Jared Allen. It looks to me like the Chiefs defense is headed down the right path, the kind of path we watched for nearly 10-years with Marty Schottenheimer back in the 90's. Holding the Bears to 0-11 on 3rd down was huge. Get Eric Berry back, sign Brandon Carr to a new contract, get another impact player for the D-line, another inside linebacker for depth & development & all you need is better depth at safety. Now you got yourself a defense. The other side of the ball, well that's another problem altogether.
Offensively, the Chiefs squeezed just enough out of an excellent Bear defense to win. Without the Hail Mary, they might have played to a 3-3 overtime loss. Kyle Orton comes in to start the 2nd quarter(wait till you hear Haley's explanation of that) & he lasted one play after banging his hand on a blitzer's helmet, dislocating his right index finger. Done for the day, back to Tyler Palko. I got an email about an hour ago comparing Palko's first three starts to Tim Tebow saying they were comparable & I should give Palko a chance, maybe he could become Tebow II. You're comparing apples to oranges, Palko has never approached the level of success Tebow has at any level of football. Tebow is a strapping 6' 3" 245 while Palko is barely 6' & 210. Neither possesses an accurate arm, but Tebow's is way stronger plus Palko is in no way a running threat the way Tebow is.
The same culprits surfaced to stall drives making the defenses' job that much harder. Barry Richardson gave up a sack, he was penalized for holding, false start & whiffed on several blocks completely. Ryan Lilja & Casey Wiegman were manhandled too often by the Bear DT's. Leonard Pope got penalized but at least Anthony Becht didn't wreck anything. Running on the Bears isn't done by even the best teams, so Thomas Jones' 2.9 per carry & Jackie Battle's 1.4 shouldn't surprise anyone. But Kansas City ran the ball just enough to keep them from having to throw every single down. But honestly, when you win & your only touchdown in 5 full games is on a Hail Mary, your offense stinks.
Did you notice Todd Haley was calling the plays every time he was on camera? Bill Muir looked like a spectator to me. Dustin Colquitt did a good job punting to Devin Hester. He got one return for 44-yards but his only other return lost 5-yards. Great punting, good coverage.
The Chiefs, with their 5th win, put themselves behind all the other 4-win teams going into the weekend except Seattle & Arizona, who also posted their 5th wins. But draft position isn't as important as building something we can count on for the future & Crennell's defense appears to be the real deal. If Dick Vermeil had a defense this good, he might have really done something back in '03. You've heard the old adage "Offense sells tickets, but defense wins championships." There's a lot of truth to that & for the first time in many, many years, I see potential for a stout defense. Losing for draft position is a loser's strategy. What we need is for Scott Pioli to make the picks we have count. The Steelers don't have high draft picks & yet they're competitive every single year. Green Bay doesn't have high draft picks, hell they picked Aaron Rodgers with the 24th overall pick. Make the picks you have count.
I feel pretty good after writing this post, a lot better than I did the past 4 weeks. I'll take winning over losing any day. So should you.
Enjoyed your post on the Chiefs Rich. I need to read more of your stuff. Very enlightening for sure. Although I don't follow football as you and others, I did learn from your writings on more of what is going on with our franchise. I am waiting for baseball season. I'm a warm weather fan of sports, ha ha!
Reply to this
I agree that winning is better than losing, but...
One of the biggest things this win does is start Palko one more game. I'm not a dreamer, this season is over as far as playoffs go. So lets evaluate Stanzy, to see what we have. I think we can agree that Palko will not be a Chief next year.
Very disappointing that Orton got hurt. Would NFL rules allowed us too trade him? I bet the Bears would give a pretty penny.
Thanks for all you do.
Reply to this
Andy,
No to trading Orton, trading deadline is in week #6 but they're considering extending it to week #10 which would make more sense.
I agree, said weeks ago we need to see this kid play a quarter or two, but as long as they are not mathematically out of the playoff race, he'll continue to sit.
Thanks for reading.
Reply to this