Dear Carl Peterson: Kansas City is Pissed

I wanted to respond to a particular reader question that I thought was pretty terrific:

"Jon: What we in KC are feeling towards the Chiefs is the result of year after year after year of bad choices, bad coaching, bad players and bad teams. There are four elements that comprise an NFL team 1) ownership 2) General Manager 3) Coaches 4) Players" - Nasty M

Mike, I think everyone is responsible for the problems in Kansas City. Let me first say that I like Carl Peterson. I think he is a very good General Manager. Although many claim that he is only concerned with filling seats, anybody who has ever met the man knows that the man really wants the Chiefs to win.

That being said, Carl Peterson is also flawed and the worst part is, there is nobody above him to correct those flaws. Peterson's biggest flaw for sure is that he is loyal to a fault. That seeps from the top down, from Clark Hunt to Herm Edwards. The Chiefs hold onto players longer than they should and, more importantly, don't get rid of key coaches and front office guys that clearly deserve the boot. The most obvious example is how long the Chiefs held onto Lynn Stiles in their front office. He was the big cheese in the draft room and largely responsible for a lot of the Chiefs' first-day draft goof-ups. He was known to be a dinosaur in the drafting game, relying on words of advice rather than actual scouting tape. Still, it took years for him to be kicked out of Peterson's "cigar club." Is it any coincidence that in 2005, the Chiefs' first year without Stiles as the lead draft guy, the Chiefs enjoyed one of their most successful drafts in recent memory?
While many would like Peterson to be ousted, I would rather see him regulated. This is where Clark Hunt needs to be assertive and barge his way into the affairs of the Chiefs. Peterson has cozied into his office. Nobody demands results from him. Maybe they should start doing so.

Recently, Herm Edwards mentioned that he plans to keep Mike Solari as his offensive coordinator. That's Herm Edwards' job to say that. It's also Herm's job, mostly, to defend his players. This shouldn't be Herm's decision. This is where a General Manager or Owner should step in and force a coordinator change, whether Herm likes it or not. Judging by past history, it doesn't seem likely that this will happen.

People wonder why I'm a Herm apologist. It's because I can push the tangles aside and look at the positives. Herm Edwards came in here to build a defense and he's done a terrific job in doing that. We all knew Herm Edwards was a lousy offensive coach. Yet everyone (myself included) insisted that we force an offensive coordinator on him in Mike Solari that was inexperienced and had to rely on Herm Edwards for advice?

Here is where our loyalty up top trickles down to the problems below. Clark Hunt is too loyal to Peterson? Peterson is then, in turn, too loyal to his coaches. Coaches like Herm Edwards then become too powerful. Dick Vermeil is a classic example of how this power can hurt a team. Vermeil is an outstanding football coach, but Peterson did nothing to cut Vermeil's loyal ties with his coaches and many of his players. If Herm takes control of the offense next year as he did this year, that is largely the fault of Carl Peterson, in my opinion, for letting it happen.

Carl Peterson, I respect you, I understand your will to win, but the fans are getting restless. The fans want to win as much as you do. What are you going to do about it? If it hasn't worked in the past, it's not going to work now. I want to see you stay, but I want to see you do things differently. A lot differently. And you have a terrific opportunity in the coming weeks to put your foot down and force an experienced offensive coordinator on Herm's coaching staff. If you stick with Solari, you better be damn sure he is going to improve the offense, rather than the predictable load of crap we saw on Saturday.

Your loyalty shows no bounds and that is exactly the problem in Kansas City. Herm Edwards is fine, but the General Manager simply cannot give any coach this kind of power.