Monday Morning Quarterback: Chargers 34, Chiefs 31
November 30th, 2004 @ 1:42 am; by Raider Hater
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Man this is getting old. The Chiefs once again found a new way to lose a football game. This time is was Dante Hall who fumbled away the ball as he was about to score a touchdown. Oh, he would make amends later with a kickoff return for a touchdown, but the game’s momentum seemed to switch with that fumble. It was just another in a long line of games that the Chiefs had their chances to win, and would have won a year ago. Here are some more of my thoughts on yesterday’s game:
Hall’s fumble, at the San Diego 15-yard line, was the Chiefs ninth turnover inside their opponent’s 20-yard line this season, and their sixth in the last four games.
The Chiefs are now -7 in the turnover department.
Why is Priest Holmes up in the press box instead of down on the field with his teammates? This is really pissing me off. Watching him eating nachos when his teammates are down on the field trying to win a game.
Larry Johnson ran the ball well, hard, and physical in limited action, but he got ran over in pass protection that led to a sack.
For as bad as the Chiefs defense is, the offense has become the meaningless stat machine. Trent and Gonzalez are great on my fantasy team, but the entire offense seems to fall apart when the fourth quarter comes around.
The defense managed to keep LaDainian Tomlinson in check, giving up a paltry 2.2 yards a carry and only 46 rushing yards to the Chargers star running back.
But why run when you can throw the ball at will all over the field? Pressure was inconsistent, and when the line did get there, the secondary either blew the coverage or was penalized.
I would rather see an opponent facing third and two than third and twelve. The defense seems to be able to stuff short yardage plays, but the desperate twenty-yard pass play burns them every time.
Going into this season I thought the one defensive position the Chiefs didn’t have to worry about was safety, but the combination of Jerome Woods and Greg Wesley has done little this year. They both missed the game with injuries and the combination of Willie Pile and Shaunard Harts filled-in with little or no drop-off.
If the Chiefs offense could ever play the Chiefs defense they would break all the single-game yardage records. Of course they wouldn’t score a lot of points because they would turn the ball over in the red zone.
No playoff wins in eleven years….can someone please explain to me why Carl Peterson deserves to keep his job next season?
At least most of the fans that were sitting in my section at Arrowhead seemed to be having a good time. They realized that the Chiefs would probably find a way to blow the game and they just decided to sit back and enjoy the game.
Some of the classic things I heard and saw from the fans around me:
-People betting on how many plays it would take San Diego to score.
-The look of shock on everyone’s faces when Dexter McCleon laid out Antonio Gates.
-At halftime, is it going to be a fumble, an interception or a run back that beats us this time?
-After San Diego backed themselves up on three consecutive plays with penalties….someone says, “Don’t worry Marty….our “D” will bail you out.”
The really sad thing is I have no idea what’s wrong with this team, or how the Chiefs can go about fixing it.You look at a team like the Raiders, yea their 4-7 and struggling this season, but they are playing better every week and giving a lot of young players some meaningful playing time. What’s the Chiefs excuse? The offense is the same as last year. Gunther was supposed to save the defense, but it clearly cannot be done with the players we currently have. And all of our recent draft picks hardly play, and are unproductive when they do. Is it the coaches? Is it the talent? Is it the head office? Is it the scouts? Is it the owner? We all sit here and point fingers at different things all day, because honestly we have NO CLUE what is really wrong. All I know is that the Chiefs front office has given me no reason to believe that they know how to fix it either.
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