Ten Things About Today's Epic Failure

[gblowfish]

Ten Things About Today's Epic Failure

10. I have to be honest with you. I loathe having to sit here and write this. I was going to wait until tomorrow morning to cool off, but I don't think this is a time for cooler heads. And I needed to get this rant off my chest. As a Mizzou fan, the Cotton Bowl put me through an emotional meat grinder last night, and I was so knotted up and upset/relieved that I didn't get to sleep until probably 3 AM, and was thinking about today's Chiefs game, sort of half awake half asleep until morning. When we all predicted what we thought would happen earlier this week, I thought the Colts would win 28-10. So I am not surprised the Chiefs lost. And I don't know if I would have been more upset if we lost 45-0 instead of 45-44. I think the real score is worse, because we could all explain a 45-0 loss as a total failure by the offense. Instead we got total failure by the defense. Worse, you could see it coming a mile away from the minute Alex Smith got strip sacked. I told my wife "We're going to lose this game." She looked at me like I was from Pluto. I just knew it was going to happen, and from that point on, it was like watching somebody slit their wrists and lay back in a bathtub full of hot water, slowly bleeding to death. It wasn't a question of if, just a question of how Indy was going to pull it off.

9. Was Charles really hurt? He bounced his head on the turf on only his third carry, but probably could have went back in and played. But with the Chiefs organization staring down an impressive plethora of pending head trauma lawsuits (thanks a lot Ken McClain) I'm sure they're not going to take any chances whatsoever. Losing arguably the league MVP in the first few minutes of the game was a tremendous blow. But would we have scored much more than 44 points even if Charles had played the whole game? Maybe, but probably not. We may have been able to run more clock in the second half and bleed more time from Luck. But that's all speculation now. I do believe, like it or not, that this tarnishes Charles' legacy as a Chiefs back. Like it or not, he could not come through for the team when we needed him most, his fault or not, it's just a fact.

8. You can't hang this game on Alex Smith. Dude engineered all 44 points. There were no special teams or defensive scores in this game. Smith threw for 378 yards, rushed for 57 yards, threw 4 TDs including a 79 yard bomb and had no picks. He's the first QB to throw four TDs and no picks in a playoff game.... and lose. So if you're looking for record setting performances, you got one today from Smith. The fumble hurt, but Smith was trying to run to daylight to buy some time to throw. That's on the offensive line for not giving him protection. Overall, the line did well, only giving up two sacks. And they played well without Asamoah or Fisher in the lineup. So there is some hope looking to the future for the line. Schwartz and Stephenson are both money players, and should figure into the mix, regardless of what Fat Albert does. Even with our number one pick being a huge flop this year, the offensive line has improved, and is no longer our biggest area of need.

7. Knile Davis played well after being put in a tough spot. He caught the ball and ran the ball for a TD. He pass blocked effectively and didn't have a turnover. He has shown he can be a reliable guy, and that should give him confidence for next year. I especially liked how he lowered his pads and blasted into defensive backs trying to tackle him. He has some nasty to his running style, and that's a very good thing. Wish they would have given him the ball more before he got hurt in the second half.

6. Defense: As Lundberg would say in Office Space "Yeaaaaaaaaaah......" How can you get three picks and a fumble in one game and still lose? How can you have six current and former Pro Bowlers in your starting eleven defensive players and blow a 28 point lead in LESS THAN ONE HALF of football? You do that by allowing FIVE TD's in ONE HALF, and by allowing each TD drive to occur in less than two minutes per drive. This was certainly the worst defensive showing by a Chiefs team in a playoff game ever. Even worse than GRob's bunch in the Peyton Manning Colts shootout in Arrowhead, the "No Punt Game" in 2003. In that game, Manning put up 38 points, so this performance was a TD worse. Just like in the case of Robinson, this kind of failure MUST have consequences. If the Chiefs do not fire Bob Sutton after this epic meltdown, then they are not doing everything possible to improve the club, as has been promised to us by Clark Hunt. There HAS to be a better DC out there who can get more out of this talent.

5. I'm not going to waste any more breath on KenDick Lewis, except to say, "Well, Bye." I was very disappointed in the disappearing act from Derrick Johnson today. He only had two tackles and had virtually no impact on the game. Poe had no impact after getting a week off. Hali was playing on one leg and it showed. Houston started strong, but I think being out of game shape caught up to him in the second half. All of these so called "Pro Bowlers" on defense need to take a hard look in the mirror. This team was only able to beat one playoff team this year -Philly- and that's before they settled on Foles as their QB. Their start was mostly smoke and mirrors, considering the defensive effort -or lack thereof- made them go 2-6 in their last eight games.

4. I think we should trade Dwayne Bowe. He's a "look at me mommy" kind of guy. He's a doper, he's a dumb ass, and he's a failure in big games. Yeah, he had one early TD, and one nice catch. In the second half when we needed him most, he disappeared. He is a liability to this team and a distraction. Trade him for somebody who cares more about the numbers on the scoreboard than the name and number on his back. He'll never be a guy you can count on in the clutch. Trade him while you can get something for him in return, even if it's a third round pick.

3. Reid got out coached. In the third quarter, the opponent was the clock, not the Colts. We should have ran the ball more and more and more, and not even snapped the ball until the game clock was down to :02. When you're up by 28 points, you would assume that the Colts would need some time to amass four TD drives. Truth is, they amassed FIVE of them in less than 11 minutes. If we're not going to hold Reid accountable for that, then the DC MUST be held accountable, and replaced.

2. We got nothing from special teams. No forced turnovers, nothing on kickoff or punt returns. Succop was better on kickoffs and field goals today, but wasn't enough of a factor to offset the historically awful defensive performance. If you don't hate the Colts now, perhaps this will now give you some tangible reason. Not only have we lost FOUR STRAIGHT playoff matches with them, but they also account for HALF of our now all time record for playoff futility, EIGHT STRAIGHT playoff losses. I now put them right up there with Elway's Donks for hatred factor. I wish them all to die slow, painful, agonizing lonely deaths, wallowing in their own bodily filth in a cut rate Indianapolis nursing home. (Too much?)

1. That said, and as pissed off as I am about this historic collapse, I was somewhat emotionally prepared for this. As many of you know, I've been going to Chiefs games since I was six years old (1965). I was in the Children's Huddle Club in Municipal Stadium. My family has had season tickets since 1966. That's 47 years. These kinds of soul crushing, blood boiling, Lucy pulling away the football, mind numbing losses are deep in my marrow and in my psyche. It's so ingrained in me that I have spent my entire adult life as a cynic. I have no optimism ever, because the pastime I enjoy the most; the thing I look forward to all year long, the thing I spend all my disposable income on, has returned that 47 year love and devotion by doing nothing but kicking me square in the scrotal sack year, after year, after year, after year. The Chiefs are the Chicago Cubs of the NFL. They may never win a playoff game, much less a Super Bowl. They might make it to the big one 100 years from now, if ever. Because that is their special skill. Failure. Nobody excels at failure like your Kansas City Chiefs. We as a collective group have every right to be seething after this showing today. In a week or a month or six months, we'll all calm down. We'll give Dorsey year two to try to fix what's wrong. We must have a better secondary first. We must have better receivers second. And we must have better defensive coaching third. Make those changes, and I'll let Lucy tee up the football one more time.

Finally, thanks for reading my Ten Things this year. And as bad as today was, it was certainly more fun following the team this year than last year. I learned today that one old friend of mine in Chicago lost his mom last night. Phobia's dad is in the hospital from heart surgery. My pal Mr. Doggity's brother in law's wife was diagnosed with breast cancer yesterday. So there's a lot of real life stuff going on all around us that makes all this NFL nonsense just a shiny object of distraction. Try to keep that in mind. And as hard as it is to say this after today's pain, It's only a game.

KC Star Indy Pictures are here:
http://www.kansascity.com/2014/01/04...45-chiefs.html

[rabblerouser]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

I'm not raving mad.

I quit being raving mad early in the 4th.

I'm just jaded. Like a dog that has been kicked too much, I just sit in the corner and quiver.

I completely understand.

Well...we won't have that problem this year.