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Scott Pioli not doing enough as Chiefs general manager
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
Tyler Palko is still a tricycle of a quarterback, the Chiefs’ season is still going nowhere, Todd Haley is still working to survive it all, and none of this changes the fact that if you want a single entity to blame, your best target is Scott Pioli.
Because he created this mess.
Or, more accurately: He didn’t create enough to avoid this mess.
A national television audience and the football world watched a winning effort by the Chiefs’ defense go to waste in a 13-9 loss to the Steelers on Sunday night because the roster just isn’t good enough to beat decent NFL teams.
Some of you want Haley fired, and you may get your wish, especially if the Chiefs’ effort or preparation deteriorates in the last five games.
Some of you are blasting Clark Hunt, and he hasn’t done much to inspire your confidence.
Some of you are too distracted by Palko’s ineptitude to see much of anything else.
But going on three full seasons in charge, the Chiefs are one of the NFL’s worst teams with precious little improvement to the roster by Pioli.
He’s been focused on the wrong things, while a stagnated roster waits. Pioli puts too much time and energy into “culture” changes that go well beyond drafting college team captains.
He analyzes character and work ethic with the best intentions — the Chiefs wouldn’t have won four in a row after such a disastrous start without it — but NFL games are also won with talent, and he just hasn’t added enough of it to make a difference.
Scouting mistakes are easy to see, particularly with hindsight, but there is also an ethos from Pioli that doesn’t allow multitasking to culture-change and obtain talent.
Pioli’s vision of what’s now sarcastically called the “Right 53” isn’t misguided as much as it is inadequate.
This was frustratingly obvious against the Steelers, who were consistently sloppy, occasionally stupid and eminently beatable.
Pittsburgh receiver Mike Wallace dropped a pass in the end zone, running back Mewelde Moore fumbled near the goal line, and Ben Roethlisberger threw an awful interception. The Steelers may play in the Super Bowl, but it won’t be because of performances like this.
Which means the Chiefs wasted an opportunity because they didn’t have enough to fight with.
It’s telling that the Chiefs’ defense is good enough most weeks to win. Eric Berry’s knee injury remains a major loss, but by now the coaches and players have had time to adjust. Since the first two weeks, they’re giving up fewer than 20 points per game.
The offense, now more than 40 possessions removed from its last touchdown, is something else entirely. At this point, it’s something like a man trying to run with a broken leg.
The quarterback situation is the most obvious and damning. In a league where virtually every team has to rely on its backup at some point, Pioli was fine with Palko as his team’s safety net.
Palko has seven turnovers in two starts, including quite possibly the worst back-to-back passes thrown by an NFL quarterback since the merger. That’s apparently not enough to give a chance to Ricky Stanzi, the only quarterback Pioli has drafted in Kansas City.
A season-ending injury to the thoroughly uninspiring Matt Cassel drove Pioli to add Kyle Orton off waivers from Denver, but Orton made only one practice and wasn’t even active against the Steelers.
The same criticisms apply to other positions, too. We’ve been over this before. Jamaal Charles goes down, and the Chiefs have the running back formerly known as Thomas Jones behind him. Barry Richardson is still starting at right tackle.
The No. 3 overall pick is wasted on Tyson Jackson one year, and a first-round pick in another year is used on Jon Baldwin, who then misses five games because of a boneheaded off-field fight with a teammate.
The same depth-chart holes exist on defense; it’s just that there haven’t been enough injuries over there to expose.
Nearly three years on the job, and the best players on Pioli’s team are still mostly guys he inherited. Charles. Dwayne Bowe. Tamba Hali. Derrick Johnson. Brandon Flowers. Brandon Carr.
Pioli has spent so much energy chasing how to build the best possible environment for those players, he’s been unable to build the best possible group of players for this franchise.
That is the Chiefs’ biggest failure — Pioli’s, too.
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"old enough to remember what a red and gold super bowl looks like"
"hopefully young enough to see another"
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