A Messy Rebuilding History … Friday Cup O’Chiefs
Rebuilding is hard. If you’ve ever been involved in a construction project you know it’s a dirty, messy process that never goes fast as you would like or without problems.
Chiefs fans know this. It’s become part of their DNA. Those that still show up at Arrowhead Stadium are dealing with the effects of the major renovation going on inside and around the building.
But the red and gold nation has lived through plenty of rebuilding. In the last 35 years, the Chiefs have done major remodeling jobs on their football operation a half-dozen times, with several smaller jobs as well.
None of those six major rebuilds started with winning. Paul Wiggin was 1-3 in his first season. It was the same record after four games for Marv Levy, John Mackovic, Marty Schottenheimer and Dick Vermeil.
And then there’s Todd Haley and the team’s 0-4 start to the ‘09 season.
At the moment, the swirling winds of change around the Chiefs have those inside the tornado worried about what’s next. For those on the outside looking in, they are watching with equal parts concern and wonder at the destruction that has taken place.
Considering the Chiefs history and the circumstances of this particular rebuilding project, should anybody be surprised that it’s a big mess right now?
The only thing different about this version of the Chiefs rebuilding story are the names involved in the process, from the top of the organization to the last guy on the roster. There were different actors but similar plot lines in 1974 when Wiggin took over for Hank Stram. And the hiring of Levy in 1978 was a major switch, as was the Mackovic Era that began in 1983. Schottenheimer was a major change from Mackovic-Frank Gansz in 1989; just as Vermeil was quite different in 2001 from the Schottenheimer-Gunther Cunningham years.
Each and every one of those rebuilds had stumbling starts:
1974 – Wiggin’s first campaign was only the third losing season in the first 15 years of the franchise. The Super Bowl IV Chiefs were beginning their slide out the door and the team’s drafting work under Stram over the last few years was very poor. Despite the continued presence of names like Buchanan, Lanier, Thomas, Stenerud and Dawson, Wiggin’s team lost their first three, then won three in a row to pull their record even at 3-3. They went loss-victory twice over the next month to go 5-5. But from that point, they dropped the final four games of the season to finish 5-9. The problem for that team in its start was defense, as they gave up an average of 354.4 yards per game.
THE REST OF THE STORY: in ‘76, the Chiefs repeated their 5-9 record and then in the ‘77 season, they started 1-6 and Wiggin was fired on Halloween. Interim head coach Tom Bettis went 1-6 as well and did not keep the job.
1978 – When Levy showed up from the Canadian Football League he found a team that had one of the worst defenses in the NFL. By this time, the only Hall of Famers still around were CB Emmitt Thomas and K Jan Stenerud; within two years, both would be gone. Levy was so concerned about his defense that he decided to run the winged-T offense, relying on the running game in hopes of winning the time of possession battle. The Chiefs ended up running the ball 663 times. Levy’s team won the season’s first game, but then lost six in a row and 10 of their next 11 games. The enjoyed a two-game winning streak and then lost two in a row to finish 4-12.
THE REST OF THE STORY: that start led to a 7-9 record in ‘79, an 8-8 mark in ‘80 and then 9-7 in the ‘81 season. Levy’s future was destroyed by the players strike in ‘82, as the Chiefs went 3-6 and he was fired.
1983 – Replacing Levy was Mackovic, who came over from the Dallas Cowboys coaching staff. He was offensive minded, more specifically he liked to see his team throw the football. That’s what they did, as the team put up 641 passes and QB Bill Kenney threw for 4,348 yards. At the time, Kenney was just the fourth passer in pro football history to throw for more than 4,000 yards in a season. Mackovic again won his first game, and then lost three in a row. At the quarter pole, the team had scored just four offensive touchdowns. They finished with 38 more over the final 12 games. Defense was the problem here, as they gave up an average of 340.8 yards per over the first four games. At mid-season, the ‘83 Chiefs were 4-4, but they went 2-6 over the second half and finished 6-10.
THE REST OF THE STORY: that first season led to an 8-8 record in ‘84 and then a step back to 6-10 in ‘85. Facing an ultimatum from management, Mackovic led a team built on defense and special teams to a 10-6 record and the franchise’s first appearance in the playoffs in 15 years. Unbelievably, Mackovic was fired some 10 days after losing in the playoffs.
1989 – Mackovic was replaced by his special teams coach Gansz, and then two years later Schottenheimer came over from the Browns to become head coach. Things did not start smoothly as the offense struggled to get out of the starting blocks under the new coaching staff. They were 1-3, then 3-5 at mid-season. It was in the second half of that first season when Schottenheimer’s first team came together, going 5-2-1. That turnaround was built on defense, as they allowed an average of 13 points per game over the last half of the season.
THE REST OF THE STORY: Schottenheimer would become the winningest coach in franchise history over his 10 seasons with the club, making the playoffs seven times before he resigned after the ‘98 season.
2001 – Cunningham replaced Schottenheimer and went a respectable 16-16 with a team in transition. GM Carl Peterson pulled the plug when he was able to talk his long-time friend and mentor Vermeil into taking over the job. Two years removed from taking the St. Louis Rams to a Super Bowl title, Vermeil came in with a different approach than the two coaches who came before him. The transition was a big one, especially on offense where QB Trent Green and RB Priest Holmes arrived and soon began etching their names in the team’s record book. But the offensive explosion wasn’t quite visible in the first four games. This ‘01 team lost two, won the third game and then lost four in a row before winning the eighth game to finish the first half 2-6. They got hot late in the season, as they won three in a row in December, outscoring Denver, San Diego and Jacksonville to finish 4-4.
THE REST OF THE STORY: the ‘02 Vermeil Chiefs went 8-8, and then a 13-3 season in ‘03 that ended with a disappointing loss in the playoffs to Indianapolis. It was 7-9 in ‘04 and then 10-6 in the ‘05 season before Vermeil retired for the third and apparently final time.
Here are the numbers for these first-year rebuilding Chiefs teams over the first four games of the seasons. There is one common denominator to these after four-game stats – they are not very pretty:
| Season |
1974 |
1978 |
1983 |
1989 |
2001 |
2009 |
| Record |
1-3 |
1-3 |
1-3 |
1-3 |
1-3 |
0-4 |
| Points Scored |
102 |
68 |
49 |
67 |
78 |
64 |
| Points Allowed |
97 |
92 |
71 |
95 |
73 |
112 |
| Points Differential +/- |
+5 |
-24 |
-22 |
-28 |
+5 |
-58 |
| Offensive Yards |
308.3 |
323 |
279.3 |
293.5 |
340.8 |
246.5 |
| Rushing Yards |
147.5 |
224.5 |
65.3 |
113.5 |
91.3 |
101.5 |
| Passing Yards |
160.8 |
98.5 |
214 |
180.0 |
249.5 |
145 |
| Giveaways |
8 |
8 |
11 |
16 |
8 |
4 |
| Sacks Allowed |
17 |
6 |
12 |
6 |
7 |
13 |
| Offensive TDs |
11 |
8 |
4 |
7 |
8 |
7 |
| Yards Allowed |
354.5 |
281.3 |
340.8 |
272.8 |
311 |
379 |
| Rush Yards Allowed |
154 |
163.5 |
165.3 |
144.5 |
126.5 |
128.5 |
| Pass Yards Allowed |
200.5 |
117.8 |
175.5 |
128.3 |
184.5 |
250.5 |
| Takeaways |
14 |
5 |
15 |
6 |
8 |
4 |
| Sacks |
8 |
7 |
3 |
8 |
6 |
5 |
| Offensive TDs allowed |
11 |
9 |
8 |
9 |
6 |
13 |
| Gross Punting Avg. |
41.0 |
40.1 |
37.0 |
42.4 |
43.7 |
46.2 |
| Net Punting Avg. |
Na |
30.0 |
32.5 |
36.9 |
36.9 |
44.5 |
| Punt Return Avg. |
10.6 |
10.4 |
5.5 |
10.5 |
8.3 |
8.1 |
| Kick Return Avg. |
23.6 |
27.5 |
14.4 |
19.0 |
20.5 |
23.1 |
| Punt Coverage Avg. |
14.5 |
10.8 |
7.3 |
9.2 |
8.9 |
2.5 |
| Kick Coverage Avg. |
24.6 |
24.3 |
19.2 |
22.2 |
25.3 |
22.1 |
| FINAL RECORD |
5-9 |
4-12 |
6-10 |
8-7-1 |
6-10 |
? |
SIGNINGS, INJURIES & MOVEMENT AROUND THE LEAGUE
- AFC: named Steelers RB Rashard Mendenhall offensive player of the week; Broncos CB Champ Bailey defensive player of the week; Texans returner Jacoby Jones special teams player of the week.
- BENGALS – released CB Geoffrey Pope; promoted LB Dan Skuta from the practice squad.
FROM THE PAGES OF CHIEFS HISTORY
On October 9, 1960, the Dallas Texans lost to Oakland 20-19 in front of 21,000 fans at the Cotton Bowl. More details later today.
On October 9, 1977, the Chiefs lost to the Broncos 23-7 at Mile High Stadium in Denver. The Broncos ran off the first 23 points of the game to get the victory. It wasn’t until midway through the fourth quarter that the Chiefs were on the scoreboard, as RB Ed Podolak had a 2-yard TD run. Denver’s defense sacked Chiefs QBs Mike Livingston and Tony Adams six times and picked off four passes. Overall, the Chiefs offense had just 166 total yards.
On October 9, 1988, the Chiefs lost to the Oilers 7-6 at the Astrodome in Houston. The Chiefs managed only a pair of Nick Lowery field goals as the offense was unable to get anything done against the Houston defense. The Oilers were playing without starting QB Warren Moon who was injured, and his replacement Cody Carlson then went out with an injury as well, bringing in third-stringer Brent Pease. But it was Pease who scored the game’s only TD, getting to the end zone on a four-yard bootleg run. The Chiefs defense allowed just 34 passing yards and picked off three Houston passes. But the Oilers ran for 206 yards, including 141 yards from RB Mike Rozier.
On October 9, 1995, the Chiefs beat the San Diego Chargers in overtime 29-23 in a Monday night game at Arrowhead Stadium. It was an 86-yard punt return for a touchdown from Tamarick Vanover that won the game for the Chiefs. They had tied it up in the fourth quarter with a Lin Elliott FG and an 18-yard TD pass from QB Steve Bono to TE Derrick Walker. On the night, Bono was 27 of 41 for 329 yards and a pair of TD passes, the other to FB Kimble Anders. S Brian Washington had an interception and the Chiefs got two sacks from DE Neil Smith and one from DT Keith Traylor.
SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY …
Born on October 9, 1973 in Meridian, Mississippi was CB Dexter McCleon. He joined the Chiefs as an unrestricted free agent from the Rams in 2003. McCleon played three seasons with the club (2003-05), appearing in 40 games with 27 starts. He had 10 interceptions with the Chiefs. In six seasons with the Rams, three with the Chiefs and a final year with the Texans, McCleon had 31 career interceptions.
I wonder how Haley’s Chiefs Bio will read 10 years from now? Hopefuly it will be one of the fastest turn around records with a Super Bowl appearance ending.
Go Chiefs!
I really do not get it. Many NFL teams have had to rebuild. They were bad for years but with the correct staff and a few impact players, every team but the Chiefs have found a way to get to play in a superbowl. Now we have Pioli/Haley. They gave up the 09 season to “find out” what they had. So far they have found there is not much left on the team. Many fans have bought into the “process” or “paitience” and that is ok but they have not improved at much, I guess they are still evaluating. Sorry but I just do not get how you can give up a complete season from the point of view of the management, players or fans, just how many seasons do you have left?
I don’t get it. Has anyone figured out that 3 of the losses were against the Eagles, Ravens and the Giants? 3 of the BEST teams in the NFL.You could take the Steelers and they could lose all three games. You could take every team in the league and they could very well lose all three of these games. It would be totally different if they lost to the Browns,Lions and the Bucs, then we would have a right to complain, but they lost to the BEST teams in the NFL. Lets see where we are after we have played the season, then and only then will we really know what we have.
Dandy Chief>agree totally
el cid,
I do not believe that the Chiefs management has given up on the season. They’re still trying to find the right players in the right positions. I think you will see marked improvement by the end of the year. And the areas where improvement is needed will be agressively address in the offseason. Next year we will be MUCH better.
“It’s a process” is what they have said over and over. We fans don’t really want to hear that, do we? But, it’s true. Pioli is looking to build a competitive team, year in and year out…like he helped do in New England. We don’t want a “one-hit wonder” for the Chiefs.
I can see that you are a passionate fan, who just wants to see the team win. If we can’t agree on much else, we CAN agree on that. Patience, brother. You WILL see this team turn around. Maybe not as fast as we’d like…but you WILL see it.
My prediction for this weekend? We pull off an upset, and win our first game. Hey, even Herm Edwards picked the Chiefs to win this weekend…so it MUST be true!
“Every team but the Chiefs have found a way to play in a Super Bowl.”
Let’s not exaggerate. There are FOUR teams who have NEVER played in a Super Bowl: New Orleans, Houston, Jacksonville, and the “new” Cleveland franchise. These days look dark, but at least they’re not THAT dark.
Agree 110% Dandy … only the Raiders loss is disappointing. Anyone looked at the Titans record? The NFL did the new regime no favors whatsoever in the stating schedule, but you still have to play the games.
MattMac44 says:
“The NFL did the new regime no favors whatsoever in the stating schedule, but you still have to play the games.”
I’m not so sure. To BE a good team, you have to PLAY good teams. And ultimately BEAT good teams. An easy schedule might make your win/loss total look better…but it doesn’t make your team any better. You just have to learn from these games, and hopefully our guys are doing that. Getting your butt kicked SHOULD make you tougher. So, we’ll see.
First off great posts by all. Finally we are starting to discuss football in here. While I agree with you Mad Chief that to truly measure your self you have to go against the better teams, but at this point, it does no good. We know that we have a bad team. I think the coaches knew it too. But it was the hand we were dealt. ONly bad thing about it is it really makes it hard for the fans to accept it.
Hence why we have the witch hunting parties running around asking for Hailey’s head on a silver platter.
We made it through so far with no major injuries. Thank God for that. I fully believe we are going to see a marked improvement on the right side of the offensive line (at least at RT anyways) and that is going to help out a lot. Bowe is going to be back this weekend. Cassel has had another week to work with his WR’s and get the timing down. Now, so long as the o-line gives him time to show off that work.
Gonna be an interesting game. Hope they show up with their game faces on and no mental mistakes made.
Rodeo John says:
“We know that we have a bad team.”
Just for the sake of argument…DO we? We’ve really only played one team on our level so far – the Raiders. Which makes it a little harder to judge just how good, or bad we really are. I look forward to the next stretch of games…where we play good, but not great teams. I think this next 6 games or so will give us a little better idea where we really are. Nobody expected us to beat the Ravens, Eagles, or Giants. And we didn’t.
This is kind of a change of subject, but did anybody see Missouri Nebraska last night? It was so sweet watching my ‘Skers come back and whip those Tigers into shape, but what was even more exciting was seeing our DT Suh pretty much dominate the game much like Jared Allen did against the Packers on Monday night. Now I know we need help on the O’Line, LB, WR etc, and we need a dominant DE, but I can’t help but salivate at the idea of Suh in red and gold tearing it up, maybe he could even make the switch, he’s fast enough, or hell he could take over Tyson Jackson job! Any thoughts? Or is everybody sick of us drafting DL men in the first round who don’t amount to anything….?
There is about 8 team’s that are hard to beat,
at playoff level’s from last year , they did NOT get there overnight .
For the last few year’s it seemed like , NONE got good till the middle of the season .
Now is when the Chief’s are going to start seeing their work payoff , 11 out of 12 of the rest of the way to go is proably going to improve !
The good part is they had to fight their way thru the worst , and that alone has been better than ,( compare Denver )To making them think they can beat everyone .
The Steelers are going to be a good test . The rest , including divinson , are going to be MORE even . By the time they play the Steelers a lot can happen , Todd is going to see to that .
To my fellow KC Fans, welcome to Mayberry. It just figures that the Bronco’s get it right again and KC continues to shoot it’s self in the foot. Clark Hunt is beginning to look as competent as Barney Fife.
Rob,
I think the talent level is much better in donkey land than here. Give it time, we will come around
Rob says:
To my fellow KC Fans, welcome to Mayberry. It just figures that the Bronco’s get it right again and KC continues to shoot it’s self in the foot.
WRONG. If the Chiefs and Broncos switched schedules,the Chiefs could be 4-0 and the Broncos 0-4. The teams you play do make a difference at this point in rebuilding. You will see Denver lose 4 of their next 6 games and the Chiefs will win 3 of the next 6. At the end of the year they will both win 6-8 games. Remember, Denver did have and still does have better personal. Lets see where these two teams are in 2 years.
Screw all of this rebuilding stuff. It’s all so depressing. I say they nix the live games this year and go into classic mode where they show old Chief victories. I could watch that Tamarick Vanover punt return TD against the Chargers in OT a thousand times!
Who wants to live in the past? Not me. Bring on the rebuild!
————-
Dandy Chief :
If you take it to 12 , I think it could be in the range of 8 or 9 .
5 of these are Divison games and IF they can roll 5 out of 5 inside of such then I can cancel that truck load of BREAD !
Bob, you left off your buddy Herm’s rebuilding.
that was a disaster.
Hey Dandy .. didn’t the Donkeys play the Raiders and win? I believe they kicked the snot out of the Raiders 23-3 while our Chief’s blew the game on a final drive by the Raiders. I like your enthusiasm but your facts are messed up. I do predict the Chief’s will win this weekend. I think the team is getting better but it’s a long way from being a good team. Our O-line is one of the worst in pro-football and our running game is pathetic. While I watched the Vikings-Packers game I kept asking myself why in the world did we trade Jared Allen and keep LJ?? What a smart move … trade an all-pro DE for a pussy RB. LJ doesn’t have the balls to give it the extra effort .. he’s more worried about getting injured than he is about making a first down. I for one am sick of losing and expect more from this team. They are better than their record but if they keep making bonehead msitakes and getting stupid fouls we won’t win any games. Another thing that kills me is our first round draft picks .. wow aren’t they underwhelming. Talk about a bunch of busts! Half the time u can’t tell if Jackson is even in the game. With all the first rounders on defense you’d think it’d be a force instead of a farce. What really makes this season tough is that I moved to Denver and have to listen to their constant ragging about how great the Donkeys are and what a joke the Chiefs are. Talk about adding insult to injury … oh man. So come on Chiefs … get your heads out of your arses! Strap on your helmets and start playing smash mouth football!! It’s time to play up to your abilities and start winning again.