And thus, is the Herm coaching cycle. After the honeymoon, the grumbling starts. Just one side of the ball. Eventually, a coordinator will have to go, and I'm guessing that Mike Solari doesn't make it back this year. Either that, or Dick Curl will be hired to "work" with him. When the Solari thing doesn't help crack eight wins, we'll move to the other side of the ball. Eventually, the rumors about Herm moving to San Diego will begin. Following his other mentor, Marty. Going home. And so forth.
From the little I've read, it does seem that Solari is going to get thrown under the bus. Injuries are blamed, time outs are wasted, players are worn down. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? I do find it remarkable that a few people simply refuse to see that people are who they are. Absolutely nothing that has happened in KC should be a surprise to anyone. Herm has his strengths, and he has his weaknesses, and they are all on display there, just as they were here. I always thought that he was a mediocre coach who did not have what it took to take the Jets to the next level, and what evidence there is after 14 games is that nothing has changed in KC. Indeed, IMO the biggest mistake KC made was in going to a coach who had no history of taking a team over the top (like Parcells, of course, but also a Gruden or Billick, not that they were available). This was a Chiefs team with a small window, and it seems to be closing, and it never made much sense to me to think that Herm would be the guy who would get through it when a proven winner like Vermeil (who had two 11+ win seasons in his first five years coaching, compared to zero for Herm) couldn't.
I remember slapping myself on the forehead mid-summer - about four days into training camp - when Jason Whitlock wrote a story about how this was a rebuilding year for the Chiefs. It struck me only because a few weeks prior, the KC chatter surrounding Ty Law's signing was all about the Chiefs finally getting the last piece to the puzzle. I recalled also how Herm was going to keep in place the Vermeil high-octane offense, but finally bring defense to KC. And this was the proper mix. So, seeing all that enthusiasm, I had to stop dead in my tracks when I saw that somehow, overnight, expectations were lowered. Suddenly Kansas City was rebuilding. And here's how it plays into your point: I felt like we were ALWAYS shy one piece of something here with Herm. Each and every year, there was one theme problem. Fat Teddy Cottrell wasn't suited to run Herm's defense. Then, of course, we're stuck with a team growing into a new system. Chad's injuries. Hackett's play calling. $%#!ing kicker. Growing into a new offense. Oh, and Ty Law - HE was finally the piece we needed. We always needed one more thing; and once we got that one more thing, we needed one MORE thing that we didn't know we needed when we got the thing that we knew we needed, when it became apparent that we needed it. I see the same happening in Kansas City. Plus barbecue.
It's like being a member of a cult. You know something's wrong, but you can't understand at the time or quite put your finger on how you're being strung along by getting sold a bag of goods
