Most NFL fans, writers, etc. consider Bill Belichick to be one of the greatest head coaches of the past 20 years. He is considered a great mastermind in his ability to gameplan; taking advantage of his teams strengths while attacking his foe's weaknesses. What's the reason for his success? Most knowledgeable people would point to QB Tom Brady as the main catalyst. Football is considered a true team sport, as all players on the field must work together, so some would argue that the reason for the Patriots success isn't just because of Tom Brady. However, it should be noted that the Pats have only missed the play-offs once since 2003, and this was a season in which Tom Brady was injured in the first game of the season and missed the rest of the season.

On the other hand, the recently fired had coach of the Chiefs, Todd Haley, is considered by some people on AP as a terrible head coach. Questionable play-calling, too many losses by 20 points or more, can't get along with anyone, etc. Last year the Chiefs made the playoffs, just two years after finishing 2-14. Again, Haley's detractors will argue that this was due to a weak schedule, playing the NFC West, and the AFC West was a bad division. This year the Chiefs are 5-8, without the services of their starting TE, one of the best SS in the game, in Eric Berry, and the Chiefs offensive player of the year from last year, RB Jammal Charles. The lack of depth behind these guys became painfully obvious to us Chief fans, once their back-ups had to take the field. It's a realization that HC Todd Haley most likely saw in practices last year and would have liked addressed this past off-season since the team was somewhere in the $20- 32 million range below the salary cap and Clark Hunt and Scott Pioli have long said that they are determined to build a winning team. However, on Monday, December 12th, both Clark Hunt and Scott Pioli were holding a press conference announcing that Todd Haley had been fired and although Pioli had been giving his 100% effort, Clark Hunt said that Pioli would now double his effort, or work twice as hard or something to that effect. (Note to Clark, if you say Pioli will work twice as hard now, even though he had been giving it his all, then he obviously wasn’t giving 100% before, or didn’t know what he was doing so was concentrating his efforts in the wrong areas, or it was just lip service to the fans if you believe Pioli is the right GM Clark).

Before you stop reading and say you can’t compare Belichick to Haley, remember that Matt Cassel was Belichick’s starting QB for 2008 due to Brady’s injury. So for comparison’s sake and using the Patriot’s 2008 season, consider the following:

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After reading a lot of Chiefs mock draft posts listing what players the Chiefs need to draft as well as the Cassel, O-Line, D-Line, CB, S, LB, WR, TE, etc. bashing lately I decided to look at the top teams in the league right now and see how they got there and where they rank in terms of offense and defense this season.  The top 5 teams are:

1.(tie) Saints and Colts 12-0

3. Vikings 10-2

4 (tie) Chargers and Bengals 9-3

Saints offense: 1st in total yds, 1st in offense total  points, Defense: 18th in yds allowed, 17th in most pts allowed

Colts offense: 4th in total yds, 4th in offense total points, Defense: 17th in yds allowed, 30th in most pts allowed

Vikings offense: 5th in total yds, 2nd in offense total points, Defense: 9th in yds allowed, 22nd in most pts allowed

Chargers offense: 2th in total yds, 3rd in offense total points,Defense: 12th in yds allowed, 18th in most pts allowed

Bengals offense:18th in total yds, 16th in offense total points, Defense: 4th in yds allowed, 32nd in most pts allowed

***Chiefs: offense: 30th in total yds, 28th in offense scoring...Defense: 31st in yds allowed, 3rd in most pts allowed

General observations:  

1) The top 5 teams all have top QBs.  Brees (FA signing), Manning (1st overall pick), Vikings Favre (FA-HOF QB), Chargers Rivers (top 5-7 pick), Bengals Palmer (1st pick overall)  

2) 4 of the top 5 teams are the highest scoring offense teams in the league.  Only the Bengals offense isn't ranked in the top 5, (they are #16) but their D has given up the fewest points in the league.

3) How the teams were built.  Both the Colts and Saints built a top flight offense and then started building a defense.  The Vikings were built on defense first, then after drafting A. Peterson were a run-first team but drafted Harvin and signed Favre in the off-season and now have the 2nd highest scoring offense.  The Chargers are probably the most balanced team here, good QB, RB, TE, WR, and middle of the road D.  The Bengals were a high scoring team a few years back and still have Palmer at QB at Chad O. at WR.  but they've drafted really well the past few years and have a good D now.

The Chiefs have a lot of holes to fill and probably can't add playmakers at every position that needs an upgrade this off-season but I'd like to hear how people would build this team into a contender.  .Offense first?  Defense first?  Or add to both sides of the ball at the same time and have a balanced team?  Personally, looking at the two undefeated teams (Colts and Saints) my personal preference would be to build a high scoring offense first. (Granted, a NT and a safety are necessities this offseason) but if you have an offense that can move the ball and score points it keeps your defense off the field, puts more pressure on the other team to score, and puts the other team in passing downs trying to keep up.  A team that wins based on defense and an offense that can't score points will always keep the other team in the game.  Build an offense around Cassel by improving the O-line and adding another big-play receiver and another RB to complement Charles and Cassel should be decent (as shown in NE last year) and if he isn't the answer atleast the other pieces will be in place in the next year or two so that another QB can come in and put up points right away. I think if the defense wasn't always on the field with all the 3 and outs by the offense they'd look better as well.  

ESPNews interviewed Adam Teicher this morning to disccuss the Chiefs and training camp.  He was negative about everything from the O-Line, Casssel, no receivers after trading Gonzo, LJ, has been great so far but if they start taking him out on 3rd downs look out,  Haley, etc.  If you listen to what he has to say about the team I think he'd reccomend forfeiting every game this season.  How does he get away with being so negative about the team?  Is he related to Carl Peterson?

Has anyone posted this yet?  I don't have the roster in front of me (Edit by Joel: Here is the roster) or know the number of players at all of the various positions.  However, I think if I did have the roster in front of me I would look at all the players that were on the roster prior to the new regime taking over and go from there.  Off the top of my head, the following players come to mind as potential candidates: Webb, Savage, Battle, K. Smith, McGraw, Lokey, or even Brodie Croyle or Ingle Martin could be cut when the final draft picks are signed.  Atleast if we hear that someone gets cut we know that means Tyson Jackson has or is close to signing a contract!

With the way Pioli traded up to draft a TE prospect ranked about #50 on most boards, has anyone heard if they are going to turn him into a rush OLB?  He was a safety and WR in high school, Connor Barwin was a TE in college until this year and he turned into a 2nd rd draft pick as a DE/OLB.  O'Connell is about the same size/speed (6'3 250 lb, ran a 4.66 and 4.69 40 yd) etc. as Barwin, but  hasn't played LB before.  During the draft process, Barwin was being compared to Vrabel.  I know nothing other than what I've read about O'Connell, (which isn't much, athletic, good special teams player) but does anyone else think that this might be the reason the Chiefs traded up for this guy?