Art Hains

When this season began, realists knew the Chiefs were undertaking something that was long overdue. Much like how our current economic situation came about because short-term considerations were paramount, with no thought to the long-term ramifications, so it was with the Chiefs. For several years, they had patched leaks that sprung, maintaining a competitive team, but at the expense of the future. The team did squeeze into the playoffs two years ago, and what a wonderful day that was for Chiefs fans! I was on the air doing a talk show in Springfield that Sunday afternoon after the win over Jacksonville, and all the other events were unfolding into the early evening that sent the Chiefs into the playoffs.

My son and I drove the 7 hours each way from Springfield to Indianapolis that next weekend, in anticipation of a playoff upset of the Colts, who were thought to be soft against the run. We're going to control the clock with LJ, run it down their throats, and move on to the next round. Bob Sanders and the Colts defense had other ideas. It was not an enjoyable day.

That would've been the time to start making wholesale changes, but we'd just been to the playoffs, right? A nip here, a tuck there, and we're good to go. Results proved otherwise, and there was no federal bailout.

Essentially, the Chiefs got into this situation because the retirements of Willie Roaf and Will Shields were never adequately addressed, combined with the litany of wasted high draft picks in the early 2000s. Ryan Sims is the poster child for this group, which includes Craphonso Thorpe, Snoop Minnis, Sylvester Morris....even Victor Riley and Trezelle Jenkins, going back to the 90s.

So it's an all-0ut reconstruction project, and starting with the Jets game Oct. 26, the next four weeks produced encouraging, though not winning results. All four games were entertaining and competitive, and you could see improvement. Last week against Buffalo, though, after a fast start....two or three big steps backward. Ironically, maybe Tyler Thigpen's growing confidence borne of his nearly mistake-free play the previous four weeks, led him to take chances that led to a pair of disastrous interceptions in the second quarter against the Bills.

As Jason Whitlock wrote this week, we'll find out in the next two weeks whether the Buffalo game was the aberration on what otherwise is an upward arc for the Chiefs, or whether the 4-game stretch was merely a product of an unusually-positive turnover/takeaway ratio(+11!)
which defied all the actuarial tables by failing to produce any wins, but merely kept the Chiefs in those games. Last week they were minus-5 and we saw the results.

The Chiefs need to win 2 or 3 of these last 5 games, to validate that there is improvement being shown. Losing, obviously, becomes a habit and you can't ignore 1-10, even in a rebuilding year. Whether we get the first pick in the draft, the 5th or whatever, you should get an impact player. A little late season success is more important than giving up one or two draft positions. All of the remaining games are winnable. Throwing out San Diego because they were part of both the 4-game competitive stretch and the next 5 games, the remaining opponents are all not as good as the Jets, Buccaneers and Saints. Avoiding the mistakes of last week and returning to the competitive ways of weeks 8-11 should produce good results. But if not....then there are some hard questions to be answered as to this team's true future potential.