Grunhard Says Chiefs Should Be Concerned About Losing Bye Week Momentum

We've been talking about the timing of the Kansas City Chiefs bye week and whether it comes at a good or bad time for the team. I've argued that it comes at a bad time as the Chiefs have been able to string together a couple of wins.

Former Chief Tim Grunhard, speaking to Soren Petro on 810 WHB's The Program, and says there should be a real concern about the Chiefs coming off the bye week.

"There's two things that always happen during bye weeks and people will never admit it but it's true," Grunhard said "One, that there's always going to be one. Two, it always takes away momentum. Always."

Uh-oh. The Chiefs are a team that seems to thrive off of momentum as much as anyone and they're 0-2 after the bye under Todd Haley.

"You can't tell me that you go and win two football games and you say, 'We got the momentum and we're gonna to keep going.' No, it just does. You take a deep breath and you relax. I don't care who you are or what team you are. Whether you have Lombardi as your coach, or Haley as your coach....as a coach it's very difficult to keep your team focused.

"The worst two practices of the year are the first two practices after the bye because everybody's rusty, everybody's on a plane mode, guys are jumping off sides, guys are dropping balls and nobody's running routes right. You just feel like you lose something. The really, really good teams will get it back, or something good will happen early in the game and they say, 'OK we're back.'"

Grunhard says the slow start after the bye week is absolutely one of the biggest concerns for the Chiefs coaching staff right now.

"I guarantee you, as I'm sitting here right now, one of the big worries for the Kansas City Chiefs coaching staff and the players as well, is can we get that spark back we had when we won those two games. They're worried about it and I can tell you I'd be worried about it, and I'm sure the fans are, too."

Some fans are indeed worried about it. 53 percent of our readers said last week that they would prefer to see the Chiefs bye week come at a later point in the season.