I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

It’s always a crap shoot when you hand over a franchise to an unknown commodity.  Obviously you see potential in people but there is no way to tell if they will fall on their face while making the big time decisions (see: Cam Cameron, Rod Marinelli, Herm Edwards, etc) when they have all the power.

Some would argue the Chiefs don’t fall under that category after Scott Pioli’s years in New England and Todd Haley leading the Arizona Cardinals offense to the Super Bowl last season.  For every reason they are both qualified I can give you two why they aren’t.

Haley has the shorter resume and can be questioned more than Pioli.  And questioned he was.  It seemed every single move the first year coach made was met with criticisms from the jump.  From his conditioning test to “ego” to his decision to take over offensive coordinator duties right before the season.

So despite what you may have heard in the media or from discouraged fans, it turns out that everything Haley and Pioli have done since day 1 were – in fact — all part of a plan.  And after watching the Chiefs take out the defending Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday it would appear that plan is starting to come together.

One game does not make a season.  But even the most negative person would be foolish to deny progress is being made.

For every play that Bernard Pollard, a guy that didn’t fit with the new program, makes for the Texans, there is Andy Studebaker picking off Ben Roethlisberger twice or Jovan Belcher making a big time stop on a crucial third down.

There has been a ton of turnover since February, but I promise you we will see twice as much this coming offseason.  And when you are surprised by a certain player being cut or traded (Brian Waters?) the initial reaction will be negatively questioning the competency of the coach and/or general manager.  When this happens, I want you to think back to this moment.  When this team that everyone expected to revolt on Todd Haley and roll over for the big bad Steelers stepped up and showed the football world that they were finally becoming a team.

As we have all felt over the past few seasons, it’s very painful to rebuild.  But when the job is complete there will be nothing sweeter.

Tags: Pittsburgh Steelers, Scott Pioli, Todd Haley