Many deserve blame for Chiefs’ woes

By Mike Ash  |   Thursday, December 06, 2007  |  Comments( 13 )

Kansas City Chiefs
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It's the last full month of the NFL's regular season, and that means fans are only thinking about one of two things: the playoffs or the draft, depending on the success of their favorite team.

Just one month ago, as the Kansas City Chiefs sat stop the terrible AFC West, the talk was of playoff scenarios and tiebreakers. But after a five-game losing streak, those topics have fallen by the wayside, replaced with thoughts of free agency, draft position and the promise of next year.

Another popular diversion while a disappointing season winds down is to assess blame for the state the team is in. Chiefs fans are no different, and many have taken to blaming head coach Herm Edwards for the team's ongoing struggles. No doubt, Edwards' conservative nature is a difficult adjustment for those who grew accustomed to the offensive shootouts taking place in Kansas City during the years before his arrival.

But to blame Edwards alone is to take an incredibly shortsighted view of the major problem facing the Chiefs, one that has roots going back several years.

When Dick Vermeil took over as Kansas City's coach in 2001, the organization - buoyed by Vermeil's Super Bowl pedigree - adopted a win-now philosophy throughout his stay. High draft picks were traded away to bring in proven veterans and crops of free agents were signed to bolster the team. The franchise, led by general manager Carl Peterson, did anything and everything that could be done to make the Chiefs competitive.

Despite the front office's best efforts, though, the team racked up a total of one postseason appearance and zero playoff wins during Vermeil's tenure. Even though the Chiefs boasted the NFL's best offense over the first half of the decade, their defense was consistently among the league's worst. As good as they were at scoring points, they were equally skilled - and perhaps better - at surrendering points to the opposing team.

As the seasons went by, the veterans the Chiefs had spent first-day picks to acquire began to age. Of the numerous free agents they signed to help their defense, only a select few actually made something resembling a difference. And, worst of all, the team whiffed on draft pick after draft pick during the same time frame.

Of the 38 draft selections made by Kansas City from 2001-2005, only nine players - RB Larry Johnson; DE Jimmy Wilkerson; TE Kris Wilson; WR Samie Parker; DE Jared Allen; LB Derrick Johnson; P Dustin Colquitt; LB/FB Boomer Grigsby; and OT Will Svitek - are still on the Chiefs' roster today. Of those remaining players, Wilkerson and Svitek are backups and three - Wilson, Parker and Grigsby - are average starters on the NFL's 30th-ranked offense. It's conceivable that any of those five players could be with other teams in 2008.

That leaves four picks who have actually made a significant impact on the field. Finding just four impact players in 38 tries gives Vermeil, Peterson and the Chiefs an embarrassing success rate of just 10.5 percent in the draft during those years.

Trading away valuable picks, signing multiple free-agent busts, and terrible drafting will derail even the best teams, and the Chiefs are starting to pay for those mistakes.

When Edwards took the reins from Vermeil in 2006, he inherited one of the league's worst defenses. But even in the midst of the Chiefs' current losing streak, their defense now ranks in the top 10 in both yards and scoring, a credit to the difference the head coach has already made.

But Edwards isn't without fault. While he can't be held responsible for the decline in the aging players he was left with, he - along with Peterson and coordinator Mike Solari - deserve a hefty share of blame for the way the Chiefs' offense has bottomed out this season.

If the team had an offensive line that was just a middle-of-the-road unit by NFL standards, Kansas City's fortunes in 2007 likely would have turned out another way. Any person involved in that decision-making process should be held accountable for his failure to evaluate the lack of talent on the line. Not only has it been difficult to move the ball, the Chiefs' quarterbacks are battered and bruised from the lack of protection they've been given.

The offense will likely be blown up in the offseason, with old players being shipped out, new ones being brought in, and probably a new coordinator, too. Considering the history of Edwards' teams on offense, perhaps it's time he took a page from his friend Tony Dungy and stepped back to let qualified offensive personnel run the unit. Of course, the team will first have to hire such personnel to make that a possibility.

The bottom line is that the problems plaguing the Chiefs are far-reaching and were caused by the mistakes of numerous people. Edwards may be the head coach now, but he shouldn't be blamed for issues that were formed years before he came to Kansas City. After season after season of mismanagement, the Chiefs' roster isn't going to fill up with talent overnight.

Edwards should be given a chance to build the team his way before being judged one way or the other. With a possible top-10 draft selection, picks in the double digits, and room under the salary cap, Kansas City should be in a prime position to make moves to improve the team over the offseason.

The key, though, will be the Chiefs' ability to properly evaluate talent, an area they've been sorely lacking in for most of the decade. If Edwards' staff proves better than his predecessor's in that regard, the Chiefs could back bounce quickly from the disappointment of 2007.
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