Starting QB: Ben Roethlisberger, 1 Pro Bowl
Starting RB: Willie Parker, 2 Pro Bowls
Starting WR: Hines Ward, 4 Pro Bowls
Starting DL: Aaron Smith, 1 Pro Bowl
Starting ILB: James Farrior, 2 Pro Bowls
Starting OLB: James Harrison, 2 Pro Bowls
Starting DB: Troy Polamalu, 5 Pro Bowls

The Kansas City Chiefs aren’t built this way. Brian Waters is the team’s only repeat Pro Bowler. Mike Brown, Mike Vrabel, and recent acquisition Chris Chambers have each appeared once. Todd Haley understands the difference. His father, Dick Haley, was a personnel man for the Steelers for two decades. He drafted a lot of Pro Bowlers and Hall of Famers–four in 1974 alone (Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth, and Mike Webster). The Steelers continued to draft well long after Dick’s departure. That’s why they still win Super Bowls. (more…)

I believe in evolution. I don’t know that Darwin’s hypotheses on the subject are unequivocally factually correct, but I do believe that a species adapts to its climate over time, primarily through survival of the fittest. It’s a process that takes generations upon generations to complete, however, and as a result there is no real chance for us to observe any discernible difference in the character of a species, particularly our own, in a single lifetime.

In 1985, William ‘Refrigerator’ Perry was the largest player in the NFL. He entered the league at a playing weight of 325 pounds. The next largest player on that Super Bowl winning Bears squad was offensive lineman Mark Bortz, who clocked in at a svelt 282. Perry was primarily a defensive lineman. He outweighed the next largest Bears’ defender, nose tackle Steve McMichael, by 55 pounds. More famously, he was also occasionally used as a fullback. He outweighed starter Matt Suhey by over 100 pounds. (more…)

The Kansas City Chiefs today confirmed that the National Football League has suspended WR Dwayne Bowe for four games for “violating the NFL policy on performance enhancing substances.” Bowe’s suspension will begin immediately.

As a result of the league suspension, the team will have no further comment.

via Kansas City Chiefs – CHIEFS STATEMENT ON WR DWAYNE BOWE.

It’s a rare sight to see the fan base for a sports franchise in a celebratory mood 24 hours after a loss. With half the season behind them and only one win visible in the rearview mirror, the natural emotions should be disappointment, dejection, and possibly even depression. So why are Chiefs fans dancing like Rosie Perez in the opening credits of a Spike Lee film today?

It’s because they got their wish. Over the past week, fans numbering in excess of 35,000 signed an online petition requesting that GM Scott Pioli not allow Larry Johnson to break Priest Holmes’ franchise rushing record. The petition was pedestrian in wording and held no great swaying power of its own, but it didn’t need to. Fans are forgiving, but far too often Johnson’s behavior was unforgivable. His final offense, a homophobic epithet and a knock on his head coach’s credentials, was in itself far less egregious than many of his prior transgressions, but it was enough in the eyes of his employers to merit dismissal. (more…)

The Kansas City Chiefs released RB Larry Johnson on Monday. In 75 games (55 starts) with Kansas City, Johnson rushed 1,375 times for 5,996 yards (4.4 avg.) with 55 touchdowns. He also registered 151 receptions for 1,369 yards (9.1 avg.) with six TDs. He concluded his Chiefs career with 30 100-yard rushing games and also added two 100-yard receiving games.

Johnson established an NFL single-season record with 416 rushing attempts in 2006 when he set a franchise single-season mark with 1,789 rushing yards. He originally entered the league as the Chiefs first-round selection (27th overall) in the 2003 NFL Draft out of Penn State.

via Kansas City Chiefs – Chiefs Release RB Larry Johnson.

My longtime readers know that I like to title my articles after songs. Sometimes I pick good ones. Sometimes I elect to be ironic and pick bad ones. Once upon a time I even picked a Jimmy Buffet song. I’ll do my best not to commit any more offenses of that heinous a nature.

This time around my taste is immaculate. Getting In Tune is track one, side two of The Who’s 1971 album, Who’s Next, a collection of songs mostly intended for a rock opera that never materialized. The Chiefs no doubt understand a thing or two about plans that fail to materialize. Plans, for instance, like scoring on the ground. Just as last year’s team set a league record for fewest sacks in a season (10), this year’s team stands a very real chance of setting another record: fewest rushing touchdowns. The modern era record of 2 is shared by three units: the 1972 Eagles, 1995 Jets, and 2005 Cardinals. Combined, those squads posted a record of 10-36. (more…)

It’s not a tough record to beat.

Priest Holmes holds Kansas City’s franchise record for career rushing yards. His number is 6,070. That’s good for fifth lowest in the league, ahead of only Tampa Bay, New England, Carolina, and Houston. The number itself isn’t that special. What is special is how he did it and how quickly he did it–63 starts in 65 games, over half of which came on the wrong side of an injury that would have ended the careers of most backs. He did it all with limited natural ability too. At no point in his career was he the fastest or strongest back on the team, but he was always the smartest and the best prepared.

In light of everything the Chiefs have been through since with Holmes’s replacement, it’s hard to remember exactly how maligned the holy one was by the team’s fans. Mercurial by nature, Priest infrequently granted interviews, made few public appearances, and never traveled with the team while injured. The latter isn’t altogether uncommon–Andy Reid, for instance, doesn’t allow his injured players to travel with the team under any circumstance–but it rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way. His decision to sit out an entire season in 2006, claiming the need to further rehabilitate from a midseason injury in 2005, rubbed fans the wrong way too, particularly when he announced in October of 2007 that he planned to return. Fans felt Priest had let the team down. He had, in their estimation, placed his own desires over the team’s needs, holding out for longer than needed, knowing full well the offense was struggling in his absence. (more…)

It’s a good thing the Chiefs wore their throwback helmets against the Chargers on Sunday. Otherwise, someone might have mistaken them for the team that eked out a victory over the Redskins seven days earlier. That team was mistake prone but mentally tough; athletically challenged but physically commanding. Apparently Tank Tyler was that team’s muse. His absence was the only change, but the shape of the team was radically different.

I’ll admit that I was among the foolhardy few that predicted a Kansas City win. I felt that the win over Washington would serve as a catalyst, sparking the team to more similarly opportunistic wins over similarly underachieving opponents. I overestimated the chemistry, however. This team clearly has none. They are an experiment gone wrong. (more…)

The Kansas City Chiefs barred RB Larry Johnson from practicing with the team or participating in team activities on Tuesday, saying they are continuing to investigate his recent comments in which he reportedly belittled coach Todd Haley via Twitter and reportedly used gay slurs addressing media in the locker room.

The decision on Johnson appears indefinite, as no timetable given for his return.

Haley is expected to address the situation surrounding Johnson during a news conference Tuesday, which is scheduled for 2:40 p.m. ET. That news conference can be seen live on NFL Network.

The Chiefs released a statement Tuesday announcing the decision on Johnson. (more…)

As I wrote this article, the New England Patriots had the opportunity (but declined, as a show of mercy) to break two substantial NFL records: most points in a shutout (the record is 66) and most points by a single team in a game (72). The Pats got sloppy last week and lost to a team they should have beat, so they did what Belichick’s Patriot teams do: make an example of the next team they play. That was the mindset that carried them to the Super Bowl in 2003: Lawyer Milloy, hellbent on vengeance against his former team, led the Bills to a 31-0 shutout in week one. New England finished the regular season 14-2, on their way to their second of three Super Bowl wins in a four year span. Likewise, the team showed similar fire in 2007 amidst allegations of cheating and preseason speculation that they no longer held the competitive edge they had in years past. To prove those speculations to be inaccurate, the Pats embarrassed most of their opponents, surpassing 30 points in 12 of 16 regular season contests.

Meanwhile, a few hours ago the Kansas City Chiefs secured their first victory in nearly a year by beating the Redskins, 14-6. Low scoring affairs like that are usually indicative of matches between two dominant defenses. Not so in this case. There was a bad offense and a bad defense on the throne in Kansas City; there was a bad offense and a fair defense on the throne in Washington. (more…)