Well the semester has finally ended, school is 26 days away from returning, and I got some free time on my hands. What better way to spend that time but to blog, and what better way to start the blog up again by sharing my thoughts on what transpired yesterday in Kansas City. After 20 years of serving as General Manager, President, and CEO of the Kansas City Chiefs, Carl Peterson announced he was resigning effective at the end of the season. Whether Peterson actually resigned or was fired remains a question, but the bottom line is that a new mind will be in charge of player personnel decisions in Kansas City and this decision probably should have been made a long time ago.
Now, Carl Peterson has done some great things in Kansas City. He has overseen a home sellout of every game since 1991 (well technically every ticket was sold), he went 176-141-1 as General Manager and oversaw 4 AFC West Titles and 9 playoff berths. He made a Chiefs tickets one of the hottest commodities in the country and ensured that if Chiefs fans could not go to a home game, they could watch them on TV in their home market with that sellout streak.
In the end, King Carl could not escape from the shortfalls of himself as a General Manager. In 20 years, King Carl failed to draft and develop a quarterback as a franchise quarterback. He made the ill-fated decision to release Rich Gannon and keep Elvis Grbac. We then saw Gannon take the Oakland Raiders to the Super Bowl and Grbac flunk out of the NFL. The most important stat in the Carl Peterson era was the date of Kansas City's last playoff victory: January 1994. The scene? Well, it was Houston, Texas against an Oiler team that no longer plays in Houston but rather in Tennessee. The quarterback? Joe Montana, who retired one year later after a two year stint with the Chiefs. Now, how many teams in the NFL have a longer playoff win drought than the Chiefs? Well, you cannot count the Houston Texans, because they are a recently new franchise. That leaves you with two teams: The Detroit Lions (1991) and The Cincinnati Bengals (1990). Considering that these are two of the worst run franchises in all of sports for some time (even though the Bengals have had recent success), this does not put King Carl in good company.
Lamar Hunt was very loyal to King Carl over the years. I knew as long as Lamar was in charge that a change would not be made. As great of a person to the NFL as Lamar was, he failed to manage the team he owned, only caring about making money and only money. Clark Hunt has made it a point to tell the NFL world that he is not his dad, and his first big decision, free-ing himself from King Carl, was the right one.
Now, Clark Hunt has indicated the next General Manager will be only a General Manager and there will be a separate President and CEO. Whoever the next General Manager will have the daunting task of determing if Herm Edwards is the right man to coach this team, and will likely have to sign or draft two, or possibly three quarterbacks. Regardless of the decisions made, Chiefs fans should feel vindicated, that we are free from King Carl!!!!!!
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