Chiefs Look Punchless In Philly

It’s not easy to be a Kansas City Chiefs fan right now as the team sits 0-3 after being humiliated by the Philadelphia Eagles Sunday, 34-14, in a game that was never really competitive. But we saw two teams who were far apart based on their offensive and defensive philosophies. One team kept attacking, despite the score, while the other refused to even get in the ring.

Sunday’s loss was the worst of the season so far. But I want to be positive right now, so I’ll temper things by realizing the following: the 2009 Chiefs simply can’t compete in the NFL right now.

The whole team is behind the eight ball and that should be expected. When general manager Scott Pioli came over from New England, he probably expected the thumping Philadelphia put on the Chiefs Sunday. Likely, it wasn’t a shock to him. Pioli’s Chiefs are not built to win on Sundays.

It’s not all his fault. The cupboard has been bare for a long time in Kansas City. The Chiefs are still free-falling from the effects of the Dick Vermeil era and the roster was further eroded under Herm Edwards.

I suspect Todd Haley also realizes his team wasn’t built to win this year. His play-calling Sunday showed he felt his football team could not move the ball against the Eagles, who held the Chiefs under 200 yards.

We saw that Haley had almost no confidence in quarterback Matt Cassel, as the Chiefs threw only 18 times, with Cassel completing 14, two for touchdowns. Kansas City had 99 yards rushing, but it’s hard to get any offensive consistency when you can’t convert a single third down. Haley quit on KC’s passing game because he knew his offensive line could not prevent the all-out assault on his franchise quarterback.

Right now it appears to me that Haley has too many responsibilities. He admitted recently that at season’s end, he’ll likely find a new offensive coordinator. In addition to that task, Haley is also acting as quarterbacks coach.

He’s overwhelmed, and the talent deficit the Chiefs face every week doesn’t help. We all want this team to play well, but no matter how hard Haley tries to improve the roster every week by adjusting the depth chart, and no matter who he adds during the year by dipping into free agency, this team is just short on talent.

It will plague Kansas City all season long. Until something changes on that front, we’ll see a few more games like we saw in Philadelphia Sunday.