Tough to Be a Champion, If You Don’t Play Like It

David Bell

Oh. Really?

Acceptance Phase

Okay, I’m on to the Acceptance Phase now. The Chiefs lost the AFC Championship and emotions flew like dirty birds for the sky, but after the grief and anger, I began to think of words that could describe what I had just witnessed. They ranged from “Squandered” to “Wasted”… to other less publishable, prohibited terms of endearment. A frequent follower of ArrowheadOne remarked that the word that came to his mind was “Implosion.” I would wholeheartedly agree.

The Chiefs Miss Their Mark

Regardless of how you view the AFC Championship game and describe it, you can continue to add words that capture the game especially from a frame reference of the PI call against the Bengals and that was a complete failure to score when it was almost assured, at least to get a 3 Point Field Goal: Hence Opportunity Squandered. The rest of the game was played without the necessary ingredients: The Four C’s. Without the Chiefs playing Chiefs “Juice” Football… then it ended. The Bengals took advantage of the Chiefs, drove down the field in OT, and kicked a Field Goal to win the game. They seized the opportunity as the Chiefs squandered theirs. End of Story. The Bengals won the game and took the victory, and deservedly so.

The Blank Veach Big Board

What’s Next? Fill In the Sheet — It’s a Blank Slate Right Now

Since our team won’t be playing football in February, what is going on at One Arrowhead Way? There will be a ton of interviews, pressers, coach-speak, fan-speak, and so on. Yet to be determined is what to do with our own players who will be free agents in 2022.

To be quite truthful, I did tune into the LA-Frisco game, but my heart wasn’t in it, I admit it. As the game was rolling to a conclusion, I was pleased with the outcome of the Rams winning the game. They won by 3, which was the margin I predicted. If I then do a refer back to the KC-Cincy game, I wondered at how the Chiefs went from 21-3… to losing the game. Before the half, I felt the prediction that I had made was going to end up being about right–until the 2nd half was played. My score prediction was obviously as flawed as the play we saw from our beloved Chiefs in the second half. I had predicted the score would be 35-21, Chiefs.

Making the Offseason Plan

That’s already in the works. Even for me, I had begun to examine the players ranked by outfits such as Draftek or Draft Scout. I had run a few mocks to get warmed up. Now it’s time to take a look at the real contender-type players. Of course, we won’t know enough until after the Combine and after the Pro Day’s given us the bona fides of the numbers to add to our player evaluations. At this point? I am building a 200 man player board and I know that the Chiefs are deep into it already building their own board.

The Chiefs have 28 players who are Free Agents for 2022. Who will they keep? Who will they let slide? Are there players under contract that they will cut from the Roster?

I keep thinking that Brett Veach, who had a masterful offseason in 2021, will have his work cut out for him. The draft list which I posted is probably going to look the same as proposed a couple of days ago. We won’t have a round 5 pick and likely the Chiefs will lose their 6th Round selection as well in compensation due to the trade involving the Mel Ingram acquisition. However, we gained a compensation draft pick for the 3rd round in both 2022 and 2023 when Ryan Poles was signed as the Bears GM. I keep thinking that Eric Bieniemy will be signed as a Head Coach somewhere, but so far, I haven’t seen any notice that such interviews are in the offing. If he did secure a head coaching job, the Chiefs would receive another pair of round-three draft picks.

Onward and Upward

Sure! 2021’s season ended with the disappointment that the Chiefs did not reach the Super Bowl. In 2020, the season ended dismally with the loss in the Super Bowl to the Buccaneers. That loss also saw the Chiefs offense stall, that time for the whole game. It was an embarrassment.

Right now? We have to see the successes along the way and take solace in the success that the Chief’s Football Club has achieved, especially over the 5-year span of 2017-2021:

• 5 AFC West Titles
• The Chiefs won the AFC title twice in a row (2019 and 2020)
• Appeared in this years AFC Title game
• Playing in the Super Bowl Twice
• Winning one Super Bowl

Since Andy Reid arrived in K.C. in 2013, the Chiefs made the playoffs every year but one, and have posted 9 winning seasons in a row.

The Plan: To Improve the Roster for 2022

You can hear the view from Brett Veach’s presser, here:

2022 is in the hands of the Kingdom’s Brain Trust. In his presser a couple of days ago, Brett Veach stated:

“Our priority is, any sort of advantage

we can get is what we will pursue…

If there’s any way we can get

better and if there’s any way

we can get Patrick Mahomes

more weapons, we’ll do that…

I don’t think we’ll ever shy

away from trying to get

that 1% advantage.”

We can all put aside the loss to the Bengals, the emotions, and regret of the missed opportunity that we all experienced, and move forward, having fun with the upcoming offseason work that will be going on along the way.

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David Bell — ArrowheadOne

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