Welcome to the Monday after a long awaited WIN. God it's glorious to type that, think that, say that the Chiefs WON! Color me anything but black or gray right now because, WHEW! It's such a great day when your team wins, and things go right for them for once. The calls seemed good (from what I was able to see) from the refs, the Chiefs moved the ball between the 20's fairly well I thought, and the defense got some huge stops against a team with enough players on offense that could have been dangerous and looking for vengeance. Be prideful in being a Chiefs fan, today, tomorrow, all the time. The Chiefs absolutely earned this one.

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Firstly, the world isn't going to end in 2012. So, rest assured there will still be football that year, and the year after. Unless that is, some sort of Knowing-esque solar flare destroys the earth and everything not snuggled up to it's core (which being filled with, ya know, magma and whatnot probably wouldn't be any better than needing 5,000,000,000 SPF and an indestructable oxygen tank that could survive on the sun, but hey, whadda I know anyway).So when 2012 eventually rolls around in just a little more than 2 years, rest assured the perennial playoff contending Chiefs will still be playing after the New Years day on 2013.

So, in much the same fashion as we've grown accustomed to over the last 30 games, the Chiefs dropped yet another win, in a game they could and SHOULD have won. Why? Lots of reasons, really, but nothing that should make you mad, upset, or hopeless.

Why you shouldn't be mad

The Chiefs are a bad team. They were bad last year, and have made a plethora of changes in the offseason. Unfortunately, those changes aren't working to their favor, as it did, say, for the Dolphins. The GM, Coaches, and numerous player turnover all attribute to where they are now as a team. I'm not saying you should be happy they are 0-5 by any means, but really, what did you expect from them?

Prior to the season starting if you thought this was anything more than a 4-5 win team you were delusional. AP's own preview of the season had the team 8-8, but we're all homers and WANT the best for the team, and hope that they're competent enough to take advantage of other teams weaknesses. But they're not. 5 games into the season, they've lost 2 games they should have won, and lost 3 more than they should have lost. Heartbreaking? Yes. Unexpected? Shouldn't have been.

Why you shouldn't be upset

Really these two sections are pretty similar... but you shouldn't be upset. With the lack of a rushing attack, Matt Cassel played.... good. Really good I thought. Also, I think it's only a matter of time before LJ is no longer the primary back. First down rushes, sure, let him go for it. After that he has no business of the field. I was willing to give him a chance to prove he's changed, and can regain that domination he once showed. Clearly, that was a result of the line in front of him, and the offense the Chiefs had at the time. Things change, and LJ is now, for lack of better words, a useless commodity in this offense. I think it was worth a shot, and that shot has been blown. Time to move on and help this team find ways to find itself and win a game. And really, that's what this season is going to be about, finding out WHO this team is, who wants to win and finish every play, and how to win in the face of adversity. They'll get plenty of that too, because looking at the remaining schedule, it really doesn't get any easier from here on out. Games that they may have had a shot at prior to the season starting are looking like almost surefire losses if they play X team on Sunday (Bengals, for instance).

Basically, this is a team rebuilding, for the long run. Their first few moves to make this team watchable haven't exactly panned out just yet, but give them a chance to find their own way. It happens when a team changes directions, there's always going to be growing pains. It still tugs at your heart strings as a die-hard fan, but you have to let them get a good foundation for what they want to do, one offseason isn't enough time to do that, no matter how many free-agent backups they brought in.

Why you shouldn't be hopeless

This is a team in transition. Everyone from top to bottom of this franchise is learning their role on the fly, and learning best how to gather players, coach them, call plays, and basically do what is best for the team in the long run and now, and finding that balancing point. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if this team rallies in the second half of the season and become a much stronger and cohesive unit. It also wouldn't surprise me after they get that first elusive win, if things change for the better coaching-wise as well. This team is talent-hungry talent-starved. So many years of bad draft picks have set the team back much farther than was anticipated earlier this year.

This loss stings as did the Oakland one. The Chiefs were in a position to win, made strides to do so, and scored when they had to and kept themselves in it and got themselves 2 OT possessions to try to put it away. A better team, a couple things done this way instead of that way, and the Chiefs could be 2-3, or even maybe 3-2. But they haven't found their way just yet. When they do, when they become a cohesive unit with playcalling to match their abilities, watch out. Until then, the bandwagon will be waiting for you to jump back on.

Ahhh, this is such a familiar feeling, and it sucks. Everyone loves the winner. They envy them, strive to be like them, and generally kiss their ass with such fervor that it makes "yes" men cringe. However, our Chiefs are not winners. They're 0-3, coming off what many are describing as an epic failure the likes of which hasn't been seen since the Dark Side left that 3-meter garbage chute opening on their Death Star for that star-crossed kid named Luke to shoot a photon into to destroy a most awesome planet of doom. But what was expected? Was there ever any belief coming into this season that a largely unchanged from last year's Chiefs team could beat these very good and complete teams the Chiefs are faced with this first half of the season? If you thought that, then you just hoped and fooled yourself into your hurt and pain you feel now. Shame on you.

Let's see why you shouldn't lose be mad, upset, or hopeless

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So we're a week down, and got the first seasons winners and losers.

They're ranked in order of most points scored in week 1.

Matt Conner, moobs27, and briankc, you guys have the longest inactive period of 15 days or more... might want to login and check out the team :)

DTR:
Horrible week one for you buddy. Your bench got more points than your starters, might want to fix that... just saying ;)

This is my first 12 team league, and I have to say I think it's pretty sweet. Unless you're playing the bastard who has Adrian Peterson (looking at you Pontiacs!).