NFL Thoughts Week 14: Chicago Bears and Beyond
CLEVELAND -- The most disappointing wholesale
jerseys chinabunch of losers in the NFL is back. That was a tragic, and in some ways eight days the Chiefs just navigated.
They learned a teammate had murdered a woman and then killed himself, played
their best game of the season the next day, and spent last week burying and grieving for two families and even preparing for
another football game.
But the awful football they play is what
will define them, and ultimately what will keep some of them from being part of
the 2013 Chiefs.
The world moves
fast. Maybe that’s callous. http://www.mlbnfljerseyssupply.comBut the NFL is big business. Everyone is
judged on performance, and now, two games removed from Jovan Belcher’s
murder-suicide, the focus is back to the Chiefs’ place as the most
disappointing team in the NFL.
They lost 30-7 to the Browns here on
Sunday. That’sthirty. To seven. To the Browns.
That’s the Browns, who entered the
weekend 27th in offense and 23rd in defense. The Browns, who haven’t beaten
anyone this thoroughly since 2003. The Browns, who have a general manager most
fans assume is out the door and a coach many of them hope is out the door.
Jamaal Charles sliced through and then
outran the Browns’ defense for an 80-yard touchdown on the Chiefs’ first play
from scrimmage. The Chiefs ran 51 more plays without any more points.
Romeo Crennel talks sometimes about
keeping scores close, inching far closer than an NFL coach should to claiming
moral victory, and the Chiefs just got blown out by a team that hasn’t blown
anyone out this bad since its starting running back was 13 years old.
Of course, it’s entirely possible it’s
been that long since the Browns played a team as bad as these Chiefs.
And if you’re wondering whether the Chiefs
are still rocked by the tragedy, if the hangover of losing a friend and
teammate kicked in this week instead of last, well:
“No, not at all,” Dexter McCluster says.
“No, we came in excited to play this
game,” Tamba Hali says.
“I don’t think so,” Justin Houston says.
“It’s not a distraction for us,” Brady
Quinn says.
“I think if there was a letdown, we
wouldn’t have played the first half the way we played the first half,” Crennel
says.
You know, the Chiefs were actually losing at halftime. Ugh.
Anyway, this is a group clearly in over
its head, overmatched against NFL teams. They call timeout to get the ball back
at the end of the first half, only to run out the clock with a draw that
everyone back in Kansas City knew was coming. They gave up an accidental
93-yard punt return, missed a short field goal, kicked it off out of bounds and
threw jump-ball fade routes to Jamar Newsome (recently promoted from the
practice squad) instead of Jonathan Baldwin (the first-round pick two years
ago).
On defense, they started Tysyn Hartman
and played Josh Bellamy, Leon Williams and Nieko Thorpe. On offense, they
started Quinn and played Patrick DiMarco, Terrance Copper, Shaun Draughn and
Newsome — together.
This is a team that still often talks
like turnovers are the biggest problem but has now won just one of six games
with two or fewer giveaways. They continue to make a case as the cockiest
terrible team in league history — Shaun Smith tweeted before the game that “we are gonna win today by 10 the
brownies (stink).”
This is a broken roster — especially if
Dwayne Bowe’s injury is serious, and if he doesn’t return next year — that’s
being coached down instead of up. They are in the fourth year of a building
process, and instead of the Right 53, they have, roughly, the Right Dozen Or
So.
General manager Scott Pioli fired coach
Todd Haley one year ago this week. Pioli talked about the team’s inconsistency
and too many blowout losses, among other things. He said he needed to do his
own job better, and that he should be held accountable.
Well, the Chiefs now have three fewer
wins and two more losses by more than two touchdowns compared to the same time
last year.
Pioli and Crennel earned everyone’s
empathy and respect for how they reacted to an impossible and life-changing tragedy
nine days ago. But in the NFL, jobs are given and retained based on wins and
losses, and the Chiefs are the worst and most disappointing team in the league.
Three games left.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/12/09/3957803/sam-mellinger-chiefs-go-right.html#storylink=cpy

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