Many might argue that mediocrity has defined the Kansas City Chiefs, particularly during the Carl Peterson era, and, well, you're right. However, we are entering our second expected losing season.
Something many of us can agree upon is that we've acquired several key players, building blocks if you will, that shines a glimmer of hope for the future. Whether or not we've currently got the staff that can properly develop them is another question.
However, this chat below is to help us gain a bit of perspective. Like I said earlier, we're entering year two of the rebuilding plan but if we are ever going to reach mediocrity, ala the Chiefs of the 70s and 80s, then we've got a long way to go.
Take a look at the chart below.
| Year | Record | Offense | Defense | Overall |
| 1979 | 7-9 | 26 | 5 | 18 |
| 1978 | 4-12 | 24 | 22 | 26 |
| 1977 | 2-12 | 17 | 27 | 27 |
| 1976 | 5-9 | 12 | 25 | 21 |
| 1975 | 5-9 | 13 | 19 | 17 |
| 1974 | 5-9 | 18 | 21 | 19 |
This particular era spans three head coaches as Hank Stram was before Paul Wiggins who was fired and replaced by Tom Bettis at which point we hired Marv Levy. 4 head coaches in 6 years.
It also included three starting quarterbacks as Len Dawson ended his career, Mike Livingston got a shot but failed which led to the two year Steve Fuller era.
These offenses consisted of one 1,000 yard rusher which was Tony Reed in 1979. The 1,000 yard rusher was rare at the time but to drive home the point of our mediocrity, we never rushed for more than 611 yards in these 6 years.
There are several ways to interpret these facts.
- Our head coach might be in danger of being replaced at seasons end, we still haven't found a quarterback and our run game seems to have lost its luster. We are just like these Chiefs of yesteryear.
- These teams didn't have the tools (see: players) in order to properly be competitive. Our defense is showing some potential so they'll be good enough to keep us out of this level of mediocrity.
How do you interpret this?