OK ladies and gentlemen, we have reached the point of no return now, the time has come to peel the ugly crust off this nightmare season and play like the defending AFC West Champions that we are. 1-4 and behind the Denver Donkeys who are 5-1 and have a clear path to the 2004 AFC West Championship, this is what we have in front of us. The obvious things have been clear now for five games, and some no so clear. I have some questions for our Chiefs in regards to the rest of their season, and I hope for everyone’s sake that they are listening.
Question #1. Why is our “best offensive line in football” not giving Trent Green enough time to throw like he used to? Trent is being rushed and sacked more this year already then he saw in twice this many games last year. Don’t forget coaches, Chris Bober is on the bench ready to give it a go instead of John Welborn.
Question #2. Yes Johnnie Morton has arrived this season and is playing the way we all expected him to play when we signed him, but do we even have another wide receiver that can and will step up as much as Johnnie has this season? Eddie Kennison can’t seem to stay healthy and Dante wants to worry about his returns more than receiving, and Chris Horn is nice, but I don’t think anyone will confuse him with Steve Largent anytime soon.
Question #3. Why can’t our much-improved defense keep improving when it’s 3rd down as well? In the first half in particular the defense was very good from 1st down to 2nd down, then when 3rd down arrives they turn into the horror show we call the “2003 defense”! I don’t think it would be too much to ask if they could play smart and aggressive for every play of the game.
Question #4. Who is going to show up this Sunday when the team returns to Arrowhead? The faithful fans at Arrowhead have come to cheer on the Chiefs twice this year and have been shot through the heart both times. In an unthinkable early season result the Chiefs are 0-2 at home and have not shown the Arrowhead fans the heart we have come to expect. Priest Holmes has been in the house for every game this year, but that’s about it.
The Chiefs are in a situation in which not much thinking is required. Win or nothing else! The Atlanta Falcons are a very unimpressive first place team in a very bad NFC division. Mike Vick, the Atlanta quarterback, will certainly cause problems for us, but that Falcon team has no business coming into Arrowhead thinking they have a chance to win.
The Carolina Panthers and Houston Texans came into Arrowhead and played good enough to beat a Chief team that did not play like they are capable of. I don’t know about the rest of you Chief fans, but I have seen enough of this team that does not seem to want to show up for a full 60 minutes in every game.
I see it as very simple, and until someone proves to me otherwise I will not change this opinion, if the Chiefs come to play for a full 60 minutes in a game there is no team in this league that can hang with them, period!
They have only done it one time this year though; can you guess what happened that game? Baltimore was whipped all over the field on national television, and needed to pull off some acts of a higher power to even have a chance in the end.
This coming Sunday there needs to be a sense of urgency from our boys in red, because time is running out. The mark that I feel needs to be reached to make sure we get back to the postseason is still 9 wins away, and in case you have not noticed there are only eleven weeks left. 10-2 folks, that is the magic mark of a playoff team in the AFC in my opinion, and unless the Chiefs get it together real quick, 2004 just might go down as the biggest choke job of a so called “Super Bowl team”.
So Kansas City fans, here is the new battle cry for the rest of the 2004 season, say it loud and proud on Sunday: 60-MINUTE CHIEFS!!!! 60-MINUTE CHIEFS!!!! 60-MINUTE CHIEFS!!!!
