Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Chiefs putting the L in loser

  1. #1
    Member Since
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Cedar Park, TX
    Posts
    633

    Default Chiefs putting the L in loser

    From the kcstar.com. Fatlock has some good points, but I disagree with him about Thigpen. If given a halfway decent line, Thigpen can easily be a starting QB in the NFL.

    By JASON WHITLOCK

    The Kansas City Star


    Philosopher Bill Parcells popularized the football theory that a team is exactly what its record says it is.
    That makes our Kansas City Chiefs losers — losers approaching historic dimensions.

    Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs ran their futility streak to 18 of their last 19, falling to the New Orleans Saints 30-20.

    For those of you who prefer to take comfort in the mitigating circumstances, there was the usual assortment.

    •The refs stole four points from the home team, denying Larry Johnson a 1-yard TD plunge and forcing the Chiefs to settle for a field goal.

    •Because of injuries, Kansas City played with about half of its defensive starters.

    •Midseason acquisition/bright spot Mark Bradley dropped a critical third-down pass in the fourth quarter, killing a would-be game-tying TD drive.

    Yeah, like a lot of Kansas City’s losses the last two seasons, the Chiefs coulda, shoulda, woulda won had the right breaks fallen their way.

    But the truth is that from Nov. 4, 2007, until the moment you read these words, the 1-18 Chiefs have been the worst team in professional football — worse than the 2-17 Detroit Lions.

    L-O-S-E-R-S.

    One of life’s most difficult challenges is accepting people (or things) you love for who they are rather than what you want them to be. It’s a challenge most of us fail to the delight of divorce lawyers, therapists and booty calls.

    We foolishly think if we love just a little bit harder, for a little bit longer, things will change for the better.

    I woke up Sunday morning convinced things could only get better for the Chiefs. Surely they would beat the Saints, who came to town without Reggie Bush and in a disappointing funk of their own.

    When Tyler Thigpen’s third-and-2 dart bounced off Bradley’s chest, I conceded the obvious: Losers find a way to lose.

    I knew Kansas City’s defense wouldn’t hold. I figured the Saints would at least march into field-goal range and make it a two-score game.

    “There’s a saying, ‘Losing breeds losing, and success breeds success,’ ” Chiefs safety Jon McGraw explained. “The losing definitely wears on you.”

    The Chiefs are worn out. They have no reason to believe anymore. They came into Sunday’s game realizing they needed to score 30 points to protect their injury-ravaged defense. They had Larry Johnson in the backfield after a one-month sabbatical for conduct detrimental to common decency and sense.

    The Saints had given up 30-plus points in their three previous games.

    It didn’t matter. KC’s offense regressed. Thigpen connected on just half of his 38 passes. Twice when the Chiefs sniffed the goal line, he misfired on fade passes to Dwayne Bowe. Thigpen badly underthrew Bradley on a deep ball that should have been a 55-yard TD. Instead, it was a 31-yard, falling catch that led to a 21-yard field goal.

    Thigpen is Kansas City’s backup quarterback of the future. Like Brodie Croyle, Thigpen is miscast as a starter. As a starter, he’s good enough to get the Chiefs beat.

    Again, we can talk about mitigating circumstances — his youth, inexperience, suspect line and occasional questionable play-calling.

    The truth is he is exactly what his 0-5 record says he is. And so are the Chiefs.

    We’re witnessing the worst stretch of Kansas City football in franchise history. From Nov. 13, 1977, to Nov. 19, 1978, the Chiefs won two of 19 games.

    L-O-S-E-R-S.

    That’s not fun to write. I’ve had a front press-row seat to most of the recent losses. As much as I’d like to see The Artist Formerly Known as King Carl dethroned, I much prefer to write about the Chiefs when they’re winning, the games are significant and you’re engaged and passionate.

    The losing makes us all look and feel like losers. Plus, we have no guarantee this patch of wretchedness will usher in change we can believe in.

    The Dolphins were the last team to lose 18 of 19. Their run of futility ended in mid-September this season and was sparked by Parcells’ ascension to the head of the organization.

    The Hunt family responded to their late-1970s ineffectiveness by waiting another decade before hiring Carl Peterson.

    You can’t force a loser to change.

    If he didn’t have a job when you met him, if her cell phone blew up all night the first time you slept over, don’t act surprised that you’re paying his bills and she’s hiding text messages a year later.
    We love a loser.

    Jamaal Charles. University of Texas.

  2. #2
    Member Since
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    1,915

    Default

    This comes one week after he wrote that Edwards had the Chiefs going in the right direction.

    Whitlock is a more fair weather KC fan than anyone else alive.

    Yeah, the Chiefs stink. We lose a couple more in a row, and we will be the worst all time.

    But we're "rebuilding," right? Right?

  3. #3
    Member Since
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    1,915

    Default

    Oh yeah, and I don't blame Thigpen an iota for the last four games. He's done as well as any QB could do under these circumstances.

    That being said, I still think we need to draft a QB high next year.

  4. #4

    Default

    About the Thigpen/Bradley falling catch: Did Whitlock not notice that while throwing the ball, Thigpen was in a full SPRINT?
    .

  5. #5
    Member Since
    Sep 2008
    Posts
    23

    Default

    I have always thought Whitlock was one of the biggest bags of air writing about sports in KC. This is no different from his normal fair. He picks on things to get a reaction from fans whether they are correct or not. Are the Chiefs bad this year? Oh yeah they are bad but are they getting better? To that i say Yes. I think it is unfair at this point to pigeon hole Thigpen as well. I mean come on who woould have thought our 3 string QB who was a 7th round pick would play like he has. I mean Thigpen has played so well in the last 4 games that he has totally turned his post atlanta image around. Thigpen may have only completed half his passes yesterday but I know I for one saw at least 3 passes dropped that should have been catches. I am not ready to jump on Thigpen's wagon just yet but if he continues to prove him self we may have just found a Starting QB. Give him to the end of the year to bestow final judgements.

    We may not be winning but I tell you they have become fun to watch again. I am excited to see if Bradley can finally give us that real number 2 receiver threat. So even though we will have a stinker year this season the future that lies ahead looks bright....that is if comadant Karl doesn't screw it up.

  6. #6
    Member Since
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Philly
    Posts
    1,880

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by greg3564 View Post
    From the kcstar.com. Fatlock has some good points, but I disagree with him about Thigpen. If given a halfway decent line, Thigpen can easily be a starting QB in the NFL.
    Yes I disagree with him about Thigpen too. His numbers have been real good (yesterday's were more mediocre). It's silly for Whitlock to say he is what his record is (0-5). By that logic, Troy Aikman was a bad qb because in his rookie year in 1989 he went 0-11. Duh, the Cowboys were a hideous football team in 1989 (1-15). Not Aikman's fault.



    Quote Originally Posted by jmlamerson View Post
    This comes one week after he wrote that Edwards had the Chiefs going in the right direction.
    Good point. Heh, that really is quite funny one week writing the Chiefs are going in the right direction and now writing that they are losers and he doesn't want to hear about mitigating circumstances or shoulda woulda couldas. Very inconsistent on his part.


    There was also something from the Star yesterday talking about various other teams who have had the 1-18 type slumps we are in. And how some of them had success not too far down the road. Like the Cowboys 1-15 in 1989 and then won 2 Super Bowls in '92 and '93. And the Patriots in 1990-1993 (had a 1-15 season and a 2-14 season in this period) then making the Super Bowl in '96.

    Other teams have had more prolonged slumps, like the Lions this decade, the Saints in the 70's and early 80's, and the Rams in the 90's. Those Rams had awful records from 1990-1998. Then Warner, Faulk, and Bruce come on the scene and the Rams win a Super Bowl in '99 (after 4-12 in '98).

    I guess the point is, we are in a bad time now, but there's always hope good times are not that far away. Just don't know for sure when and what's going to happen. But other teams have turned it around before, including us. So that's the component of a fan -- the hope that winning days will be here again.

  7. #7
    Member Since
    May 2006
    Location
    Illinois
    Posts
    9,152

    Default

    Sounds like a case of 'good cop, bad cop' being played by the same character.

    I think he is using reverse psychology and trying to get people behind Thigpen, by calling him a back-up.

  8. #8
    Member Since
    Oct 2008
    Posts
    1,915

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by IlovetheChiefs View Post
    Yes I disagree with him about Thigpen too. His numbers have been real good (yesterday's were more mediocre). It's silly for Whitlock to say he is what his record is (0-5). By that logic, Troy Aikman was a bad qb because in his rookie year in 1989 he went 0-11. Duh, the Cowboys were a hideous football team in 1989 (1-15). Not Aikman's fault.





    Good point. Heh, that really is quite funny one week writing the Chiefs are going in the right direction and now writing that they are losers and he doesn't want to hear about mitigating circumstances or shoulda woulda couldas. Very inconsistent on his part.


    There was also something from the Star yesterday talking about various other teams who have had the 1-18 type slumps we are in. And how some of them had success not too far down the road. Like the Cowboys 1-15 in 1989 and then won 2 Super Bowls in '92 and '93. And the Patriots in 1990-1993 (had a 1-15 season and a 2-14 season in this period) then making the Super Bowl in '96.

    Other teams have had more prolonged slumps, like the Lions this decade, the Saints in the 70's and early 80's, and the Rams in the 90's. Those Rams had awful records from 1990-1998. Then Warner, Faulk, and Bruce come on the scene and the Rams win a Super Bowl in '99 (after 4-12 in '98).

    I guess the point is, we are in a bad time now, but there's always hope good times are not that far away. Just don't know for sure when and what's going to happen. But other teams have turned it around before, including us. So that's the component of a fan -- the hope that winning days will be here again.
    I'll start hoping when we have a new coach and GM. It's just a waste of effort until then.

    Jimmy Johnson wasn't fired when he went 1-15 in his first year with a rookie QB. That isn't the same as Herm Edwards getting a 4th year with a roster he peronally handpicked, and with the win totals declining every year.

    I mean, people, if we lose Sunday, we will go down as the worst team since the 76' Bucs. And yet our coach an GM are given a free pass because they're "rebuilding." Come on!

  9. #9
    Member Since
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Philly
    Posts
    1,880

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by jmlamerson View Post
    I'll start hoping when we have a new coach and GM. It's just a waste of effort until then.

    Jimmy Johnson wasn't fired when he went 1-15 in his first year with a rookie QB. That isn't the same as Herm Edwards getting a 4th year with a roster he peronally handpicked, and with the win totals declining every year.

    I mean, people, if we lose Sunday, we will go down as the worst team since the 76' Bucs. And yet our coachan GM are given a free pass because they're "rebuilding." Come on!
    Oh I agree. The Cowboys era was finally over and Tom Landry's last year in '88 was 3-13. Jimmy Johnson was a new coach with a young rebuilding team. The column was just referencing all the other teams who had similar slumps like ours now, and then mentioning some of the success stories that resulted not far later. Facts like that are encouraging, but the specific circumstances of the team in question is, of course, the main thing. And I agree that as long as we have Carl and Herm, the liklihood for winning days to return is not so encouraging.

  10. #10
    Member Since
    Oct 2008
    Location
    South Portland , Maine
    Posts
    43

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by greg3564 View Post

    Thigpen connected on just half of his 38 passes. Twice when the Chiefs sniffed the goal line, he misfired on fade passes to Dwayne Bowe. Thigpen badly underthrew Bradley on a deep ball that should have been a 55-yard TD. Instead, it was a 31-yard, falling catch that led to a 21-yard field goal.

    Thigpen is Kansas City’s backup quarterback of the future. Like Brodie Croyle, Thigpen is miscast as a starter. As a starter, he’s good enough to get the Chiefs beat.
    OUCH!!!!!

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •