COMMENTARY: The Worst One Yet
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.
Cincinnati has been ravaged by injuries this season and Sunday was just another example. When Jones and Houshmandzadeh did not start against the Chiefs that left just four players who opened all 16 games this season for head coach Marvin Lewis. They’ve had 22 names go through their injured reserve list. They have had as many players on the roster this season – into the 70s – as the Chiefs.
Even with all that the Bengals controlled this game from start to finish. The Chiefs couldn’t score until the final minutes of the game. Cincinnati came into the game with the league’s worst offense, but they simply befuddled the Chiefs defense and stayed on the field for a time of possession advantage of more than 15 minutes. There were not a lot of big plays, and only a single touchdown scored by the Bengals, but that offense led by quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick did the job.
It was the Bengals defense that won the game by putting the clamps on the Chiefs offense. Ever since they went to the spread offense with Tyler Thigpen at quarterback back on October 26, the Kansas City offense has been productive, if not always outstanding.
That ended against Cincinnati. With 6:21 left in the game, the Chiefs had totaled just 138 offensive yards and Thigpen was 14 of 27 throwing the ball. They finished with 220 yards, their worst offensive day in the spread and one of the least productive offensive days of the season.
The Bengals had one thing going for them that the Chiefs lacked: they had won the two previous games. They had some momentum and they also had the belief that they could win.
That was not evident from the Chiefs. They’ve forgotten how to win. Herm Edwards acknowledged that his team came out sluggish in the first half and just didn’t seem to be in synch. Could the Chiefs have possibly thought they could roll over the Bengals by showing up? Who knows at this point? That’s not how they are coached and that’s not how they talk.
But they didn’t wake up until the second half. Normally, that’s the half that kills the Chiefs and their chances for victory. On this Sunday they outgained the Bengals 170-90 in the third and fourth quarters with 12 first downs compared to six.
By then it was too late.
Yes Mark Bradley, it was embarrassing.
I’m afraid I have to agree that we saved the worst for last. In a game that should have been a statement for the future of the franchise we made a different kind of statement. Thankfully the season, and hopefully the Edwards era in Kansas City, will come to an end. I’m afraid we’re in for more of the same if it doesn’t. Fortunately, I don’t think Rin Tin Tin will be able to come to the rescue and save this mess. It’s time for change and a fresh start.
Herm should be fired ASAP. Hopefully he will not be back next year.
Very embarrasing and orchestrated by Herm Edwards. Funny that Herm said after the game that the defense kept the Chiefs in the game. Bob and every fan except a couple of site trolls saw the whole team including the D dominated by a collection of backups. The Herm Edwards way cannot be tolerated by a winning franchise.
Herm all of KC is not behind you. huh huh, huh huh
They ran a WR reverse on the first play…that’s 2 weeks in a row! That’ not a coaching problem? Oh, my God. How do you even face the press after that? They are so poorly prepared for every game. They are pathetic. The defense was TERRIBLE!!! Kept them in the game? Only the ineptitude of Bengals play calling kept the score down. Why did they pass at all?
Yes B, you are right They were very pathetic today.
And NOW Rin Tin Tin the Chiefs have affirmed that Carl Peterson, Herm Edwards, and LJ have no place in KC.
(most of us knew this a long time ago but I’m guessing you’re probably just now getting the picture. If not…)
All over….I don’t know how many of you were fans in the 90’s when this team at least made the playoffs every year. I thought losing in the wildcard round was bad, but this takes the cake. Honestly everybody, I was expected an 8-8 year, or at worst 7-9. After I went to the Raiders game @ Arrowhead on Sept 14th, I knew we were in BIG trouble.
There will be some giant changes coming, we all know this. Larry wants out, you know Tony wants out, he may not say it publicly, but we all know he does. It’s a numb feeling right now. One more question…who actually saw the game on T.V.? We haven’t seen a Chiefs game since….well, I can’t remember. Get some rest, relax, and pray that the Chiefs can be healed in one single off season.
Keep up the great work Coach Edwards. ALL of KC is behind you and we know that you will lead us back to glory very soon now.
AND NOW, Clark Hunt has RE-RE-affirmed Herm’s The Man!
See you back as Chiefs Head Coach in 2009 Herm!
Today was painful for sure, but at the very least, we should view it as a positive. Any chance Herm had to coach this team next year should have been thoroughly destroyed after this game.
Hermmie and his fun bunch should have been left in Cleavland…….. we sure don’t want them here any more. Rin tin tin you got some bad weed man!
DOG
Rin believes Herm will concentrate on defense in free agency and the draft when he sets the course for the Chiefs off season planning as he returns as KC Chiefs Head Coach in 2009!
I finally got to see a game since they play all the Cinci games here in Dayton. The audio and video were horrible and to boot the team played awful. It was the one game I was looking forward to all year and it sucked. Whomever is to blame … Herm, Clark, Gunther … get it fixed. Now.
This is shaping up to be the most interesting and important off-season in perhaps the last 20 years or so for the Chiefs. The onus is squarely on Clark Hunt making intelligent personnel decisions, obviously.
How the young Hunt will do is anyone’s guess but I’d suggest he keep in mind that indecision is most costly than quick decisions.
I hate to see coaches get fired but this game tipped me to the Herm must go column. His game management decision making is just never going to get any better. He’s supposed to be a great motivator, but who was motivated in this game? The Chiefs could have pinned a closing day loss on the depleted Bengals and not even affected their draft position. Instead more clueless Chiefs. Anyone watch Gameday on the NFL Network? They had a one minute highlight section on the Chiefs-Bengals with the sound effect of a truck backing up (moving time) playing over the clip. The Bengals were treated like the joke of the league–the Chiefs not even that. They have to step up to the status of joke of the league.
I really think if Clark is willing to break the bank, it can be done…
If the Chiefs somehow paid Suggs AND Peppers…think about that, add in those 2 to that D, trade back and take Rey M from USC, that Puts DJ/Rey/Suggs, adds peppers to the line with Turk rotating in and Tank/Dorsey in the middle Hali on the other side.
Page/Pollard/Morgan/Flowers/Carr/Leggett are strong…
Add in an offense that if Herb Taylor/Wade smith can find spots, may only need to take a center in the early rounds.(Niswanger I do like, but he gets blown off the ball constantly.)
I also figure add in a bruiser to complement Charles/Kolby, and the back situation is fine….If Tebow declares, maybe he falls to round 2 and the spread can stay intact.
Barth has to be challenged, at least Kevin Robinson looked good…
Will be glad to see Larry gone, hes a cancer. Should be a new look next year.
Just heard Chiefs Head Coach Herm Edwards press conference – sensational! What a refreshing and positive outlook – I’m already stoked for 2009! Man, it’s gonna be GRRRRREAT having Herm return as Chiefs Head Coach for year 2 of the rebuild come next season!
heh heh heh
been a fan since the dallas texans, so ive seen the good the bad the ugly with this team, and hopefully clark will make the right decisions to get this team back to where we are all proud, but i think herm has to be replaced. we all know this season was gonna be tough and the injuries didnt help, but the collapse every second half has to fall back on the coaches and yesterday was just a total embarassment. lets hope clark makes his dad proud!
Herm’s The Man – KC Chiefs Head Coach in 2009!
The disturbing news is the fact that Tony Gonzalez believes we have something going here…..he was quick to clarify that it wasn’t much momomentum….”but he did see the team playing better and if the new GM decided to blow everything up and start over with a new coaching staff he would be more interested in playing elsewhere next year.” I paraphrased his quotes slightly, but those were pretty much the words that came out of his mouth in an interview I heard on 810. We have all heard about Herm being a players coach….but seriously? I’m torn between the selfishness of seeing Tony Gonzalez finishing his career as a Chief vs giving him a chance to finish his career with a chance to goto the playoffs let alone a Super Bowl.
Yes I’m a homer….but I (I’m sure along with every other Chiefs fan) would love to see one of those miracle comebacks such as the ones put together by Miami and Atlanta this year. Tony….you gotta see….it’s possible to turn things around in a rookie coaches 1st year with an NFL team. Even 2 other rookie coaches in Baltimore (going to the playoffs) and Washington (falling apart at the end of the year) had success in their rookie coaches debut. I have confidence in Clark Hunt making a good, calculated decision regarding our new GM…..and as a result will have confidence in our new GM’s decision in regards to Herm Edwards. Although I must admit I am nervous about that particular decision. As I often hear the sports talk heads pose the question to callers calling for Herms head in the past….”who else is out there who could come in and do a better job?” Because I hate to be the bearer of bad news to all the Chiefs fans out there but we probably have about a 0.05% chance of getting Bill Cowher to come to Kansas City and coaching this team.