If you think it couldn't get any worse for the now 5-8 Kansas City Chiefs, you'd be wrong. After viewing the latest Chiefs' embarrassment on Sunday vs. the former AFL-rival New York Jets, it's frightening to think what is going to happen when the Super Bowl champion and undefeated Green Bay Packers strut into Arrowhead Stadium this Sunday.
At least we won't have head coach Todd Haley to blame it on any more. The Chiefs stepped up this morning and took the action they should have much sooner than now, dismissing the fiery Haley from his teetering position. Defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel will lead the Chiefs in their final three games.
I, for one, am glad I only have to get through three more games and I can close the book on another dismal season watching the New-England-Patriot-wanna-be's who should come to grips now with the reality that they're never gonna be.
Kansas City's offense was a no-show again in Week 14 and the Romeo Crennel's defense, which has been the Chiefs' one bright spot much of this season, took the day off, as well, contributing to the Jets' resounding 37-10 victory. Sunday's victory made last week's win against the Chicago Bears look like a bigger aberration than it was. I'm not sure that the Chiefs' offense - which head coach Todd Haley appears to be calling all the plays for of late - could move the ball against either LSU or Alabama the way it is presently constituted.
I watched the entire game on TV and, even then, had a hard time reconciling the fact that the Chiefs passed for 156 net yards and ran for 65. It sure seemed like much less than that.
Haley summed up the loss with the postgame remark: "We probably had our worst half of football (referring to the first half in Sunday's laugher vs. the Jets). I don't know that it's even close," he said. I hate to differ with you coach, but your first two games to start the year were just about as ugly as it comes.
"They (the Jets) were more prepared," Haley said, "Any time you have a result like that, it starts at the top with myself." I guess General Manager Scott Pioli and Chairman Clark Hunt, like the rest of us, finally got tired of hearing that excuse. Now the Chiefs have the opportunity, once again, to get somebody in here who can truly get the job done that needs to be done. Not some excitable young buck who has had some success calling plays from the sideline and appears to have a bright future ( an open plea to Pioli not to make the same mistake twice with someone like Josh McDaniels, another Pioli protégé from the GM's New England days).
I will say this about the Jets' game on Sunday, one horrid defensive series in the third quarter stood as a symbol of how the Chiefs have totally come unraveled and signaled that Haley had clearly lost control of his team on the field as well as in the locker room. Kansas City committed five penalties totaling 81 yards, including two penalties for 20 yards on a single play, allowing the Jets to drive the length of the field for a touchdown fully gifted by the Chiefs. On top of it, Haley himself was called for one of the penalties, an unsportsmanlike infraction because of what appeared to be unacceptable language.
I don't know how many games it's been in which Haley has reminded us that he is the one accountable for the team's showing as the head coach. Disturbingly, that is 100 percent accurate and we've heard that after every Chiefs' loss this season, four of which have been by at least four-touchdown margins.
Unfortunately, it's not going to get much better for the Chiefs the next three weeks when they will meet the Packers at home this Sunday, followed by a visit by the Oakland Raiders and then finishing up in Denver against Tim Tebow and the division-leading Broncos. The way the team has been playing, Kansas City will be hard pressed to win any of these remaining games.
It will be interesting, though, to see what the response of the team will be without Haley around. Haley, appropriately, is the first to go from the coaching staff, but something tells me he won't be the only one shown the exit.