Are the Chiefs in danger of becoming a real NFL team this season?  I think the answer is yes.  There are still innumerable problems.  They’ve lost four in a row and only won one game so far this year.  The defense is full of guys who weren’t even in the league a week ago.  The running game is manned by a guy smaller than most high school cheerleaders.*  The coaches get out-adjusted every halftime.  Teams should now have enough data on the “good” Thigpen to create effective game plans against him.  And that’s just the parts of the innumerable problems that are numerable enough to list.

But there’s a lot to look forward too as well.  I haven’t seen a Chiefs quarterback find the open man and hit recievers in stride as well as Thigpen did today since Montana was in town.  Trent Green had better numbers, but he also generally had about 10 seconds to get his passes off.  Thigpen was often dodging defenders and eating dirt, though not as often as in previous starts.  The line may be beginning to come together as an only slightly below average unit.  Chan Gailey is the first Chiefs offensive co-ordinator I can ever remember that actually changed his system and plays to adjust to who he has on the field instead of forcing the personnel into his personal genius “system”.  Herm Edwards made several good coaching decisions and even managed to not screw up the two minute drill and clock management.  For that matter, the Chiefs successfully executed the two minute drill, which is always surprising.  Herm also went for two unequivocally.  There wasn’t any of this hemming or hawing or arguing about it.  As soon as Gonzalez caught the TD, Herm was holding up two fingers on the sideline.  That’s a coach expressing faith in his young quarterback.  The fact that it took a good defensive play to stop the most obvious play possible says a lot about that faith being justified.

Right now, the Chiefs are a dropped interception vs. New York, an atrocious pass interference call vs. Tampa, and a bad snap vs. San Diego from being on a three game winning streak.  Considering how hopeless this season has been so far, that’s pretty amazing.  Also, Thigpen continues to defy the laws of Murphy and has yet to turn the ball over since his reinsertion as the starter, with a 6-0 TD to INT ratio over the last three games.  Nothing awe-inspiring, but for as much rebuilding as is going on in KC, pretty dang good.

*Seriously, Savage is tiny.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone benefit from the league’s forward progress rule as much as that guy did today.  Had to be on the order of 100+ yards considering how many times the end of his run would be two or three Chargers literally carrying him the other way before the play was whistled dead.

Tags: chiefs, moral victory, thigpen