Happy New Year and welcome to 2008. The year that sees the new beginning of the Kansas City Chiefs. The good news is that 2007 is over, and there has been much written and discussed how the Chiefs fell to 4-12. This blog looks to the future, 2008 and beyond.
The Chiefs are starting over. There is excitement to "building" a new team and a new approach. Most experts thought Lamar Hunt was an idiot when he started a new team and a new league in 1960. It took hard work and an investment of time, physical, financial and emotional effort. Yet, it was exciting to prove all the nay-sayers wrong. First, to build an AFL winner in Dallas. Secondly, to be the AFL represenative in Super Bowl I and to win a World Championship in Super Bowl IV.
There was excitement in 1989 when a new approach was brought to the Chiefs. The franchise had been to the playoffs only one time in seventeen years. The Chiefs hadn't won a playoff game since the 1969 Super Bowl victory. Arrowhead became a destination, a destination of victory. There was excitement when the Chiefs won a playoff game over the Raiders. There was even more excitement when the Chiefs beat Pittsburgh and Houston in the playoffs and lost to Buffalo in the AFC Championship game in 1993.
The win over Houston was this franchise's last playoff victory. It has been 14 seasons since that win. There could be a sense of despair in the Chiefs 4-12 season or there could be the same sense of excitement of starting over that was evident in 1960 or 1989 or.....2008.
This team will approach the off-season differently. The team will build through the draft and some prudent free agent purchases. The team wants to build a young, feisty defense that can replicate the defenses of the early 90's and the late 60's. That defensive philosophy needs to carry over to the special teams, which will improve with a better level of athlete throughout the roster.
The offense will be changed right away. It will be an offense that establishes a tough inside physical run game with a passing game that can be explosive outside the "numbers" on the field. It will be an offense that will strive to AVERAGE 24 points a game. It will be an offense that will replicate the Chiefs offenses of the late 60's and early 70's.
It is time to start over. There is some anticipation in doing so....just ask the fans of the Texans in 1960, and the Chiefs fans of 1963 and 1989.
I'LL SEE YOU AT ARROWHEAD! THE 2008 SEASON STARTS NOW!
