The Chiefs have clearly defied the odds with how they've played so far this season. There are a lot of things to blame i'm sure.... injuries, schedule, play calling. All of those things are legitimate arguments for why we're 4-4. But I'd like to tell you some reasons why it's better than it should be...
The Chiefs, in my humble opinion, have a better record than they should. This is not a good football team, which is not just my overreaction to today's game (which was awful by the way). Here are some stats to back up my theory.
Chiefs Scoring Offense: 26th
Chiefs Scoring Defense: 25th
Chiefs Scoring Differential: 29th
Chiefs Offensive YPG: 24th
Chiefs Defensive YPG: 22nd
Chiefs Team QB Rat: 20th
These stats, as any statistical geek would tell you, are somewhat slighted by the fact that we have been blown out big in 3 games (DET, BUF, MIA), so you would expect our scoring differential to be off. That fact aside, we still align statistically with teams that have a 2-6 record, which is pretty much how i've seen this team to preform. We really have nothing to brag about in this season so far, but at least we're 4-4 and not 2-6 like our stats say we should be. We still have a chance in what continues to be a god awful division. So what I guess what i'm trying to say is we have a chance, despite how bad we really have performed thus far.
I imagine if we had some of our key playmakers still that weren't lost to injury than maybe things would be a little better, but to give that some reference, last year the Packers had 15 different players go on IR, including and not limited to Ryan Grant, Jermichael Finley, and Nick Barnett (see Charles, Moeaki, and Berry). They were able to fight through that with excellent coaching and other-worldly QB play to go 10-6. The rest is obviously history, but you have to think that with what the Chiefs have ahead, and with the stats they've laid up so far, that such a run for us is dang near impossible.
I digress, but this is a long way of saying, we have actually performed above what I believe we should have, much like last year. Last year was not a 10-6 quality team, this year is not a 4-4 team. Does that mean Haley deserves credit for performing above our talent level, or have we just been fortunate that Indy and San Diego peed down their legs at the end of their respective games against us.
Regardless, I'm not very impressed by getting blown out at home to a winless Dolphins team with a lame duck coach and Matt Freaking Moore at QB. Maybe we aren't as bad as this last game seemed, but we sure as hell aren't a 4-4 team either.