Todd Haley Fired - Where do the Chiefs Go From Here?

The Chiefs are in a very dark place.  With Tyler Palko leading this injury riddled team they have looked positively awful on the field.  After garnering some positive energy with a victory against the Bears last week, the Chiefs came out and laid an egg against the Jets.  They came out unprepared, had no energy, and got smacked around to the tune of 37-10.  This all came against a Jets team that’s had their own struggles with their polarizing quarterback Mark Sanchez.

This embarrassing loss turned out to be the nail in the coffin for Todd Haley as the Chiefs head coach.  Scott Pioli and the Chiefs brass have parted ways with Haley as of Monday morning.  No matter who they hire, they will spin this as being the move that solves the Chiefs problems.

This puts the Chiefs in a precarious situation this offseason.  The civil unrest about this team in KC is at a record level.  The Royals are looking up as an organization.  The Jayhawks are the Jayhawks in basketball and have a new coach in football.   MU is having a great season in basketball and a new conference for football in 2012.  Point being, there are exciting things going on in the local sports scene that can take attention away from the Chiefs.  In order to curb this momentum towards other sports, the Chiefs need to make some noise this offseason. 

The hiring of the head coach will be an opportunity to do this.  However, after a contentious relationship with Haley, Pioli will most likely be looking for a more malleable coach.  Pioli has not shown the ability to look outside his network for hires.  His next coach will most likely not be one that will make the fan base excited (Josh McDaniels, anyone?).  Pioli will have to make a splash in a different way.

Enter Peyton Manning.  Last week in an article on Pro Football Talk Peyton’s father Archie mentioned how he didn’t think that Peyton would want to sit behind a young quarterback.  With the Colts all but assured the #1 pick, and Andrew Luck being a near certainty, this could very well be in play.

Peyton has stated that his fate in Indianapolis will be decided by March of next year.  Right in time for the Colts to decide that they can take Andrew Luck in the 2012 draft.  There are a lot of moving parts, but basically with a restructuring of his contract Peyton Manning becomes a very tradable commodity.  Without being in position to grab Luck or the next best QB in the draft, the Chiefs would be just the team the Colts would look to trade with.

We’ve been here before haven’t we?  In 1993, the Marty Schottenheimer led Chiefs had a young and talented team that seemed to be ‘one player away.’  That was the status quo anyway.  After going 1-3 in 3 straight trips to the playoffs from 1990-1992, all they needed was that one player to get them over the edge.  Enter Joe Montana.  The 4 time Super Bowl winner was acquired at the age of 36 by the Chiefs for their first round draft choice, and led them to the AFC Championship game.  Manning will be 36 next March, and word is the Colts will want at least one 1^st round draft choice.

The Chiefs are a more than plausible landing spot for Manning.  First, there are the reasons that make sense at surface level.  Those reasons being that the Chiefs will return Jamaal Charles next year which instantly makes their offense better.  With Bowe, Baldwin and Breaston, Manning would have a receiving core that is about as dynamic as any he’s played with in the last few years.  Eric Berry and Brandon Siler will return to hopefully add even more to the Chiefs solid defense.  Manning would be touted as the player to put the Chiefs over the top to be legitimate Super Bowl/playoff contenders. 

Whether that line of thinking is correct all would depend on how Manning recovers from his neck injury that has kept him out all of 2011.  That’s not the major issue at play here for Chiefs fans though.  A move like this by Pioli just brings us right back into the dregs of the Carl Peterson era.  The issues that have plagued this team will continue into the future. 

The Chiefs have systematic issues that run organization wide.  It starts with the mindset that Clark Hunt has put in place and is carried out by Pioli.  The Chiefs have not shown the ability to properly identify the correct talent for their system.  Even if they have, they haven’t shown the ability to spend money to get those players.  The Chiefs haven’t been able to select the proper coaches for their staff, and if they have, haven’t been able to keep them.  With all the issues the Chiefs have, one or two moves—such as a new QB and head coach—will not solve all the Chiefs problems.

As a fan base the Chiefs fans have been beaten down year after year.  The fundamental aspects of building an organization have been passed over time and again in order to take the short cut to selling ticket sales.  The Chiefs brought in Matt Cassel so they wouldn’t have to draft and develop a QB of their own.  This wasn’t the first time either.  Steve DeBerg, Steve Bono, Elvis Grbac, Trent Green, were all QBs drafted by and/or developed by other teams.  The Chiefs have been afraid to take the draft plunge on a 1^st round QB since they whiffed on Todd Blackledge in 1983.

Not drafting a QB was an organizational paradigm.  For Lamar Hunt the scars of Blackledge were too deep.  Peterson never showed any interest in drafting a QB either.  Together they went 20 years and never took a chance.  With Clark Hunt taking over and hiring Pioli in 2009, those organizational issues were supposed to disappear.  This team was going to be built the right way by someone who knew how to do it.  A move to get Peyton Manning just means the Chiefs will have the same status quo as the last 25 years.

Manning will sell some tickets and some jerseys.  Manning might even make the difference and get the Chiefs a playoff win.  However, a Super Bowl win doesn’t appear to be in the cards even with Manning at the helm.   This move would just mask the issues this team still has.  Two years from now, they would be right in the same situation they are now.  With the Haley firing, this offseason is maybe one of the most important in Chiefs history. 

For an organization that has touted stability they have none at the moment.  In the 3 years Pioli has been here they have had 3 head coaches, 4 offensive coordinators, 2 defensive coordinators, and multiple other positions coaches.  They need to make moves to stabilize this organization.  This includes a head coach this organization can live with more than 3 years.  This includes a QB who can be the leader of this team for 10 years.  This includes the Chiefs looking at themselves and realizing there is no quick fix. 

Peyton Manning is not the answer.  Matt Cassel is not the answer.  A head coach that Pioli can lord over is not the answer either.  This organization is teetering on the brink.  They need to put the pieces together before everything is too far gone.