An end of the 2008 season look at the Chiefs with Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson. He speaks of the Chiefs performance in Cincinnati, what he saw during the ’08 season and what’s ahead for this team as they wait for the arrival of a new general manager.
Happy new year and enjoy!
It took less than four hours Tuesday night for the folks in Denver to begin the campaigning for John Elway to return to the Broncos now that Mike Shanahan is gone as head coach.
No really, here’s the link to a Denver columnist and his theories on the situation.
That anything like this could even be discussed was the stop-dead, bolt from the blue that rattled the NFL early Tuesday evening when the Broncos announced that owner Patrick Bowlen had axed Shanahan after 14 seasons as head coach.
Everybody in the league expected guys like Rod Marinelli and Romeo Crennel to lose their jobs. But Shanahan was considered bulletproof because of his total power over the franchise and his relationship with Bowlen. Some in the league called him the “Teflon Coach” because when things went wrong with the Broncos, little of the blame seemed to stick with Shanahan. He was not afraid to fire assistant coaches, coordinators and even the team’s general manager. Shanahan led the effort to bounce Ted Sundquist from that role last year.
So it’s ironic that his refusal to fire a coordinator supposedly cost him his job. Bowlen wanted him to dismiss defensive leader Bob Slowik. When his head coach refused, Bowlen gave him his walking papers.
Slowik joined Shanahan’s staff three years ago as a secondary coach and the ’08 season was his first as a defensive coordinator. The Broncos surrendered a franchise-record 448 points this season, up from the 409 points they gave up in 2007.
Bowlen is not one of the NFL owners with deep pockets, but his decision on Shanahan could cost him a lot of money. Shanahan is due almost $21 million for the final three years remaining on his contract. Plus, all of the Broncos assistants are under contract through the 2009 season and one, QB coach Jeremy Bates is under contract through 2011.
All this tells me there’s something more to this story that will eventually come out. It’s hard to believe this football marriage would crack because of a defensive coordinator, not after all the guys in that spot that Shanahan has fired in the past (Greg Robinson in ’00, Ray Rhodes in ’02, Larry Coyer in ’06 and Jim Bates after the ’07 season.)
Shanahan has been the Broncos head coach since the 1995 season. His 14 seasons gave him the second longest coaching tenure in the NFL, behind only Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher. Denver won Super Bowl titles after the 1997 and 1998 seasons, but the Broncos have struggled in recent seasons to make the playoffs. In the 10 seasons since that last championship, Denver made the post-season field just four times, and they’ve missed the last three years straight.
Overall in Denver, Shanahan was 146-91 over his 14 seasons. He was 15-14 against the Chiefs, including a victory in the ’97 playoffs at Arrowhead Stadium.
Here’s an update on what’s going on with the other openings around the NFL.
CHIEFS – Without citing his source, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported Tuesday that the Chiefs were looking to interview New England VP of Personnel Scott Pioli, Ravens pro personnel director George Kokinis, Ravens college scouting director Eric DeCosta, Colts assistant GM Chris Polian and recently fired Browns GM Phil Savage. All of those names can be found on our updated A-LIST and have been there for weeks. …Read More!
John Czarnecki, the information man for the Fox-TV NFL Pre-Game Show and columnist for FOXSPORTS.com joins us for our weekly chat and we cover all the NFL ground, including the stunning dismissal of Mike Shanahan in Denver, the search for a Chiefs GM, the situations in Cleveland, Detroit and the New York Jets, along with what may happen in St. Louis and Oakland, where Czar sees Al Davis hiring Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh any day now. Plus, we talk about this weekend’s wildcard games.
Enjoy!
It has been a volatile couple days since the end of the 2008 regular season capped by the most shocking move yet coming Tuesday afternoon:
The Denver Broncos fired Mike Shanahan.
That news came down early in the evening after a meeting between Shanahan and Broncos owner Pat Bowlen. Denver just completed an 8-8 season with that late three-game slide where they blew the division lead and eventually lost out on a spot in the playoffs when they were crushed on Sunday night by San Diego.
Bowlen wanted Shanahan to fire his defensive coordinator Bob Slowick. Shananhan refused. He was fired.
“After giving this careful consideration, I have concluded that a change in our football operations is in the best interests of the Denver Broncos,” Bowlen said in a statement released by the team. “This is certainly a difficult decision, but one that I feel must be made and which will ultimately be in the best interests of all concerned.
“I appreciate the 21 years that Mike Shanahan has given to the organization as an assistant and head coach, and the two Super Bowl wins in that time.”
Shanahan has been the Broncos head coach since the 1995 season. His 14 seasons gave him the second longest coaching tenure in the NFL, behind only Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher. Denver won Super Bowl titles after the 1997 and 1998 seasons, but the Broncos have struggled in recent seasons to make the playoffs. In the 10 seasons since that last championship, Denver made the post-season field just four times, and they’ve missed the last three years straight.
Overall in Denver, Shanahan was 146-91 over his 14 seasons. He was 15-14 against the Chiefs, including a victory in the ’97 playoffs at Arrowhead Stadium.
More to come Wednesday morning on the Shanahan decision and the rest of the movement around the NFL.
Monday was a very active day around the National Football League.
And the guy who got busy the fastest was Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner.
On Sunday, Lerner fired his GM Phil Savage. On Monday, he relieved Romeo Crennel of his coaching duties. On Saturday night, Lerner met with Bill Cowher in New York to see if he wanted to coach the Browns. Cowher turned him down. On Tuesday, Lerner is reportedly going to meet with Scott Pioli, the VP of Player Personnel for the Patriots and the No. 1 GM candidate in the league right now.
The Chiefs have also received permission from the Patriots to speak with Pioli, but the details of a meeting are unknown.
Joining Savage and Crennel on the firing line were Detroit head coach Rod Marinelli and New York Jets head coach Eric Mangini. How Jets GM Mike Tannebaum escaped the ax is one question folks around the NFL were asking by the time the smoke cleared on Monday.
Let’s summarize what we know and what’s been reported.
CHIEFS – We told you last week the Chiefs had conducted an interview with a GM candidate. According to Fox-TV’s Jay Glazer that man was Marty Schottenheimer, who would take a Bill Parcells like role as VP of Football Operations and then hire a GM and coach. On Sirius NFL Radio on Monday, Schottenheimer said: “I had a conversation with the people in Kansas City but it was merely as ‘What do you think the situation is?’ Because I have a very long-standing relationship, I have great respect for Clark and others in that organization.  And so we had some dialogue and I told them what I felt, how I felt about it. That was all.”
As for future interviews, Denny Thum is actively involved in this process and he was at the team’s offices on Monday morning for Herm Edwards press conference. 
BROWNS – Savage got the boot and then Crennel followed on Monday. Both were hired in 2005; Savage from the Baltimore Ravens and Crennel from New England where he was the defensive coordinator on the Patriots three Super Bowl championship teams.
In their time in Cleveland, the Browns went 24-40 and did not make the playoffs. The organization was also plagued by various off-field incidents involving players like TE Kellen Winslow. Crennel was stripped of his authority to hire assistant coaches after making a mistake with offensive coordinator Maurice Carthon. The coach also didn’t have much input in personnel decisions and it was apparent along the shores of Lake Erie that Crennel and Savage were not on the same page.
“As it turned out, we were both held accountable, both Phil and myself for our record and we’re both out of a job and that’s the bottom line,” Crennel told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Whatever the reasons are, no one really cares. It’s just like on Sunday — did you win or lose? That you’re playing with the fourth quarterback doesn’t matter. We’re both accountable and we have to answer for that.”
Conversation has been had with Cowher, Pioli is coming up and the Browns have expressed an interest in New York Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
LIONS – That Marinelli was given the boot comes as no surprise, not after leading the team to the first 0-16 season in NFL history. In three seasons with Marinelli as head coach the Lions finished 10-38.
“You can’t go 0-16 and expect to keep your job,” Marinelli said in a Monday news conference. “I didn’t conquer anything. I got defeated.
“Our record speaks for itself, but when I look at worst, that is worst. This group of men, we didn’t succeed on the field in terms of our record, but they succeeded in everything I wanted them to do. We came a long ways in terms of how to be a football team. The record doesn’t show it, but it’s a start and it’s a foundation.”
Not only did Detroit ownership announce the firing of Marinelli, they said Tom Lewand would be team president and Martin Mayhew would be general manager on a permanent basis. Both men were appointed to those positions on an interim basis when Matt Millen was fired in September. …Read More!
From the Truman Sports Complex
Herm Edwards met the media horde for the final time in the 2008 season. Like everyone else, he now waits for the hiring of a new general manager and a decision on whether he will remain as the team’s head coach.
Edwards won’t sit back and wait. He will approach the next several weeks in the only fashion he can: as head coach of the Chiefs. He’ll spend this week evaluating his players and coaches and he’ll then get prepared for the Senior Bowl and looking at college players in preparation for the 2009 NFL Draft.
As one might imagine, many of the questions to Edwards were about his situation. Here are the highlights.
ON WHETHER HE FEELS UNCOMFORTABLE ABOUT HIS SITUATION AS HE WAITS FOR A NEW GM.
“Well, I just think the new guy is going to have the same vision that we started with, this rebuilding vision that we’ve been trying to do as an organization. I think that’s going to be a key too. He’s going to have to come in and evaluate players and then he’s going to evaluate what we’ve done to try and do this. I think that will be the criteria in hiring a guy like that too.”
ON WHETHER HE CAN MAKE A CASE TO THE NEXT GM ON WHAT HE’S DONE.
“I’m the kind of guy, and maybe it’s just my upbringing, but I’m not one to try and build cases. I let my work speak for itself. That’s the bottom line. I’m not big on promoting Herman Edwards, never have been and I’m not going to start now. I’ve been in this business too long and I think I try to do things the right way and try to do things right for this organization and this football team. I know it was the right thing to do. That’s all you can do. You do the right things for the right reasons. You don’t do them personally; you do them for what you know and you feel is right. At this point in time we knew we were going to be in this situation. We all accepted it. I’ve got to accept it as a coach. That’s where it’s at.”
WILL YOU HAVE TO SELL HIMSELF TO THE NEW GM
“I’m pretty sure if it’s a new GM who gets hired he’s going to know who I am unless he’s not in America. I’ve been in this league 30 years; what do I have to do? He’s got to make a decision on what he wants to do. He’s got to look at it and say is this guy the right guy and if he’s not that’s okay. That’s his decision. I’m okay with that.”
Comment: Sometimes it’s hard for fans and the media to understand one of the facts of life when you are in the coaching profession. That is simply this: if a coach hasn’t been fired yet, more than likely he will be before the end of his career. Whether it’s called relieved of duties, not retained, no contract offered, released or fired is semantics. The reality is you are out of a job. Edwards experienced that once before with the Chiefs, when Marty Schottenheimer did not retain him as secondary coach after the 1994 season. There isn’t a coach on the Kansas City coaching staff that hasn’t been fired at least once.
Coaches learn quite early that the only thing they control is the job they do. Spending time speculation or worrying about matters out of their control does nothing but create ulcers and sleepless nights. Coaches on a team with a 2-14 record have enough sleepless nights because of what happens on the field, without making matters worse.
Love him or hate him, you’ve got to give Herm Edwards credit for one thing: he’s done it his way. If that doesn’t work out, he’s going to be able to live with that. There are a lot of coaches who don’t have that kind of fortitude. …Read More!
From the Truman Sports Complex
One would think the end of a 2-14 football season would be celebrated by those who had to slog through the long six months of disappointment.
That wasn’t the feeling at all around the Chiefs facility on Monday morning as the 2008 team met for the last time and headed out the door to begin an uncertain off-season. More than a few players said they would love to start again right now, anything they could do to help fix the problems that led to so many bad outcomes.
“There’s a little bit of a relief that it’s done, but it’s not something I’m celebrating,” said veteran guard Brian Waters. “It feels incomplete. This season has been so disappointing and so incomplete. I walk away from this season feeling like we were on the brink of getting this thing turned around. The game yesterday in Cincinnati was an aberration. We were getting better and I’m sure there are a lot of guys that wish we could go back and get to work and hopefully get a victory.
“I feel like it ended a little short for us.”
Herm Edwards spoke to the team on Monday morning and as he always has been, he was very blunt in his comments to his players.
“He talked about showing up and knowing you are an NFL player and being consistent,” said safety Bernard Pollard. “That you have to come in and know your job. You have to be a professional.
“I don’t think we did that. We were not consistent and it showed in our games. Our biggest thing is we have to learn how to win.”
Center Rudy Niswanger was one of those guys that got no joy out of the end to the season. …Read More!
With the outcome of Sunday’s action the Chiefs know that they’ll have the third selection in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. That’s what the NFL office announced Monday afternoon.
The Chiefs 2-14 record puts them behind Detroit in the No. 1 spot and St. Louis in the No. 2 spot.
At No. 4 will be Seattle, followed by Cleveland, Cincinnati, Oakland, Jacksonville and Green Bay.
For reference, here are the last 10 players selected in the third slot of the first round:
| Year | Team | Player | Position | College |
| 2008 | Atlanta | Matt Ryan |
QB |
Boston College |
| 2007 | Cleveland | Joe Thomas |
T |
Wisconsin |
| 2006 | Tennessee | Vince Young |
QB |
Texas |
| 2005 | Cleveland | Braylon Edwards |
WR |
Michigan |
| 2004 | Arizona | Larry Fitzgerald |
WR |
Pitt |
| 2003 | N.Y. Jets | Dewayne Robertson |
DT |
Kentucky |
| 2002 | Detroit | Joey Harrington |
QB |
Oregon |
| 2001 | Cleveland | Gerard Warren |
DT |
Florida |
| 2000 | Washington | Chris Samuels |
T |
Alabama |
| 1999 | Cincinnati | Akili Smith |
QB |
Oregon |
From The Truman Sports Complex
The Chiefs announced on Monday that the team’s players had voted TE Tony Gonzalez as the club’s most valuable player and CB Maurice Leggett as the team’s Mack Lee Hill Award winner as rookie of the year.
The announcement came as the Chiefs held their final meeting of the 2008 season on Monday morning.
Gonzalez was named the Derrick Thomas Award winner for the first time in his 12-year career with the team. He led all NFL tight ends in receiving with 96 catches for 1,058 yards and 10 TDs. The ’08 season is also the time when he established himself as pro football’s career tight end leader in catches, yards and touchdowns. He now has 916 receptions for 10,940 yards and 76 TDs.
Leggett got the honors for the Mack Lee Hill Award over a host of others who were considered, including four rookie starters. But Leggett truly embodies the spirit of Hill, who joined the team in 1964 as an undrafted free agent out of Southern University.
Hill died in December of 1965 while undergoing knee surgery in Kansas City. The Mack Lee Hill Award was created the next season, with RB Mike Garrett being the first winner.
Joining the team as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Valdosta State University, Leggett played in 12 games. He had 32 tackles and one interception. He returned that pick for a touchdown against Denver. He also returned a botched fake field goal by the Oakland Raiders for a touchdown.
Leggett joins a select group of players that have won the Hill award, including pro football Hall of Famer Jan Stenerud and others like Christian Okoye, Derrick Thomas, Will Shields, Jared Allen, Tama Hali and last year’s winner Dwayne Bowe.
Gonzalez won the Hill Award in 1997 and he becomes the seventh Chiefs player to win both awards during his career. The others are Thomas, Allen, S Gary Barbaro, CB Gary Green, S Lloyd Burruss and RB Christian Okoye.
Both players will receive their hardware at the 39th annual 101 Banquet set for March 7th.
From Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati
If it was up to Larry Johnson, Sunday’s game against the Bengals would be his last in a red and gold uniform.
Speaking in a calm, measured voice, Johnson said what he’s said before: he doesn’t see a place for him in the Chiefs’ future.
“It’s time to move on,” Johnson said. “For me and for the Chiefs.”
With the conclusion of the ’08 season and the 10-point defeat against the Bengals, Johnson made it very plain he wants to end his time in Kansas City. He said he needs a new start.
“I’ve been through a lot being in this city and there are certain things you feel, certain things you just can’t get corrected,” Johnson said. “You take your losses and you move on.”
When asked what he thought his chances were of being with the Chiefs in the 2009 season, Johnson said:
“Slim and none. You can tell. When I came back, I was coming back ready to play and for some reason it just didn’t fit. Even when my rushing yards were pretty good, it felt like my role diminished. That’s a telltale sign for anybody in that situation so you know what’s coming.
Since he returned after missing four games in the middle of the season for disciplinary reasons and his one-game NFL suspension, Johnson felt like he no longer fit into the offensive plans of head coach Herm Edwards and offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. The Chiefs had gone to the spread offense and Johnson acknowledged that he did not fit that scheme.
“They did what they had to do,” Johnson said. “I understand that. They moved on. It’s time for me to move on.” …Read More!
There are a lot of things happening around the NFL beyond the 16 games played on Sunday.
Phil Savage is out as general manager in Cleveland. Romeo Crennel will likely get his walking papers on Monday.
Mike Singletary has signed a new deal to remain as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
And we’ve got the schedule set for wildcard weekend in the AFC and NFC playoffs. Here’s how the games will play out:
SATURDAY
3:30 PM CDT: The Atlanta Falcons visit the Arizona Cardinals. The game will be on NBC.
7 PM CDT: The Indianapolis Colts visit the San Diego Chargers. This game will also be on NBC.
SUNDAY
Noon CDT: The Baltimore Ravens at the Miami Dolphins. This game will be on CBS.
3:30 PM CDT: The Philadelphia Eagles at Minnesota Vikings. This game is on Fox.
From Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati
The 2008 Chiefs etched their name in the NFL Record Book on Sunday.
There’s nothing good about the notation that will go next to their name: the team that had the worst pass rush in pro football history.
The Chiefs up the ’08 season with 10 sacks. They got one from DE Jason Babin against Cincinnati to at least reach double digits.
“Oh man, I don’t want to talk about that,” said Babin after the game. “We really weren’t thinking about it, but we couldn’t help but have it because people were talking about it all the time.”
The Chiefs 10 sacks breaks the former record of 11 sacks, set by the Baltimore Colts in the nine-game 1982 season. The 16-game record was 13 sacks, by Baltimore in 1981.
It easily shatters the franchise record of 15 in the nine-game 1982 season. The fewest sacks the Chiefs have ever had over 16 games is 23, and that was back in 1988. …Read More!
From Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati
Here’s a post-game report from the Chiefs locker room after their 16-6 loss to the Bengals. I’ve kept it short and the real meat here is my interview with Larry Johnson and his comments that he wants out of Kansas City.
Check it out.
From Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati
Clark Hunt stood inside the entrance to the Chiefs locker room and provided what little consolation he could to the players and coaches that walked through the door.
The Chiefs had just lost to the Bengals 16-6 and as they trudged into the room, Hunt gave them a handshake, a slap on the back, a nod of the head. There was little consolation that could be provided.
“This is embarrassing,” said wide receiver Mark Bradley as he walked in with Dwayne Bowe.
Oh my yes, it was embarrassing, maybe the worst of the team’s 26 defeats over the last two years. OK, second worst. Losing last year to Detroit, the only game the Lions have won in their last 24 games would have to rank on top.
We will keep the focus of this epistle strictly to what happened on Sunday here on the north bank of the Ohio River. There will be plenty of time in the future for post-mortems on what happened to the 2008 Chiefs.
Bradley was right on the mark; what happened on the last day of the season was embarrassing. Yes they only lost by 10 points and they got drubbed earlier in the season by teams like Carolina and Tennessee by wider margins than that. But those teams are in the playoffs and rank near the top of their conferences. Losing by 10 points to the now 4-11-1 Cincinnati Bengals is just the most disgusting defeat one can ever imagine for a team like the Chiefs in a season like this one.
The Chiefs are a bad football team. The Bengals are a bad football team. And on top of that, Cincinnati started this game without starting wide receivers T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chad “Ocho Cinco” Johnson who were inactive. Also inactive were the starting tackles Stacy Andrews and Levi Jones. And, the team’s franchise quarterback Carson Palmer was the third inactive quarterback. They would have used a wide receiver to throw the football before they would have put Palmer in the game with his bad elbow. …Read More!
From Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati
Last week, the Chiefs were able to score four touchdowns against a Miami Dolphins defense that was fighting to go to the playoffs. A week later on the final Sunday of the 2008 NFL season, they were able to score only a single touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals, losing 16-6 and finishing the season with a 2-14 record.
After playing well for the better part of the last two months, the Kansas City attack was stymied and held to just 220 yards by a Bengals defense that was allowing 332.5 yards per game.
QB Tyler Thigpen struggled all afternoon, finishing the day completing 19 of 36 passes for 191 yards. The running game produced just 31 yards. The Chiefs had 14 first downs, but six came on their final possession in the fourth quarter that produced the Chiefs only score: a five-yard TD pass from Thigpen to TE Tony Gonzalez. The offense also lost the ball on a fumble in the fourth quarter.
And the Bengals had just enough offense to put a touchdown and two field goals on the scoreboard. RB Cedric Benson had the TD, running in from two yards away in the second quarter. K Shayne Graham added a pair of field goals and Cincinnati finished the season at 4-11-1 and with three straight victories.
The Bengals won the toss but elected to defer their selection until the second half. So the Chiefs got the ball first and Thigpen hit his first two passes, going nine yards to WR Devard Darling and eight yards to WR Dwayne Bowe. But the drive stalled and P Dustin Colquitt booted the ball away.
Cincinnati’s first drive picked up three first downs, but the Chiefs defense stiffened and held on a fourth-and-six play when CB Brandon Flowers knocked down a pass from QB Ryan Fitzpatrick to WR Glenn Holt.
But the next time the Cincinnati offense got the ball, they put together the only scoring drive of the quarter, moving 63 yards on 11 plays with four first downs. The big play in the drive was a 14-yard run by Benson. Again, the Chiefs defense stopped the march towards the end zone and Graham hit a 38-yard FG to give the Bengals a 3-0 lead. …Read More!
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