Bye Week Reveals No Changes

After all the hoopla over Larry Johnson’s Twitter-Gate, the Kansas City Chiefs finally got back on the field against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday. Unfortunately, Jacksonville ran up over 400 yards of offense and survived a feverish comeback by Kansas City, winning 24-21.

There are no moral victories in the NFL. The Chiefs now stand 1-7 after losing to an average team on the road.

Haley’s Bunch once again showed an inability to make plays. Even though the pass rush was improved, Jaguars quarterback David Garrard looked like an All Pro. Broken coverages in the secondary killed Kansas City all day long. Once that happened running back Maurice Jones-Drew sealed the game with his power running, scoring a late touchdown and running out the clock.

As we stand at the halfway point of the season, it’s hard to evaluate this football team. The CBS Broadcast announcers were kind in regards to their Saturday interview with general manager Scott Pioli, who stated the Chiefs need players up and down the roster to be competitive. He won’t talk to the local media, but it’s clear his team needs at least six or seven talented starters to be competitive in 2010. If you factor in the way the Chiefs drafted a year ago and their inability to attract high-priced free agents, Pioli’s rebuilding job may loom tall next year.

Meanwhile, Sunday’s game was nothing new. Wide receiver Chris Chambers started the game despite being signed just this week, and played well, scoring a pair of late touchdowns including a 54-yard bomb. Earlier this year, Bobby Wade did something similar, joining the Chiefs during the week and starting a few days later, only to lead the team in receiving.

Once again, KC’s offensive line was terrible. Haley may think his team is making progress, but they didn’t find a groove until late in the game when the Jaguars had a 24-6 lead. We’ve seen that before, too.

It’s all getting so old and repetitive that it’s hard to predict when the misery ends. If not for the sloppy play from KC’s secondary, which gave up big plays and blew coverages, we’re talking about a great comeback from the Chiefs. But like always, something gets in the way.

Next week the Chiefs travel to Oakland to face the Raiders in a game that could set the tone for the remainder of the season. Other than a home contest against the Cleveland Browns in December, it might be KC’s only chance to win a game the rest of the year.

That’s sad because even with all the chaos, bad moves, coaching changes and locker room distractions, many thought this team could win six games this year. Now we’ll be surprised if they can double their output in the final eight games.