Saturday, January 07, 2006

Chiefs 2005 Season - The Spaghetti Western Take

I don't know anything about the Chiefs except what I see and hear during the three hours they play on Sunday. I read no sports page, I watch no sports news, I visit no sports website-- for any sports of anything. So in my year-end assessment, I have no knowledge of draft, trade, or retirement moves, which is not necessarily a good thing, but I also have no conception of what media Monday-morning pundits are saying, and that is necessarily a good thing. I will admit that for this post I did take a peek at the Chiefs roster, only to note how many years certain players have been on the team, because that bit of information is instrumental for my take here.

The Good. Our youth. We have some pretty decent young players that showed tremendous promise this year. Most times Kawika Mitchell and Derrick Johnson were terrific on defense. If they can just learn to tackle all the time they'd be great. It is obvious Jared Allen is a keeper but only if he behaves. Sammy Parker looked helpless out there in the first few games but came around and really shined a number of times. And of course Larry Johnson is nothing less than spectacular. The only real disappointment in the youngins department was punter Dustin Colquitt. When you draft a punter as high as third, you'd better see him make booming punts on at least a semi-regular basis. Really, he barely made it to mediocre, but maybe that's just because he was a rookie. He'll get a few more chances.

The Bad. Our age. Let's face it. We're ancient. Notice how short the "our youth" paragraph was just now? Let's start with the key to our game, the O-line, and it doesn't look pretty. Brian Waters and John Welbourn are mid-career vets, but the others damn-near senior citizens. Get ready to weep. Future Hall-of-Famers Will Shields and Willie Roaf were both playing in their 13th years. Roaf's return to the line sparked a great run for us-- I think we went 5-2 after he came back-- but there were still a couple of times when he got burnt badly. Trent Green is really pushing it at 12 years. Eddie Kennison, 10 years. Tony Gonzalez, 9 years. (As good as these guys are.) Our defensive backfield did fine with the additions of Sammy Knight and Patrick Surtain, but even those guys are getting up there. The only major player on the team who's in the middle of his service, right where he can be great (if he isn't already), is Dante Hall.

The Ugly. Our focus. Look at this team: 10-6. Ten-and-six record for cryin' out loud, and no playoff spot. This has happened to only one other team since 1991 (Miami two years ago). Certainly this was because there were six teams that just had better records in the AFC this year, but the fact is in a couple of those losses, when it came down to being clutch, we beat ourselves. The turning point in the season? That fumble just before the end of the half when we were really taking it to the Cowboys. We were about to go up 21-10, but instead they run the fumble back a long way, and then bop right in for a touchdown and we're down 17-14 just like that. Thing is, we still should have won, up 28-24, when a foolish holding penalty against us on a Cowboy 4th down for what should have been effectively the last play of the game gave them new life to score the go-ahead touchdown. Those kind of mistakes at just the wrong times betrayed what a fine team this was, but also demonstrated that you've got to be on top of it all mentally for the full 60 minutes of gametime. And that non-tackling thing? It's not that we can't tackle. It's that we overpursued and we ran around them and we bounced against them and they zipped on by. This is a problem of focus, not inability. In some ways, that made this season that much more frustrating.

I'd love to have a Dick Vermeil clone coaching us next year, but some part of me felt that too much of the Vermeil tenderness kept these guys from really keeping that focus. Let's hope for someone with the Vermeil heart, but with an added Lombardi boot so some of these guys can get kicked in the butt sometimes.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

Bengals at Chiefs - Week 17 - Record: 10-6

Dick Vermeil surely couldn't be more proud of his team in this last game of his five year stint here, a 37-3 trouncing of Cincinnati. With Pittsburgh predictably winning, we're out, and I can't help but think that if we just tackled in the Giants game or we just put away the Cowboys like we should have or held that 17-0 lead against the Eagles, he'd get one more playoff game for us. But the "what if's" don't really bug me-- about half the teams in the NFL could say those same things about any one thing in any one game that could've gone just right for them to get into the post season.

Not too many teams finish with a 10-6 record and don't make the playoffs, and we certainly have reason to be proud. Larry Johnson and our offensive line is phenomenal, and I must say that our linebacking and defensive backfield had pretty decent years. There's a solid foundation for next year. We definitely need help on the D-line and we really really really need to look at developing a quarterback. Trent Green is wonderful, but how much longer can he go? Of course, developing a playoff calibur quarterback of their own-- an absolute requisite for Super Bowl contention, really-- is something we've been wondering for eons if the Chiefs can actually accomplish, since they have never ever done it. Think someone would take half our highest draft picks for the chance to pick Matt Leinart?

As for the new coach, let's hope we get somebody who has mastered the game like no one else and has a passion for his players that gets them to play at that top-flight level that makes it all worth it. Someone like, ohhh, Dick Vermeil. What a joy to have had such an amazing gentleman coach our team for as many years as he did.