Who Do You Think You Are? Chiefs Thoughts Revealed Through Recent Hires

Identifying Your Identity

Who do you think you are? The question perpetually asked of people doing things they have no business doing. Things like losing in the playoffs to the Titans, or scoring zero points in the second half. In this case though, what’s peaked my curiosity, is something our beloved Homer Dave said to me in a conversation on twitter: ‘Chiefs lack identity’. I think most fans agree with this, but I wondered what the Chiefs themselves thought. While press conferences are pretty much designed to tell us nothing, the Chiefs coaching moves tell us everything we need to know about their personal and personnel analysis of last year’s Jekyll and Hyde team.

Attitude and Intensity

Teddy Roosevelt is famous for his saying: “Speak softly and carry a big stick”. Between Andy Reid, Alex Smith, and Matt Nagy, the Chiefs certainly had the speak softly part down. Trouble is, when the game was on the line, Chiefs big stick was nowhere to be found. In boxing terms, they had plenty of scoring wins, but no knockouts. K.C. runS the offense with the enthusiasm that your average fan takes out the trash. This lack of intensity bleeds over into attitude. It makes it tough to stay motivated when you’re up and tough to get psyched when you’re down. THE Chiefs solution to this problem is Eric Bieniemy, the most intense coach on the team. His passion and intensity are impossible to miss. Kansas City pays lip service to the slow and steady, but the promotion of Bieniemy reveals that they realize that strategy hasn’t paid off. Look for a Chiefs team with attitude that looks to bury teams, rather than just run out the clock. I’m glad that the guy who spends the entire off-season screaming “Finish!” at rookie RBs, will now get to spend the regular season screaming “Finish!” at the team’s entire starting offense.

The Run Game Is A Priority

The Chiefs, under Reid, have generally made a habit of promoting from within, so any time they bring in a fresh face, it’s notable. Chiefs hired USC running back coach Deland McCullough. He was widely considered to be the best RB coach in the college ranks, having coached household names Tevin Coleman, Jordan Howard and Ronald Jones. Chiefs hiring of DM shows that the running game will be a major priority for them going forward. With Bieniemy at OC, and McCullough bringing along the young RBs, Chiefs will look to significantly improve their rushing attack. In the game against a solid Titans run D, the Chiefs weren’t able to run the ball much, despite having a large lead early, because they couldn’t find holes in the Titans front. Chiefs seem to view this as a major cause of the loss, and a major point of emphasis in 2018.

Sutton Seems Safe

It’s always possible that Chiefs could move on from Sutton in the near future. Perhaps they are after a DC who’s currently on Eagles, Vikings, Patriots, or Jaguars staff. That said, the hiring of defensive quality control coach Jay Valai, is not the kind of move you make when you’re about to switch coordinators. New DCs like to build their own staff, so the Chiefs would probably wait on any new hires if they weren’t retaining Sutton.

Chiefs Concerned About LBs and DBs: Jay Valai will be a defensive quality control coach and is likely to also work with the linebackers and/or defensive backs (per Terez Paylor KC Star). The firing of Dorsey and the hiring of Valai, make it clear Chiefs believe they have a personnel problem on defense. Chiefs have had a ton of talented safeties over the last several years. The fact that they wound up with Sorenson and Murray as their 3^rd and 4^th guys, speaks to Dorsey’s inability to retain talent. A lot of Dorsey’s long term contracts have failed to pan out, while the guys he let go have gone on to have some success elsewhere. Under Dorsey, Chiefs struggled to draft LBs either inside or outside and the secondary has been cobbled together for way too long. If Sutton gets a pass on a horrific performance, in the playoffs, you can bet Dorsey is the reason why. Georgia has produced some quality DBs and ILBs recently, so it makes sense that Chiefs would go after one of their coaches.

A Slow Reveal: Who The Chiefs Are Becoming

So what do the Chiefs blame for the playoff loss? From the looks of their hires, it seems to be a lack of intensity on offense, and lack of talent on defense. The draft and FA will show us a little more, but, for now, I think we should be prepared for a more aggressive 2018 offense, and a heavy off-season focus on defense. Personally I’d like to see Sutton go, but given his track record, in scoring defense, I can see why the Chiefs are willing to give him a year to bounce back.

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