Five-Orite Friday: Kansas City Chiefs find themselves playing for first place

Now that is what I call a football weekend! Chiefs had a shocking comeback, K-State went HAM on Oklahoma and MU has more issues than Lindsay Lohan. Lets start with the Chiefs since the NFL is the king.

1. Chiefs win?

Well, I did not see that win vs. the Saints coming at all. I picked against the Chiefs and felt really good about that pick during the 3rd quarter. Then the Chiefs rolled off the greatest comeback in their history. So what does this win mean for the Chiefs? Is this a season altering win and defining moment for the 2012 Chiefs that turns the fortune of the entire season around?

No. It does not.

The Chiefs did many good things in the win over the New Orleans Saints. Main one being Jamaal Charles going beast mode in the 2nd Half. But it is clear this team still has many glaring holes. The two main weaknesses showed to be the defense and the QB position. Yes, the defense made big plays late in the game to help fuel the comeback but that was the same defense that helped dig the double digit hole. Remember when the Chiefs defense was suppose to be the strength of this team? The Chiefs defense is still miles upon miles away from becoming an elite championship level defense and that is what the Chiefs defense needs to be to cancel out the grand limitations of their QB.

Matt Cassel limitations as your team's starting QB is that story line you tolerate in your favorite TV show. He is the Xander and Willow hooking up story line from Season 3 of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. The Chiefs showed the ability to tolerate Cassel's play and still be able to win a game. But that is a flawed strategy and should be put on the shelf for the rest of the season.

After two disastrous blow outs to start the season the Chiefs now find themselves with a chance to take a lead in the AFC West division race with a win vs. the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. This game screams let down performance for me. It reminds me of the home games vs. the Miami Dolphins last season and the Oakland Raiders from last season. Both of those games came after big emotional wins by the Chiefs. The Dolphins game came after the Monday Night Football Halloween game where Philip Rivers gave the Chiefs the biggest gift of all by fumbling away a snap while trying to spot the ball for a game winning field goal. Rivers botched the snap and the Chiefs won in over time and the Chiefs were seen giving high fives to fans in the stands after the game and living up the moment. Then six days later on that same field the chiefs got spanked by the winless Dolphins.

Similar thing happened to the Chiefs after the improbable win at home vs. the undefeated Green Bay Packers. Todd Haley was fired that week and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel was named interim and the Chiefs stunned the Packers and handed them their only loss of the regular season. A week later the Chiefs lost a home game to the Raiders that knocked the Chiefs out of the divisional race and the post season. This upcoming game smells an awful lot like those games from last season. I see the Chargers sneaking out of Arrowhead with a narrow victory.

2. Snyder The Gray:

Many nicknames seem to miss the mark but not for Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder. The nickname floating around for coach Snyder is The Wizard and I can't think of a better name for him. What Snyder has been able to build and recreate in his second tenure at Manhattan is freaking phenomenal. That is the best way to describe what he has accomplished in his fourth season back. Everything that Snyder has been building these past four seasons reached its apex last Saturday evening when the Wildcats handed Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops his fourth loss every at home.

If Bill Snyder is Gandalf The Grey than Collin Klein is Frodo Baggins. The pair still have a long way to go until they make it to Mount Doom. They passed the first test with the win at OU and now must continue to pass through the gates of Mordor until they reach the fires of Mount Doom.

3. All pain killer no filler:

Holy crap things went from bad to worse at Mizzou in a hurry. If you thought MU was going to have an easy transition into the SEC then I have some sweet HD DVDs I want to sell you. I expected MU to have a difficult moments in their first season in the SEC but I did not expect it to be happen like this. Countless mental lapses on the field and a major question mark surrounding the QB position.

Many moons ago MU head coach Gary Pinkel stated that his team would always have a QB and that statement has proven to be true. From Brad Smith to Chase Daniel, to Blaine Gabbert Pinkel has backed up that statement. Last season James Franklin was set to be the next man up in the line of MU QBs and with his play it seemed like all was well in Tiger Town at the signal caller position. Then came the Arizona State game and now the wheels look to be coming off this train. James Franklin confidence is bruised and shaken. He is unsure of himself and his throwing ability and it showed big time in the game vs. South Carolina. Remember last week when I warned about the negative affect Gary Pinkel's comments could have on James Franklin?

Now, Pinkel's comments about Franklin last week and Franklin's comments this week about the lack of trust in his shoulder could be all coincidence. But having your toughness questioned in public and then you start questioning your own ability to make throws and tolerate pain seems like a little too much of a coincidence for my taste.

Things do not get any easier for the Tigers as they travel down to Orlando to play a salty Central Florida team. If MU loses this game and Franklin continues his poor play I expect Tiger fans to lead a march on the Mizzou campus for Corbin Berkstesser to replace James Franklin.

4. They call me Mr. Glass:

Anytime Kansas City Royals owner David Glass lets Desmond press the buttons for a while so he can leave the hatch to talk it is a story. This time the he emerged to tell everyone that the Royals are going to spend money this off-season to upgrade the starting pitching rotation.

Come on....quit laughing. He really means it this time. He even said they are willing to go in the red to acquire these pitchers. No he REALLY means it now.

Like many things with David Glass and the Royals front office this is lip service to me plain and simple. I literally will not believe until I see it.

On the topic of not believing something until I see it. The other day I was thinking back to a conversation I had with a close friend about his season tickets he bought for the Royals this past season. He was told me how he has tickets for the last series of the season and I had a simple response for him. Why? He told me he assumed that series would be the one where the Royals would clinch that elusive playoff birth and it was going to be great. I asked him if he was serious with that statement and he said yes. Then I started to think about what would it take me to get to that point with the Royals.

Every year before the season starts I do MLB predictions where I go through and slot all of the division winners in MLB and pick the order of finish and MVPs and Cy Young winners and etc. So what would it take for me to pick the Royals to make the post season before the season and do so with all seriousness? I thought about this for a while and I honestly think the only way I could pick the Royals to make the playoffs and be a 100 percent confident in that pick is if they were coming off playing in the World Series. If the Royals made the wild card or won the division I would talk myself into the let down factor and know that it was going to happen to the Royals because once again they are the Royals. My mindset is a good snap shot of the perception of the Royals.

Seeing is believing and actions speak louder than words. David Glass' comments ring hollow and will continue to be that way until he shows us differently.

5. We didn't start the fire:

Sporting Kansas City are starting to carve out a nice niche in the Five-Orite Friday count down. That will tend to happen when you are a really good team and you win. And that is just that. They are the most success pro sports franchise in Kansas City right now. Tonight is another important game for Sporting KC as they host the Chicago Fire who are currently second in the Eastern Conference standings and trail Sporting by two-points.

The match is a sell out and it should be an absolutely insane atmosphere at Sporting Park. If you are one of the few souls who have tickets for this match I envy you. If you are like me and do not have tickets then make sure to tune into NBC Sports Channel tonight at 7:30pm cst.

Follow me on twitter @craig_a_brenner and until next week peace out.