I think most of us would agree that the seasons between Trent Green (48-42) and Alex Smith (51-30) were dark years for Chiefs fans. The almost sucked the fandom out of me. This is also the time between Head Coaches Vermeil and Reid. Probably go hand in hand.
As we praise our respective deities for delivering us Patrick Mahomes II, let us take a moment to reflect upon the hard road we traveled before he came to ease our journey.
Which of these QBs were the most disappointing? (Poll to follow) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Gary Cooper:
Tyler Palko, easily.
I agree, hands down. I will never forget how mad Haley made me when he played Palko the whole exhibition game against the Packers at Lambeau after I drove so far to witness the abortion. :-)
Palko was Haley's "fuck you, fire me" gesture to Pioli.
At least Brodie Croyle had some talent with absolutely no fucking help. Palko shouldn't even have been allowed to distribute the gatoraide to the bench. [Reply]
In terms of being really bad, it was Palko. But the Chiefs were never going to do anything anyways because they were incredibly bad.
In terms of hurting the team the most, it has to be Cassel. That team was a competitive team that his limitations just completely hamstrung. It was conceivable for a couple years in there that an Alex Smith-level QB could have snatched a playoff win with the rosters Cassel played with. [Reply]
Your QBs went 9-20 for 48 yards. No picks, though.
Geez.
I forgot that Cassel was actually statistically decent in 2010. The year the Raiders went 6-0 in the division and still missed the playoffs. 2010 and 2011 AFC West was bizarre. [Reply]
Call me a biased Chiefs fan if you will but I declare that Croyle could have been good, he just got hurt all the time. Not quite the Mark Prior of football but something in that vein. The Brent Honeywell of football.
Don't forget he was the #1 high school QB recruit in the nation and then balled it up for a pretty big time college program in Alabama.
Constantly being injured and spending so much time and energy simply rehabbing is just no way to develop. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Rain Man:
So do we think that the backups to these quarterbacks were worse? Or do we think the coaching was so bad that the backups were better?
The Chiefs had a hard time keeping the starting QB on the field in those years. Multiple years with multiple starting QBs - these guys were backups for each other. Cassel, obviously, managed to stay on the field the most. IMO, coaching was bad for everyone on the depth chart. [Reply]