State of the Kingdom: Week Five

If you close your eyes and think hard enough, you might be able to remember a throw or two during Matt Cassel's career that actually looked somewhat professional. Recently however, it's difficult to find the right adjective to describe just what we've been seeing.

Cassel has been so startlingly bad, one has to wonder how he was on the field against Baltimore in the first place... oh yeah, that's right: believe it or not, popular opinion suggests he's the best option this team has at Quarterback.

Wait. What? Did I just say that? Surely not.

Here's the thing: the Matt Cassel we were all resigned to watching in 2012 looks like Joe Montana compared to this ridiculous excuse for an NFL player. This guy, whoever he is, has somehow endeared Brady Quinn (!!!) to Chiefs fans. Brady. Freaking. Quinn.

What happened? How can... why is... where did he go? Forget flying banners or making signs or donning brown paper bags - we need to put out a missing persons report. An Amber Alert. I miss the old Matt Cassel. Remember the good ol' days of him holding the ball way too long and then throwing an errant pass that only a mother could love? Remember him cowering at the first sign of pressure, often times falling to the ground in resignation? It was ugly but at least there was a tiny shred of dignity about the way he played. Maybe because he didn't turn the ball over at a historic rate? It's a start at least.

But suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, the Cassel we all knew and (hated) has transformed into this stranger that we almost inexplicably (hate) so much more. He lacks velocity, accuracy and fortitude. The Quarterback has been so inept, Romeo Crennel is terrified - quite literally, mind you - of allowing him to throw the ball.

As a result, our coaching staff could ruin one of the most dynamic players in the league (Charles), completely whiff when evaluating a former first round pick due to a lack of opportunities (Baldwin), allow a bona-fide top five talent at his position to leave town (Bowe), waste the primes of two truly outstanding defenders (Johnson, Hali) and alienate one of the most passionate and loyal fan bases the sports world has ever known.

Am I fuming at Scott Pioli for allowing the blind (Romeo) to lead the blind (Cassel) without some sort of contingency? Damn right I am. Still, I have to commend him for the collection of talent we have at every position except the most important one on the field. With even the slightest upgrade at Quarterback (ahem... Kyle Orton), I see this team as a legitimate Super Bowl contender.

Look: finding a franchise Quarterback is hard. There are what, like 57 of them walking the planet right now with less than 10 being active players? Those numbers might be generous, even. Aren't there also like 6.5 billion humans out there? My calculator is incapable of displaying that small a percentage, which sucks because I really wanted to put some ridiculous 24-digit decimal in here to help you realize just how hard it is to identify a franchise Quarterback.

On the flip side, you'd think it would be much easier to identify an imposter... but its not.

Just as I condemned all those that vilified Chiefs fans for their exuberant exhale of sweet, sweet relief at the expense of Matt Cassel (sorry I'm not sorry), I must also cast my frustration at the masses that actually think they know more about evaluating professional football players than the men who are paid ridiculous sums of money to do so.

You remember that amazing story about the common-fan-turned-football-genius that played an integral role in leading a franchise to the promised land? No. Of course not... because it will never fucking happen.

So you said Matt Cassel was a bum long before he ever stepped on the field in Kansas City? Here's a cookie. Congrats man - even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Point is: as fans, our perceptions/evaluations extend no further than what we think we see happening on Sundays.

The real cause for concern is how far apart the perception from the fan base and presumed evaluation from the organization seem to be. None of us believe that this version of Matt Cassel should be allowed anywhere near the starting line-up, yet Scott Pioli has made zero effort at improving the position. Meanwhile, Romeo Crennel doesn't have the backbone - or dare I say the authority - to replace a player so obviously struggling in competency and ability that its costing the team a chance to even try to win games.

So here we are, with a caretaker at both Head Coach and Quarterback. Pioli intended to tread water, but instead he's drowning his team in (something worse than mediocrity).






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