Kansas City Chiefs bomb in their home opener
Well now that was certainly ugly. The way the Kansas City Chiefs opened their season at home vs the Buffalo Bills, losing 41-7, their worst home loss in 35 years, is leading this fan to believe that their 2010 season when they went 10-6 may prove to have been an anomaly. These Chiefs played very much like the 2008 version that finished 2-14 as well as the 2009 team that went 4-12. Perhaps that 0-4 preseason was a precursor of things to come. Or maybe the Buffalo Bills are really that good this year, you think?
The game began with Dexter McCluster fumbling the opening kickoff over to Buffalo who scored five plays later to take a 7-0 lead they would never relinquish. Then it got worse for KC when the Bills Steve Johnson clearly chop blocked sensational strong safety Eric Berry well below the knees & tore Berry’s ACL. That hit ended Berry’s season. The loss of Berry follows that of KC’s best rookie on offense last season, tight end Tony Moeaki, who also tore an ACL & is out for the season. The Chiefs offense came out & punted the first three times they gained possession of the ball. By halftime Buffalo held a comfortable lead of 20-7 which they expanded to 34-7 in the 3 rd quarter & the rout was on.
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Chiefs’ fans are left scratching their heads & grasping at straws to find anything positive about this NFL contest. The Bills outgained the Chiefs 364 yards to 213, & had a big edge in first downs, 23-13. Buffalo ran the ball for 163 yards; the Chiefs vaunted ground game managed only 108. Matt Cassel completed 22 of 36 passes for 119 yards with one touchdown & one interception, rather pedestrian numbers don’t you think? No Chief had more than 26 yards receiving. Perhaps the lone bright spot was tailback Jamaal Charles who carried the rock 10 times for 56 yards. Maybe, just maybe, KC should hand the ball to Jamaal more than 10 times per game.
In the end the Kansas City Chiefs seemed woefully unprepared to play their home opener before their sea of red diehard fans. Word out of Kansas City is that Head Coach Todd Haley may be gone before the halfway mark of this season. It may be hard to argue with that assertion at this point.
Next up the Chiefs hit the road, traveling to Detroit to take on the suddenly emerging Lions who are 1-0. The odds makers say KC is an 8.5 point underdog. Unless the Chiefs are able to engineer a 180 turnaround this week, this could prove to be another long dreary season for KC fans.
By Allan Gardner
ProFootball-fans.com Kansas City Chiefs Correspondent