The loud voices decrying the performance of the Chiefs have seen the most significant vestiges of the men responsible for the current malaise depart. LJ is gone, and so is Carl Peterson.
The detractors know the team has not achieved its current state overnight. There have been years of mistakes in the draft, questionable free agent signings and neglect of those already in the fold such as John Tait, Donnie Edwards and Jared Allen. Yet week after week they clamor on.
Maybe the Chiefs hoodwinked themselves from the start of LJ’s tenure. Years ago Ohio State apparently passed on him because of off-field issues. He rushed for nearly 2,000 yards his senior season but fell to 27th in the draft.
Dick Vermeil wanted somebody else. Apparently his judgment was well founded. He was a hot potato, it seems. NFL teams are usually a work in progress.
The situation handed to Scott Pioli and Todd Haley was lamentable if not pathetic. Give them some time. You can’t turn a battleship on a dime, nor can you expect a Lazarus act in one season.
Tracy Leonard
Kansas City
I believe Joe Posnanski missed the point in his column “Chiefs turn their back on LJ” (11/10, A1). His statement was that LJ was “a gigantic pain in the neck.” I believe that his aim was about two feet too high.
John Blake
Overland Park
LJ Who?
Posted by: Keith Williams3 | November 12, 2009 at 10:02 AM
Yawn, the Chumps are a never-ending story of tragedy. Probably the poorest ran sports franchise in the nation. They have one championship in what, 42, 43 years?
Now we have a "super-duper new management team. Please. Look at the way they handled Johnson. Johnson pops off, then they suspend him for two games, NO WAIT, one game, and then he reports back to work, BUT WAIT, then they fire him. Huh?
Why not can his ass to start with? Wow. Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way guys.
As I watch the new GM and the stammering coach in action I have been able to once again see the 'peter principal' in full bloom.
Posted by: Kee | November 12, 2009 at 09:52 AM
I have no time for LJ. Too busy looking and Tony G's PETA add...
Posted by: ggbridge | November 12, 2009 at 09:09 AM