Checking in On Former Chiefs DC Gunther Cunningham
by Chris Thorman on Dec 16, 2009 7:45 AM CST
in 2009 Kansas City Chiefs Campaign
Email
PrintWhen Gunther Cunningham's defense took the field for the Chiefs' final game of the 2008 against the Bengals, he probably knew that his time in Kansas City was limited. He had run out of time, continually fielding poor defenses for the last few years.
The Cincinnati game was Cunningham's final, sub-par farewell. His defense gave up 16 points and a gob of rushing yards in a loss to the league's worst offense.
On January 21st, Cunningham became the Detroit Lions defensive coordinator. The Lions were right there with the Chiefs last season as far as bad defenses go. Has Gunther improved them?
Let's check in to see what Gunther has done with the Lions' D:
| Rank | 08 Chiefs D | 09 Lions D | Difference |
| Yards | 31 | 32 | -1 |
| Rushing yards | 30 | 25 | +5 |
| Passing yards | 28 | 32 | -4 |
| INTs | 20 | 29 | -9 |
| Sacks | 32 | 30 | +2 |
| 1st downs/game | 31 | 31 | 0 |
| Points/game | 29 | 32 | -3 |
As you can see, there isn't much difference between a Gunther-led Chiefs defense and a Gunther-led Lions defense. Here is a statement you cannot argue with: Gunther Cunningham has fielded some of the worst defenses in the NFL over the last decade.
Here are some comments from Pride of Detroit, our resident Lions blog. Sound familiar?
"I have no faith in either of our coordinators, Scott sucked at St. Louis and Gunther sucked at K.C. I did not understand bringing them in at all. And it shows up every 2nd half, I don`t know what the hell they are adjusting to but it sucks."
Wow, that is spot on in describing the 2008 Chiefs. Remember how we got destroyed nearly every second half because of our team's inability to adjust? Have fun Lions fans.
"The Lions can not generate a pass rush with the front four. So, they are forced to blitz. This leaves holes in the pass coverage. Gunther said himself that he wants to go quarterback hunting. 5 sacks from the position that is suppose to provide most of the pressure, is not getting it done."
This is making me smile this morning. No pass rush Detroit? Hell, you've got 21 sacks this season. Gunther couldn't even get KC half that last year (The Chiefs have 19 sacks so far this year, which is second to last in the league behind Jacksonville's 14).
"I don't see how we can bring Gunther back at this point his blitzes aren't getting through and they leave everybody open."
Yes, Lions fans. We feel your pain.
Clancy Pendergast may not be a serviceable defensive coordinator but at least he doesn't have a tough guy act to go along with poor job performance.
36 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Or......
With the first overall selection in the 2010 NFL Coordinator Fantasy Draft, Carthagechief selects:
Dick Le Beau, Defensive Cooridinator, Pittsburgh Steelers.
Virtus In Arduo
+1
So you think you are so important that no one can replace you? Put your finger in a bucket of water and pull it out. Does it leave a hole? Nope, just some ripples that eventually calm themselves!
by Fan of the Red And Gold on Dec 16, 2009 9:13 AM CST up reply actions
No Contest!
I know that Clancy (cracks me up that we have a DC named Clancy — bring on the clown jokes) doesn’t get a lot of love around here and, rightly so IMHO, but he is an improvement over Gunther.
Like Chris said above, used to drive me nuts in the 2nd half when we couldn’t adjust to any team or stop anyone.
Ugh.
That’s like asking if I would rather have liver & onions or meatloaf for dinner. I guess I’ll go with Pendergast since it’s his first year and at least our pass rush has improved, despite still being right there at the bottom of the league.
Hey, I do like meatloaf! :)
Winning begins with Attitude - Haley and Pioli will be winners in KC!
I'll forever be a Chiefs fan! Only God himself could take that away from me, but when I get to my great reward, I'll rejoin two bigger fans, my Mom and Dad.
Me too. Meatloaf rocks!
Bat out of hell was an awesome album.
by Chiefsfan1970 on Dec 16, 2009 4:09 PM CST up reply actions
is this suppossed to make me feel better about clancy???
Or just remind me how much we sucked last year… either way… I feel like I have the swine flu when I think about our D
lol
We could send them Clancy with no compensation return required.
Winning begins with Attitude - Haley and Pioli will be winners in KC!
I'll forever be a Chiefs fan! Only God himself could take that away from me, but when I get to my great reward, I'll rejoin two bigger fans, my Mom and Dad.
Chris Thorman
Really nice graphs.Unfortunatly some important info is left out.Gunn took over a very weak “D” without any real add ons.The chiefs have some very good young talent & added some more.Gunn was under Herm’s thumb with that damn cover 2.Clancy has had an open shot at what he thinks is best.Herm is taking castoffs & trying to teach them.IMHO in 1 year if both DC’s are still at their jobs Gunn’s will be better.
John Soellner
Jon Yoon
John, while I understand where you’re coming from, I disagree that Gunn had it rough in KC. When you look at his history of excuse-making, it’s not pretty. In 2004-2005, he ran his defense his way. Vermeil was mostly hands-off. In 2005, he said he didn’t have the players. He personally requested Kendrell Bell, Sammy Knight, Patrick Surtain, Junior Siavii, and Carlos Hall and he got all of them. Despite that, his defense never turned the corner. When those players failed, he claimed that he didn’t have the right assistants. So the Chiefs hired Tim Krumrie, Don Blackmon, and David Gibbs. When that didn’t work, Gunther claimed that Blackmon was screwing up with the LBs, so he fired him and then Gunther made all our LBs (including DJ) a whole lot worse. When that didn’t work out, even though Herm was gracious enough to keep him on his staff all these years and never once blamed Gunn, Gunther left and threw Herm and the organization under the bus. Never once did I hear Gunn take accountability for the defense. It was one excuse after another.
Here’s the way I see it. Gunther Cunningham has not proven he can coordinate a good defense without Marty Schottenheimer. Marty, on the other hand, has fielded a lot of outstanding defenses on different teams without Gunther Cunningham. Until I see otherwise, it seems pretty apparent that Gunn was a product of Marty Schottenheimer.
This is by no means an endorsement for Pendergast, by the way.
by Jon Yoon on Dec 16, 2009 8:47 AM CST up reply actions 4 recs
I have to agree with the article written here a few days ago..
That a lot of our talent is backup NFL talent and not starters. No matter how you look at it, we need better players.
Winning begins with Attitude - Haley and Pioli will be winners in KC!
I'll forever be a Chiefs fan! Only God himself could take that away from me, but when I get to my great reward, I'll rejoin two bigger fans, my Mom and Dad.
that "damn cover 2" is a pretty good defense
as a matter of fact, it’s been the defense of choice for 3 super bowl teams in the past 8 years. (tampa bay, chicago, indianapolis) and minnesota (who has a pretty good defense) runs it as well. the scheme wasn’t the issue (as it never is) the issue was poor coaching compounded by a lack of talent
The only players I hurt with my words are the ones who have an inflated opinion of their ability. I can't worry about that.
Bill Parcells
Knowledge is confidence. And confidence lets you play fast.
Bill Parcells
Cover 2 only works
if your front four can generate pressure. It was fine with Allen and Hali, but once we lost Allen it destroyed us (made evident by the lack of sacks in 2008). Plus, a cover 2 requires more of your safeties than your corners, which didnt seem to fit us well when we had two 2nd year players starting at safety while we had two experienced corners Ty Law and Patrick Surtain at corner.
By closing the fridge?
So you think you are so important that no one can replace you? Put your finger in a bucket of water and pull it out. Does it leave a hole? Nope, just some ripples that eventually calm themselves!
by Fan of the Red And Gold on Dec 16, 2009 9:15 AM CST up reply actions
Bring on romeo.
Charlie Weis as our OC while wer’e at it. Haley as HC plus those too…That would be a damn good coaching staff. I would feel much better about the future with those guys.
by Chiefsfan1970 on Dec 16, 2009 4:13 PM CST up reply actions
Where's the third option... None of the above???
So you think you are so important that no one can replace you? Put your finger in a bucket of water and pull it out. Does it leave a hole? Nope, just some ripples that eventually calm themselves!
by Fan of the Red And Gold on Dec 16, 2009 9:18 AM CST reply actions
Worst Poll ever
This is my signature line. It is full of awesome and win.
by KCSatchmo on Dec 16, 2009 9:24 AM CST reply actions
This poll needs a 'Neither' option, please.
by JacinB on Dec 16, 2009 9:25 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
I like Gun.
I know that’s not a popular view around here, but the man improved the defense every year he was here with the exception of last year. A year where we dumped JA, went young, and were starting LBs that had been on the team less than a week multiple times due to injury.
We had an excellent red zone D in 2007. Also in 2007 we had the best record on 3rd down.
Last year was terrible, terrible but it was an abomination and I think if Gun were still here, the D would have been back on track with improving.
by NJ Chiefs Fan on Dec 16, 2009 9:41 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
2007
also number 1 on 4th down D and number 5 on 1st downs given up.
by NJ Chiefs Fan on Dec 16, 2009 9:43 AM CST up reply actions
My favorite Chiefs pic is the one of Gun flipping off the refs.
Best picture EVER!!!!
by Chiefsfan1970 on Dec 16, 2009 4:14 PM CST up reply actions
this is such a poor comparison...
u cant compare our d last year to the lions…it’s apples to oranges, sure they’re both in the fruit section but they r two different fruit. if u want to compare, compare the lions d last year with this year. it’s amazing that people want to use this as ammunition against gun. the man went to a team with way less talent on it and then u give him crap when he can’t do much with it. i think that speaks more about how bad pendy has been for us than how bad gun is doing.
gun is a good coach. he improved our d every year he was here until the injury bug and JA trade hit the team last year. it blows my mind that people still want to throw him under the bus but maybe they just need a scapegoat to beat around a bit to relieve some stress.
by MountainManMike on Dec 16, 2009 2:09 PM CST reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
SBNation.com Recent Stories
In Association With
Shutdown Corner - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
- Former high-school star Brian Banks does serious time on trumped-up charge, now hopes for an NFL shot
- Former ‘idiot kicker’ Mike Vanderjagt in trouble after accosting junior-high heckler
- Adrian Peterson blows teammates away in footraces; appears to be on the mend
- UPDATE: Charlie Sheen didn’t buy Lawrence Taylor’s Super Bowl ring
- Alex Smith gets blown up by Jon Beason over Cam Newton comments
