Mitch Holthus

My parents still live on the family farm in north central Kansas. Their dog, General is not a dog of pedigree. General is a "mutt" cross of German Shepherd and something else. It is the best dog the farm has ever had roam the property and the farm has been around for one hundred years. Why is this dog so special? General is tough and takes on all intruders and whips them all; snakes, bobcats, skunks, coyotes, stray dogs....anything!

That dog reminds me of this 2007 Chiefs team or this team reminds me of that dog. Take this into consideration as we all head into the bye week. THE CHIEFS ARE THE ONLY AFC TEAM WITH A WINNING RECORD THAT HAS NOT OUTSCORED ITS OPPONENTS. The Chiefs have been an UNDERDOG in 6 of their 7 games, including being a home underdog twice! The Chiefs and the New York Giants are the only two teams in the NFL that lost their first two games of the season and have a winning record after seven weeks.

It doesn't make sense, if you look at the statistics. This team isn't about stats, its about doing what it takes to win....ugly, pretty or otherwise. OK, I'm still waiting for the pretty win, but you know what I mean. This week on the Dodge Chiefs Insider television show seen throughout the Chiefs Kingdom, I'm going to show what makes this team tick. It makes key plays under difficult circumstances. Examples include plays you have forgotten about; Jared Allen's strip of Adrian Peterson in the Vikings game, Jarrad Page's strip of Michael Turner in the San Diego game, Pat Surtain bird"dogging" Chad Johnson in the Bengal game and Damon Huard showing guts in making two throws in the Raider game.

This team is like that "stud" farm dog....it just fights...and its not especially a team of pedigree...not a "pretty" team and as Herm Edwards would say.."that's ok". Herm's response on our post-game show Sunday was profound when I asked him what we have learned about this team after seven games. Herm said, "..they are a team of tremendous will". I like this "dog" and you should too, theres a lot to like about it....just like that farm dog.

There were obvious heroes in the Cincinnati win; Tony Gonzalez, Jared Allen and Damon Huard...and some not so obvious. Patrick Surtain deserves a medal for the work he did in the Bengals game covering Chad Johnson most of the day. Surtain is a soldier and may not have Champ Bailey skills, but he competed like a pro bowler against the high flying Bengal offense and Ocho Cinco.

The other big hero was Gunther Cunningham. The Chiefs and Herm Edwards needed Gun and his "mangy dog" defensive coaches to be at their best against Cincy or there would be no victory. The Chiefs defense handled the Bengal no huddle offense and kept Chad Johnson in this galaxy. Herm and Gun's defense looked well coached, highly organized and well prepared. Gun gets a medal for this one.

NOW FOR THE MATTER AT HAND....ITS RAIDERS WEEK! NO ONE WANTS TO RIDE GUNTHER'S BUS THIS WEEK OR ANY WEEK, BUT ESPECIALLY THIS WEEK. The Chiefs on road trips use five buses to transport the team and travel party from the hotel to the stadium on game day. Two of the five buses leave especially early. Gunther Cunningham ALWAYS sits in the left front seat of the first bus to leave. No one wants to ride Gunther's bus. Why? If you're on Gunther's bus, there's no talking, no smiling, no sneezing, no belching, no ........you know what I mean, you just hold it.

This week, the Chiefs stay in San Francisco but drive across the San Mateo bridge to Oakland. A trip that lasts 45-60 minutes depending on traffic. A long trip with nothing but.....Gunther. Yes, I ride Gunther's bus. Maybe I'm like the movie character, Jeremy Gray on the movie Wedding Crashers during his casual breakfast conversation with the priest played by Henry Gibson. Gray said.."maybe I'm a little crazy....." I like riding Gunther's bus. Pre-game bus rides before games should be in silence, it's not a party bus. Post-game losing bus rides should be in silence. Post-game winning bus rides are a reward for a job well done.

I'll be on Gunther's bus again this week and I'll stay away from the baked beans because.......well, I'll just hold it.

The Chiefs finally lost in their five week game of Russian Roulette. The dangerous game of falling behind by two scores and trying to rally. In five consecutive weeks, the Chiefs have fallen behind 17-0, 17-0, 10-0, 10-0 and 17-0.

My game preparation last week had shown me that if the Chiefs fell behind in such a manner to the Jaguars, they couldn't recover. It's a dangerous way to live in the NFL, to fall behind and climb back, its an impossible way to live against the ball eating Jaguars.

A huge factor in the "work from behind" roulette game has been "red zone" problems. This week, its highly likely that the Chiefs will be the worst red zone team in the NFL. In the first five games, the Chiefs have had only 10 red zone possessions, and have scored only two "red zone" touchdowns. Moreover, the lack of success in the running game is illuminated in the "red zone" area inside the opponents 20 yard line. Kansas City has attempted 9 runs in the RZ this year and gained a TOTAL of 21 yards. THE CHIEFS AND THE RAMS ARE THE ONLY TWO NFL TEAMS WITHOUT A RUSHING TOUCHDOWN SO FAR THIS YEAR.

The Bengals come to town this week. Maybe the Chiefs won't try to play roulette this time against Ocho-Cinco and his teammates. It will help if the Chiefs can make the "red zone" truly Red this week.

It was one of the most famous four LETTER quotes in American history. Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe was commanding the 101st Airborne Division during World War II's Battle of the Bulge. A fierce German counteroffensive had left his troops surrounded in the town of Bastogne, Belgium. When asked to surrender by the Germans, McAuliffe had a four letter, one word response "NUTS".

The Kansas City Chiefs were surrounded by the San Diego Chargers three times on Sunday, September 30, 2007. The Chargers led the Chiefs 10-0, 13-3 and 16-6. All three times when the Chiefs were asked to surrender, Chiefs Head Coach Herm Edwards had one response..."NUTS"!

If any of Herm's 11 wins validated his approach to coaching football, it was this 30-16 win over the Chargers. He wants his teams to be tough...tough enough to win division games on the road. It's hard to find a better division road win in the past 17 years that the "come-from-behind" three times win over the Bolts.

Since the beginning of the new millennium, the Chiefs are only 9-17 on the road versus the AFC West. In contrast, the Chiefs were 23-17 on the road against division opponents during the 1990's.

Winning on the road in the division takes "guts", the "guts" to say "nuts" when asked to surrender.

One last note to take to the coffee shop or the water cooler this week. The Chiefs have won eight times in San Diego since 1990, seven of those eight years they made the playoffs.

I'LL SEE YOU AT ARROWHEAD ON SUNDAY.