COMMENTARY

Chiefs weren't trying to win, they were just trying to survive

PHILADELPHIA | That was not fun. Or entertaining. Or promising. Or anything positive.

It was a three-hour ordeal, the Chiefs’ venture into Lincoln Financial Field, which ended with a 34-14 Eagles victory.

We watched it. Or listened to it. Or heard about it.

Think about the 46 Chiefs players who suffered through it. Whatever level of disgust or disappointment you felt witnessing the Philadelphia Eagles demoralize your favorite team, multiply your angst by 20, and then you’ll know what those three hours felt like to the average Chiefs player.

Football, even at the professional level, is still just a game, and games are supposed to be fun and entertaining. You never want to be on a team that quits. That’s no fun.

The Chiefs surrendered at halftime Sunday.

Down 24-7, first-year coach Todd Haley looked at his team’s paltry rushing statistics (18 yards in nine carries), pondered the likelihood of the Chiefs digging out from a 17-point deficit on the road, remembered last week’s debacle against Oakland and decided to milk the clock with KC’s ground game in hopes of avoiding further embarrassment and a Matt Cassel injury.

It wasn’t fun, inspiring or anything positive. It was enlightening.

Right now, Todd Haley and Scott Egoli are in way over their heads. They’ve taken the scraps Herm Edwards and Carl Peterson left, supported them with spare parts from New England, emasculated them with intimidation tactics that allegedly foster a culture of winning and created a team far worse than anything we’ve seen represent our city.

A culture of winning? Can you build one when you run the ball on 10 of 11 plays while trailing 27-7 in the third quarter?

Haley treated the second half like an exhibition game. He wasn’t playing to win. He was playing to avoid further embarrassment.

“We are trying to win the game, but at the same time we are trying to establish an identity around here,” Haley said. “Three yards of rushing offense at halftime (Larry Johnson’s halftime total), to me, is unacceptable. ... You can call it conservative if you want. I think it had a purpose as far as myself and the team goes, and I’ll leave it at that.”

I get it. But I didn’t trade for Matt Cassel and give him $60 million.

If the game plan was to establish an identity in 2009, then the first-time general manager and first-time head coach should have drafted Mark Sanchez rather than take a $60-million flyer on a career backup. When you drop $60 mil on a 27-year-old quarterback, you expect him to fling the ball when the team falls behind by two or three touchdowns.

In the second half, the Chiefs ran it 20 times and threw it eight. For the entire game, the Chiefs never threatened the Philadelphia defense downfield. When Cassel dropped back to pass, he rarely lofted the ball more than 8 yards past the line of scrimmage. He completed 14 of 18 passes for 90 yards. You can blame it on the pass protection, but there’s no doubt Haley put training wheels on Cassel.

The Chiefs weren’t trying to win the game. They were trying to survive. They were trying to catch a flight back home. Unfortunately the New York Giants will be waiting for our Chiefs next Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium. The Giants can get after a quarterback as effectively as any team in the league, and they can score points.

The ordeal we experienced Sunday might just be the beginning of a pattern.

No matter what Pioli and Haley think of the personnel they inherited from Peterson and Edwards, I can guarantee you all of these players have some level of pride. They were stars in college. They planned on starring in the NFL. They have friends across the league. They were not happy running out the clock against the Eagles.

To reach Jason Whitlock, call 816-234-4869 or send e-mail to

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