Only foolishness will allow Pioli to escape the Manning nightmare

The disaster scenario that arose as a possibility early last week, and has likely since kept Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli and owner Clark Hunt awake at night, has finally become a reality.

Peyton Manning is a Denver Bronco. The world, as we know it, is coming to an end.

Well, maybe for Pioli.

Pioli must justify decision to sign Routt over Carr

Chiefs fans want to believe cornerback Stanford Routt will be a positive addition to the team's ever-improving defense. They want to believe general manager Scott Pioli's decision to sign Routt — and all but close the door on the possibility of retaining cornerback Brandon Carr — was a smart and calculated risk in terms of football economics.

They want to believe the Chiefs aren't cheap, and that this was the right decision.

It's just, right now, that's merely impossible.

Allowing Bowe and/or Carr to walk would be indefensible

If general manager Scott Pioli is simply sticking to a tried-and-true Patriot Way-stricken plan, then let me be the first to say the outline is utterly unidentifiable.

Because it's hard to imagine the Kansas City Chiefs as an on-field improvement in 2012 without wide receiver Dwayne Bowe and cornerback Brandon Carr aiding the surge.

With NFL free-agency set to begin in less than a month, that nightmare is slowly becoming a bleak reality.

Manning presents a golden opportunity for the Chiefs

Peyton Manning may not be healthy. Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli may not be willing.

Past that, though, in-lies a golden opportunity for a team and quarterback who'd each be crazy not to at least entertain the possibility of a future together.

Babb's story proves these Chiefs are a sad joke

The worst part about Kent Babb's bombshell story in The Kansas City Star Sunday?

We'd been led to believe the circus was over.

For Crennel to matter, Pioli must adjust

Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli is assuring fans they should feel excited about this day, but in reality, how can they be?

"Let us go through the process," stresses new head coach Romeo Crennel.

Oh boy.

Pioli needs to pick a coach and get on with it

Kansas City Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli is already a day late and a dollar short. What the hell is he waiting for?

If Romeo Crennel is to be the team's next permanent head coach, the thing should have been done yesterday. Literally.

Chiefs' mediocrity is a product of the NFL parity-machine

The Kansas City Chiefs are mediocre.

Nothing breakthrough here. It's been the case for at least a decade and a half now. The real question is why, and more to the point, why don't they do anything about it?

As crazy as it sounds, Chiefs have shot at playoffs in spite of Haley

The legacy of former Chiefs head coach Todd Haley and the circus he ran while in Kansas City will be fully realized in the season's final two weeks.

Because, as crazy as it sounds, this team has a real chance to defy the odds and make the playoffs without him.

The circus is gone, but the cycle goes on

Chiefs owner Clark Hunt is thanking fans for their patience and support. GM Scott Pioli is vowing to do a better job.

Todd Haley is thanking almost everyone for the opportunity and is wishing his players and coaching staff good luck.

By now, the fans have had the chance to come to terms with what this all means. Another losing season upon us, and another head coach, deservedly or not, forced to take the brunt of the blame.

It should all sound familiar, because it's the same cycle we experienced just three years ago when Hunt first brought this circus to town.

The Haley circus keeps on rollin'

The joke is over. This team is no longer worth it. Three hours on Sunday for a sad, cheap laugh at the expense of the Kansas City Chiefs just seems like a ridiculous waste of time during the holiday season.

Especially when Tyler Palko, Barry Richardson, and ring-master Todd Haley are still receiving paychecks for the circus they've helped create.

Weis' priorities are out of whack

For what it's worth, Charlie Weis sounds sincere, at the very least, when talking about turning Kansas football around.

Because, quite honestly, the very least may be all Jayhawk-country yields from a coach who seems to have his priorities a bit out of whack.

Your favorite pro-football team's head coach should be fired if...

Head coach Todd Haley keeps insisting Tyler Palko will get the start Sunday for Cirque du CHIEFS in Chicago, and, as would any other responsible Chiefs fan, I've begun preparations for life without the aforementioned ringleader.

PRESENTING:

Your favorite pro-football team's head coach should be fired if...

Pioli must find some humility

Almost three years into Scott Pioli's reign as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs, not much has changed — and the GM himself is mostly to blame.

If the Chiefs want to win, they'll claim Orton

There isn't a choice here. It's a no-brainer. The Chiefs must make a statement to their fanbase and put a claim on recently-waived quarterback Kyle Orton.

Losing Cassel hurts the Chiefs, but not in the way you may think

Matt Cassel and Todd Haley may not realize this now, but the news of the Chiefs starting-quarterback's right-hand injury being more serious than previously thought is the best thing to happen to each of them since their arrival in Kansas City.

Trust me. In the spirit of Tim Tebow, both should be counting their blessings. Their respective positions as the buffoons charged with the extension of football-mediocrity in Kansas City may have just been saved.

The Beard deserves the blame

In spite of the wishful-thinking Twitter rumor started early Sunday evening, Todd "the Beard" Haley's job as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs (for now) remains in-tact.

After the Tim Tebow Show rolled through Arrowhead earlier in the day, however, the team's playoff-hopes do not.

Chiefs should go all-red all the time

One of the tidbits from Monday's thriller against the Chargers was the three Chiefs players who made the best fashion decision in Kansas City since the days of the Royals' black-trip informs in the early-2000s.

I noticed it first on wide-receiver Dwayne Bowe, then on cornerbacks Brandon Flowers and Brandon Carr.

The Beard deserves the credit

After a dismal September, checking-out on the 2011 Chiefs a little early would have been more than justified. Many of us did just that. So if you came back around for the Monday Night Miracle this week, you may have been a bit confused as to just what you were seeing — on the field and off.

Chiefs could make huge statement in Oakland

There aren't a handful of minds in Kansas City who would have sanely stated this just two weeks ago, and even I've been second-guessing the rationale here.

But you know what? The Chiefs could make a huge statement with a win in Oakland Sunday.