My, how quickly the fans have turned on our beloved Kansas City Chiefs. When people asked me a few...

My, how quickly the fans have turned on our beloved Kansas City Chiefs. When people asked me a few weeks ago why I was so brutally honest to readers, often warning people about overly optimistic outlooks and the dangers of drinking too much of the Kool-Aid, I always responded with the following simple response: "Because when fans have unrealistic expectations about their team, they start to get pissed off when those unrealistic expectations aren’t met."

Well folks, here we are two weeks into an 0-2 season. The Chiefs weren’t supposed to be 2-0. They aren’t even supposed to go .500. To quote Dennis Green: "They are who we thought they were."

Home of the Chiefs | The Chiefs Are Who We Thought They Were–Take That Hand Off That Panic Button

2 months ago Chris Comment 34 comments 0 recs |

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That was a very well put article

by Lanier63 on Sep 15, 2008 3:15 PM CDT 0 recs

Now I cant Dennis Green outta my head saying, "They are, who we thought they were!"...lol

by Lanier63 on Sep 15, 2008 3:16 PM CDT up 0 recs

Crown their ass!

by primetime 07 on Sep 15, 2008 3:26 PM CDT up 0 recs

What the word on Turk McBride? I can’t wait till next year when we run the spread option with Tim Tebow. Chan’s bring the college game to the pros!

by rustdog on Sep 15, 2008 3:20 PM CDT 0 recs

I have said it over and over, don’t bet on Tebow turning Pro so soon. He has said his heart is on the mission field to do missionary work.
“I love doing it, and it’s something I’m very passionate about,” Tebow said of his missionary work. “Doing those things, taking my platform as a football player and using it to be an influence and change peoples’ lives — that’s more important than football to me.”
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/sec/2008-07-23-tebow-missions_N.htm

by Lanier63 on Sep 15, 2008 3:32 PM CDT up 0 recs

Hmm

I read that and saw he wants to do good things when he’s a pro.

Still doesn’t change the fact that he’ll be a pro. Possibly soon.

I still don’t want him, though :)

by primetime 07 on Sep 15, 2008 3:37 PM CDT up 0 recs

I am a fence rider on my opinion of him as an athlete

by Lanier63 on Sep 15, 2008 3:44 PM CDT up 0 recs

Oh no, I hope that didnt come off as gay!

Can you retract?

by Lanier63 on Sep 15, 2008 3:45 PM CDT up 0 recs

Not that there's anything wrong with it!

by primetime 07 on Sep 15, 2008 3:52 PM CDT up 0 recs

We should draft Pat White.

by rustdog on Sep 15, 2008 3:22 PM CDT 0 recs

Pat White,

Isn’t he related to Casey Printers?

by sad, sad, sad!!! on Sep 16, 2008 6:58 AM CDT up 0 recs

Except smaller

And a worse arm (Cue White fans to let me know he threw 5 TDs a week ago.)

by primetime 07 on Sep 16, 2008 7:09 PM CDT up 0 recs

They are who we thought they were!

Blame my wife!

by sir eccles on Sep 15, 2008 3:24 PM CDT 0 recs

And we let them off the hook!

by primetime 07 on Sep 15, 2008 3:26 PM CDT up 0 recs

You know

A very gifted computer operator could probably take that video and insert Herm’s face over Green’s and change when he says “Bears” name to the “Raiders”…LOL

by Lanier63 on Sep 15, 2008 3:28 PM CDT up 0 recs

I’m meant to be working, can’t we just caption a picture of a cat instead?

Blame my wife!

by sir eccles on Sep 15, 2008 3:49 PM CDT up 0 recs

Having unrealistic expecations is one thing...

Expecting the team to show up for their home opener is another. I didn’t expect this team to be good this year. Hell, I’ve been calling for Tebow for months. But I do expect the alleged group of professionals to prepare themselves like professionals.
The team didn’t show up yesterday. You can sell me on a rebuilding effort; you can’t sell me on just not trying.

by HIV 2 Elway on Sep 15, 2008 3:27 PM CDT 0 recs

+10

If we were going to win a single game this year, it should have been this one. So, yeah…I’m calling for Herm’s head !

by JackDublin on Sep 15, 2008 3:49 PM CDT up 0 recs

+1

And that’s really the argument there. It’s one thing when you’ve got young players who are inexperienced and make mistakes (even a lot of mistakes). That I expected and can live with. It’s another thing completely when the team shows up completely unprepared to play, when the coaching staff can’t design even a simple game plan that the players can execute, when the front office lives in denial about how disastrously bad the talent level is at QB and offensive line, and when they get thoroughly destroyed by a team that still looks to be one of the worst in the NFL. That’s not a sign of growing pains…that’s a sign of complete collapse and lack of accountability.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Sep 15, 2008 3:55 PM CDT up 0 recs

At what point

do you just say the key players aren’t talented enough to execute any play?

For people that have never liked the coaching staff, its easy to blame it all on them because thats the natural instinct.

But my god, if the offensive line isn’t capable of even opening up a simple running lane so that the RB can get a 3 or 4 yard run in, what hope is there? How much more basic can you get than that?

How hard is it for the QB who has run out to the edge away from all pressure and has a WR beating his guy by 4 steps to just set his damn feet before he throws the ball? Or our other QB who underthrew Jamaal Charles by 15 yards?

The coaching staff is not completely free from blame, but its pretty tough to say they should be more creative in the playcalling when our guys aren’t even capable of running High School level plays.

by ChiefDJ on Sep 15, 2008 6:56 PM CDT up 0 recs

Is that the new DJ platform for the year?

Last year it was “wait until Herm gets his guys.”

This year it’s “our players are the problem. If they weren’t screwing up Herm’s plans, we’d be doing better!” ?

I mean, at some point, don’t we look at it and say “Herm is heavily responsible for bringing in and developing the players, and we’ve actually gotten worse?”

Not that I would say such a thing before December, but it’s worth looking at, I think.

I want to say this, and this is a good thread for it.

Tyler Thigpen never came out and said he was a starting QB. He was out of Coastal Carolina. He’s a third string QB who came in and tried to play well after getting significant reps for a whole week. I agree he sucks and we have to go to Huard. But just as Huard isn’t a bad guy who does the most he can with what he has, I feel bad for Tyler. He got his one shot and he failed. And that sucks for him.

Tyler never made checks he couldn’t cash, he got handed the check, tried to deliver and failed, without any support. It would be one thing if we gave up a 4th rounder to the Jets for him or something, but he did the best he could.

Hypothetically.

by Ridiculous Matt on Sep 15, 2008 7:20 PM CDT up 0 recs

I think thats the fairest way to look at this

by Lanier63 on Sep 15, 2008 7:26 PM CDT up 0 recs

Don't start putting words in my mouth

There is no question the coaches have responsibility in this, but the point is still valid. If the players aren’t capable of executing basic plays, what the hell is ANY coach supposed to do?

Now you’re defending Thigpen because he’s just not equipped to be an NFL QB, but how come Herm doesn’t get the same pass for having to play the 3rd string QB?

I’m just saying that people who are already predisposed to blame Herm for everything give the players a pass and just hammer on the coaches.

by ChiefDJ on Sep 15, 2008 7:27 PM CDT up 0 recs

Put your dukes up....

Huard v. Croyle circa 2007

by primetime 07 on Sep 15, 2008 7:36 PM CDT up 0 recs

It was meant to be lighthearted

don’t want to go seven rounds again.

I’m not defending Thigpen. I’m just saying, there’s no sense in hammering the kid. He was brought in to see if he could play at this level. He can’t. Sucks for him. I don’t think he should stay, but I just hate the way we’re blasting a kid that wasn’t a first round pick or anything. He came in with zero expectations and didn’t exceed that.

Herm doesn’t get a pass because it’s his job to recognize that we need better talent and to pursue it and get it. He works with Peterson on these matters and its his job to say “I need you to sign Tim Rattay or whoever. Go call the CFL. Anything.” It doesn’t mean he should be fired, but he’s worthy of criticism.

And I think at some point a lot of us can’t blame players that have never acted as though they’re world beaters. The coaching staff said we’d improve, that we’d compete. We haven’t. That’s just a fact. What it means is part of a bigger question that needs four more months.

But coaches are supposed to identify who can play and who can’t.

by Ridiculous Matt on Sep 15, 2008 8:00 PM CDT up 0 recs

I Don't Actually Blame Thigpen

The kid’s not good, but I’m sure he’s trying…nothing I’m saying is meant to imply otherwise. My problems with this lie entirely with the coaching staff and front office. They see the kid in practice, they’re the ones responsible for judging whether he can play or not, and they’ve whiffed. They’ve whiffed on Croyle too…because I find it extremely difficult to believe that he was somehow outperforming Huard in practice when he’s never done it in a game. That’s why I question whether a lot of the problems with this team won’t be solved most quickly by getting rid of him and Peterson (although not at the same time).

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Sep 15, 2008 8:38 PM CDT up 0 recs

Well...

To be fair, Brodie did manage to take more snaps in 2008 than Damon without getting injured.

RELAX, this my piece of crap tied to our future sinking us to the bottom of the ocean, your piece of crap is equally sinking us and perhaps marginally less crappily holding us back from drowning in a youth directed direction, either way we’re pretty much fish food.

by Official Arrowhead Pride Parade on Sep 16, 2008 2:08 AM CDT up 0 recs

Agreed

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Sep 16, 2008 6:44 AM CDT up 0 recs

My argument has always been

When you have 50 spots on the roster to turn over in a couple of years, you’re going to have holes. You’re not going to hit on every draft pick and not every draft pick is going to be a starter. You’re going to have players that you try out for a couple years and decide they just aren’t cutting it.

When that happens, you HAVE to have substandard players on the squad just because you need warm bodies to fill the spot. We wouldn’t have so many undrafted rookies and late round players playing if we had had time to build a deep talented team in 3 offseasons.

Thats the point.

by ChiefDJ on Sep 16, 2008 6:50 AM CDT up 0 recs

Agreed

Problem is, that now that we’re able to start evaluating the Herm Edwards era with a little perspective, it’s not looking like the Chiefs are much better at drafting players who can be long-term starters than they were before Herm got here.

From the 2006 draft, Webb’s probably gone after this year. Hali will probably be gone once his contract is up unless he can show some improvement at defensive end (which isn’t looking promising so far). Croyle may be back next year, but it’ll probably be as a backup to whoever we bring in…or the Chiefs may decide just to let him go altogether. So right now it’s looking like in Herm’s first draft we got two decent safeties and a journeyman defensive end. That’s not good.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Sep 16, 2008 9:26 AM CDT up 1 recs

Extremely Fair Perspective

Matt, I think that’s the best opinion I’ve seen you post so far. I agree with you completely.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Sep 15, 2008 8:33 PM CDT up 0 recs

Its a good reading article, but...

It still doesn’t let the team and coaches off the hook for being pounded by the raiders. At home. On Arrowhead’s opening day. There was no game plan for either side of the ball it seemed. It was a pathetic showing to a home crowd.

I can stand losing, hell, I can stand losing to the Raiders even. What I can’t stand is people going out there without the sembleance of some sort of plan. I am more and more being convinced (not that I ever was on his side) that Herm is a terrible Head Coach. Every year we’ve looked ill-prepared going into games. His game plans either aren’t there or don’t work because he’s not using the talent he has rather than the talent he WANTS.

have you seen my baseball?

by IISaiNtII on Sep 15, 2008 3:52 PM CDT 0 recs

If they were who we thought they were, Who are we?

I appriciate this article, i actually commented on it on the other site also. But I don’t think it is right to say that the fans are wrong for having expectaions. And really I don’t think it was overly optimistic for Chiefs Fans to have woke up Sunday morning and think that the Chiefs were going to win that game. My first thought after reading this article was who did we think the raiders were? Hmmm? I thought they for the most part were very similar to Kansas City. A young team that is rebuilding that would much rather run the ball then pen the game on the shoulders of an inexperienced quarterback. Wow could that really be. So when you watch that game what do you see. I see one team that stuck to their strong points even though it seemed fruitless for the first half. I mean they only came away with 2 field goals. And another team that paniced at the first sign of things not going there way. And instead of trying to stick to there guns and go with their game plan what do they do? Their coaching staff sticks a wide reciever in for some gemic plays as a qb. And there are a couple of things I would like to ask Herm and Carl if given the chance. One of which is why did we sign the guys we did as backups. Mind you this isn’t a question about our qb’s 1, 2, and 3. This question is directed towards 4 and 5. Ingle Martin and Marques Hagans. Don’t we have enough work cut out for us with Brodie and Thigpen? I’m sure all of them are nice guys, I’m a nice guy also and I would like to play qb for the Chiefs also. Can I get a shot? My point is its great to develop players, lord knows we need to, but the idea is to put the people on the field that give you the best chance to win. I am by no means a Huard fan, but unfortunately he was our best option. And its funny all of the speculation that he wasn’t injured. I didn’t ever see him take much of a shot. I got off on a rabbit trail there. Sorry. Anyway its interesting that our star running back thinks he’s being phased out. I was wondering the same thing about the New England game that LJ brought up in his interview. First and goal on the 5, if we are a running team why wasn’t he in there? We should have tried a couple more times to punch it in there with him. And then last ditch effort if he can’t get it in there. Why not go play action? I thought that was the idea of Chans offense? Why did we deviate from the run so soon? Where are all of the play action plays. Herm and company say they are building a hard nose, smash mouth football team, but what do they give us? I’m not even going to lie. It wasn’t that we lost that bothered me, it was how we lost. It doesn’t matter if they were who we thought they were. I want to know who are we? I don’t think Herm knows and I know all Carl cares about is attendance and profit margins. So yes if thats how we are looked at as fans (as profit) i guess we have the right to question the leadership of this team. I think anyone who really follows the Chiefs knew what this season was going to be. But we didn’t sign up for this.

KC Tat Guy

by KC Tat Guy on Sep 15, 2008 11:36 PM CDT 0 recs