Before the end of the last week of the season, I sat down to draft an entry that went a long the lines of, "The Chiefs need to make some radical change in order to snap out of this malaise we've been in." After we made the playoffs, I decided to hold off on writing something like this because we had accomplished a major goal for the season, which was making the playoffs.
As far as I'm concerned, it was obvious that the Chiefs did not belong in the playoffs. Don't get me wrong. We had the talent to beat Indy last week. We just didn't have the will. For Larry Johnson to rush for anything less than 100 yards against the Colts defense was absurd. The first half of the Colt game was the one of the worst halves of offensive production I've seen out of the Chiefs. EVER.
Where did it all go wrong? I'm really not sure. I mentioned to a few friends that I figured the Chiefs players to be especially jacked up about this game, since everyone and their mother was claiming the Chiefs "snuck in" or "had a lot of help" getting into the playoffs. The Chiefs came out last Saturday as flat offensively as you can play. I guess I'm going to chalk up that playoff loss to inexperience and maybe some postseason jitters. In this situation, I don't really know what to say. Its just ridiculous how the Chiefs played and there is not an obvious explanation.
All in all, the best way to describe this 2006 campaign is up and down. I remember sitting in a bar in Georgetown in Washington, DC, for the very first game of the season against the Bengals. After the first quarter and after Trent Green went down with one of the nastiest concussions I've ever seen, I figured a miracle would have to happen for the Chiefs to even appear decent this season. I am a big believe in continuity, especially in the QB position.
The season was exciting but disappointing. The 2006 season can be looked at through the view of the Cleveland game and the first San Diego game, which was at home. That first SD game showed that the Chiefs had it in them to win against a fantastic opponent but only if they wanted to. The Cleveland game showed that the Chiefs could really suck if they wanted to as well.
I guess that leaves me in a blah position about 2007. Will Trent Green be back? Will Tony G stick around? How big of a dropoff in production will we see from our O-line?
I'll have more to come later but for now, for purposes of wrapping up the 2006 season, it would be great if somebody could write on a few miscellaneous things that I think we should cover:
Grade each position
Examine possible draft picks for 2007
Look at what the roster will probably be for next year
These are just a few quick things I think we should cover. If you get the inkling to write something on one of these, by all means go ahead and I'll put it up here on the front page. And, if you ever want to write anything else, do not hesitate.