How Patient Should Chiefs Fans Be?

I'm almost over last week's game against the Philadelphia Eagles. I have almost moved on after watching my team surrender midway through the second quarter, and just try to run out the clock in an attempt to catch an early flight home. Almost. I put my Madden 2010 season on "Rookie", set the time to 15 minute quarters, and destroyed Philly 163-0 last night - so that made me feel like a big man. Now, (probably) the best team in football is coming to Arrowhead on Sunday to kick the crap out of the Kansas City good guys - and most of us are expecting a non-win. In fact, according to Jayice Pearson (on my Mount Suckmore of Chiefs players), he hopes that the team can just survive and not get beat up too much Sunday. What the hell, Jay-Ice? Is this third grade? You hope that the team doesn't get beat up? Like literallyl beat up? God - stick with your cushy studio job at ESPN 395,774 where they don't trust you to do live game coverage because you have more "uh's" in your speech pattern than someone at a DUI checkpoint returning home from happy hour. Although keep mentioning how bad the defensive backfield play is during the game highlights you narrate - I get a kick out of the pot calling the kettle black. So - we're not expecting a Super Bowl title this year. We're not expecting a playoff berth. We're not even expecting having to need more than one hand to count our victories this year. So...what do we expect? What do we have the right to expect? Let's break 'em down. Offense The main expectation is not fitting quarterback Matt Cassel with a toe tag in 2009. I would like to see some development from Dwayne Bowe and step up to become a REAL game-changing wide receiver - not an injury-prone prima donna who talks a good game, but can't support his yapping with performance. This may sound strange, but I would like Bowe to take a Rod Tidwell-esque hit like Cuba Gooding's character takes at the end of "Jerry McGuire" - just an absolute 3-way decleater hit that leaves Bowe's neck about 1.5 inches shorter than it was before. If Bowe can take something like that, hold onto the ball (and maybe throw in a little nip-up/Spinnerooni move with it), then that would show me he's goes some cajones, some sack, and a little heart - someone that a receiving corps can be built around. I think it's fair to expect Larry Johnson to end up in jail sometime around week 9 for punching an undercover cop in the face. I can't say why for sure, but I feel like the term "chickenhead" will be involved. Just a thought. Should we expect our tight ends to produce more than 1.5 catches a game? Maybe we got spoiled from having the greatest tight end in NFL history in Kansas City for the past decade - but this is ridiculous. Cottam's awful, and Sean Ryan's just as bad - only with worse hands. Thankfully (?!?!?), the team brought in chronic underachiever Leonard Pope, formerly of the Arizona Cardinals. I love the thought process of the Chiefs - "We need more production from our receivers. We can't give our quarterback enough time for our wideouts to run the deep routes, so we need a big bodied TE who can take up space and catch the 7-yard patterns. And think what a weapon he'd be in the red zone!" Uh, fellas? You know why you have this problem? BECAUSE YOU TRADED THE BEST TIGHT END IN THE HISTORY OF THE NFL FOR A F-ING 2ND-ROUND PICK! God - reactive thinking drives me nuts. Trade Tony Gonzalez, then complain about the lack of production from the tight end position. That's like hanging out with Al Davis, then complaining about the embalming fluid odors - you get what you ask for. 2009 is a lost year for the offense - mostly, nobody get seriously hurt, maybe have one of the 692 new wide receivers we brought in this year develop into a moderate threat, and cross our fingers that Larry Johnson doesn't go "Last Boy Scout" on everyone. I think those are fair expectations. That leads us to the... DEFENSE Here is where Chiefs fans should be taking note. Todd Haley and Scott Pioli have focused almost exclusively on the defensive side of the ball this year in an effort to upgrade the Chiefs from "laughingstock" to "At least we're not Tampa Bay". The additions of Tyson Jackson, Mike Vrabel, and the 3-4 defense have to start making progress, or this year is a waste. Glenn Dorsey, Brandon Carr and Derrick Johnson have to start becoming "above average" or "underrated" (which is code for "good players who don't play in New York or Boston"). They cannot continue to be space fillers earning a game check. A defense in football is like a minor league baseball system. You cannot restock and revamp in one year. It take three, four, maybe even five years before all the pieces are in place. You add one piece (a speed rusher in Jackson) in 2009, another piece or two in 2010 (another speed rusher, a sideline-to-sideline linebacker), then the final piece or two in 2011 (a shutdown corner, a game-changing safety, or a defensive tackle) - and viola - you have a competent, impact defense. If Derrick Johnson, Glenn Dorsey, Tyson Jackson and the Brandons (Carr and Flowers) become the stars that we think they should become, then half the pieces are in place. You can add New England-esque complementary players, and have them fill in the gaps. I think it's fair to expect marked improvement from Dorsey, Jackson and Johnson this year - especially Dorsey and DJ. Time to step up boys, and show us all that talent that everyone thinks is in there somewhere. Special Teams No worries here, really. Dusty Colquitt is the best player on the team and Ryan Succop seems fairly competent (though we haven't seen him in a game-winning kick scenario yet). I wouldn't mind a kick returner who doesn't crap his pants on a return, but I guess you can't have the world. So - what's fair to expect? Improvement? Absolutely. Smart play? I would think so, but that hasn't happened yet. Defensive advancement? A must-happen, or this season is lost - and perhaps more. There isn't a miracle cure, or a one-year fix in the works - but that doesn't mean the Chiefs should temper their expectations. It doesn't mean the fans should, either.