Kansas City hires Scott Pioli and How we got to this point

Scott Pioli will take over as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs. He will succeed his predecessor, Carl Peterson in only the general manager capacity and not team president. Owner Clark Hunt, may or may not hire a team president. The team president role could be integral in overseeing the building of a new stadium with a retractable roof that would hope to be completed in time to host the Super Bowl in Kansas City in 2016. 

I don't blame Clark Hunt for not giving Pioli the President title as well. Pioli was VP of Player Personnel with the New England Patriots, and from the looks of it, looks to be involved solely on the football side of things. 

To be quite frank, the cupboard is quite bare for the incoming Pioli. Spending money on building a Super Bowl contender earlier in the decade left the Chiefs right up to the salary cap wall by Carl Peterson. In the last three years, perhaps instead of trying to merely make the playoffs with no realistic shot at the Super Bowl, maybe the Chiefs should been rebuilding. They're certainly paying the price for it right now.

All signs point to him letting go current head coach Herman Edwards and his staff. Herm's poor game management skills and and absolute obliteration of a once prolific offense doomed him in Kansas City.

Looking back on it, so much of Kansas City's trouble can be traced back to the 2006 season. After 2005, with the team finishing 10-6 but out of the playoffs and Coach Dick Vermeil retiring, the Chiefs were at a major crossroads. The team was aging, as well as being up against the salary cap, but instead of packing it in, the Chiefs choose not to go into a rebuilding process and instead try to put together a playoff team. Picks are swapped to the New York Jets to get head coach Herman Edwards. Before training camp starts, cornerstone left tackle Willie Roaf decides to retire unexpectedly, and the Chiefs once vaunted offensive line immediately looks a lot weaker. QB Trent Green suffers a concussion and is pretty much lost for the year in week one. Herman Edwards also gives an unprecedented workload to running back Larry Johnson, setting a single season record for carries in a season, many of them into eight-man fronts that wore down Herm's franchise back. However, the Chiefs succeeded in making the playoffs with a 9-7 record and alot of outside help. But as I mentioned before, the season was a make or break one, and instead of conceding that they had no real shot at Super Bowl, they mortgaged their future for a quiet first round exit against the Colts.

So with a broken down running back, and an eclectic mix of broken down and/or disenchanted veterans, with an astoudingly large number of rookies off the street, the Chiefs trodge their way through a 4-12 2007 season. The lone bright spot, Defensive End Jared Allen, who leads the league in sacks, request for a trade is granted when he is traded to the Vikings for a host of picks, including a first rounder.

I told you before that Scott Pioli was inheriting a bare cupboard and I wasn't lying. The team is still populated by disenchanted and/or broken down vets with lots of rookie, many being signed off the street. Some of the cornerstones the team previously thought they could build around, now have shown they are not as bright as they once were. Defensive End Tamba Hali was supposed to fill the pass rushing void from the departure of Jared Allen, but he only registered three sacks in 2008 and was often overpowered by opposing tackles in the run game. The fifth overall pick in the 2008 draft for the Chiefs, defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey had a very poor rookie season. He stands way too tall when playing and was often easily moveable in the run game. Defensive End Turk Mcbride shouldn't have to be considered the best d-lineman Kansas City has after all the money invested in those two first rounders. Weakside Linebacker Derrick Johnson is the most competent starter the Chiefs have on defense. I focus on the front seven because because before the season started, that was supposed to be an area of strength for the Chiefs, and now its as much up in the air as any other are for the team. 

I rest my case. Carl Peterson did a horrible job of running football operations the last half decade. He deserved to be fired, and many people in Kansas City are very happy to see "King Carl" as dubbed local sports columnist Jason Whitlock, finally leave the Chiefs organization.

So thats whats wrong with the Chiefs. 

And its Scott Pioli's job to fix it.