Herm Edwards No Longer The Chief

Herm Edwards is now the former head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.  Coach Edward had a very disappointing three years in s City, with a regular season record of 15-33.  Herm Edwards headed to Kansas City after coaching the New York Jets from 2001 to 2005.  He had a disappointment stint there as well, going 39-41 and 2-3 in the post season.

Edwards firing follows the abrupt resignation of general manager Carl Peterson on December 15, 2008.  The decision was unanimous with the team’s owner Clark Hunt and the new GM, Scott Pioli.

As a true professional, Edwards took the news in stride and praised the Hunt family and the entire Kansas City Chief club.

The fall of Edwards was part due to the team’s decision to rebuild in 2008 and injuries took its tool. But Edwards’ most costly mistake may have been overlooking Brodie Croyle’s history of injuries and designating him as the foundation quarterback. A third-round pick out of Alabama in 2006, Croyle could never stay healthy and was 0-8 as a starter when he went down for the season with a knee injury.

Edwards’ first year in Kansas City was a success. The Chiefs went 9-7 and captured the last wild-card playoff spot. He became only the fifth man to take two different teams to the postseason in his first year as head coach; the Jets went to the playoffs three times in his five seasons there.

He wanted to begin dismantling an aging team and start rebuilding in 2007. But he ran into opposition from a front office that felt there was enough left for another playoff run. After an encouraging 4-3 start, age and ineffectiveness at several key positions created problems and Kansas City ended 2007 on a nine-game losing streak.

Herm Edwards will forever be immortalized for “the Miracle at the Meadowlands”. The Miracle at the Meadowlands is the term used by sportscasters and Philadelphia Eagles fans for a fumble recovery by cornerback Herman Edwards that he returned for a touchdown at the end of a November 19, 1978 NFL game against the New York Giants in Giants Stadium. It was seen as miraculous because it occurred at a point in the game when the Giants were easily capable of running out the game’s final seconds. The Giants had the ball, and the Eagles had no timeouts left. Everyone watching expected quarterback Joe Pisarcik to take one more snap and kneel with the ball, thus running out the clock and preserving a 17-12 Giant upset. Instead, he attempted to hand it off to fullback Larry Csonka and botched it, allowing Edwards to pick up the ball and run 26 yards for the winning score.