The Kansas City Chiefs close out the 2011 NFL season with a trip to Colorado to take on the Denver Broncos. Here are five things to watch for as the Chiefs battle the Broncos.

Kyle Orton Versus Old Team

Kyle Orton was let go by the Broncos in late November. The Chiefs picked him up to stand in for injured Matt Cassel. Orton had two decent games against the Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders. If he has the same type of game against his old mates, it will be a long day for Denver. It will help that Orton should have some kind of working knowledge of the Broncos’ defense.

Tim Tebow Versus Chiefs’ Defense

In the first game between the Chiefs and Broncos back on Nov. 13, quarterback Tim Tebow ran for a touchdown and threw for another. He completed just two passes all game long and had 43 yards rushing. Surely the Chiefs would know how to handle the offense by now. Shut down the running game of Denver and then let the vaunted secondary take over after that and the Chiefs will win.

Head Coaches

Interim head coach Romeo Crennel is trying to prove he’s head coaching material. John Fox is trying to avoid another late-season disappointment for the Broncos. Despite not making the playoffs just a year after winning the AFC West, the Chiefs can spoil the postseason hopes of Denver.

Ryan Succop

Placekicker Ryan Succop had a miserable game against the Oakland Raiders Dec. 24. He had two kicks blocked that could have won the game. In the thinner air of Denver, a kicker’s dream exists. Earlier in the season, Sebastian Janikowski of the Raiders tied an NFL record with a 63-yard kick way back on Sept. 12 in Denver. Succop needs to have a good game in the thinner air to regain his confidence.

Momentum

A win for the Chiefs will give them momentum going into the offseason and a positive vibe with the draft and in the front office. With all of the major players coming back next year from their injuries, a season-ending victory may help nudge the team along as they start workouts for next season.

William Browning is a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs after latching on to the team during the lean years of St. Louis football. Born in the gateway city, he is also a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The endorsements for Romeo Crennel to get the Kansas City Chiefs’ full-time job keep coming.

Offensive coordinator Bill Muir offered unsolicited support of Crennel on Thursday, one day after star linebacker Tamba Hali said he’d like to see the Chiefs’ defense coordinator and current interim coach get the job on a permanent basis.

“The defense has started to turn the corner. It would be a shame to change that,” Muir said. “I think Romeo’s demeanor as a football coach, he relates very well to the players, he has a sternness to him, about being a dictatorial-type of man. I just think he would do a good job.”

Crennel took over nearly two weeks ago, when the Chiefs fired Todd Haley after a 5-8 start.

With the team in turmoil, the former Cleveland Browns coach provided a calming presence in the Chiefs’ locker room, helping keep together a team with flickering playoff hopes.

Kansas City responded with its best performance of the season in a 19-14 upset of the previously unbeaten Green Bay Packers. Now, the reigning AFC West champions need to win their final two games and get help from Buffalo and San Diego to slip into the playoffs for the second straight year.

“I think anybody on this team would agree with me, if we can keep Romeo as our head coach here it would be great,” Hali said. “We love what he does and his game plan and as you can see what happened on Sunday, he was able to control the clock along with our quarterback and that’s something we haven’t been able to do here in a long time is control the clock. Now to win games.”

Exactly: Time to win games.

Crennel, who was 24-40 in four seasons in Cleveland, said his focus is on the remaining regular-season games against Oakland and Denver. After the season ends, it’ll be up to general manager Scott Pioli and CEO Clark Hunt to decide whether to give him the full-time job.

“I’ve won one game. Let’s see if we can win another, and whatever happens will happen after the season is over,” Crennel said. “The only thing I can control is my players and how we play and whether we win or lose or not, so that’s what I’m going to do.”

Crennel said he appreciate the support, which has been nearly universal, especially when it comes from a coaching staff that has rallied together since Haley’s firing.

“I know that I can lean on these guys any time I want to or need to, and the biggest thing that I’ve done as far as leaning on them is letting them do their job,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing, because they are experienced coaches, and they know the game of football.”

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The endorsements for Romeo Crennel to get the Kansas City Chiefs’ full-time job keep coming.

Offensive coordinator Bill Muir offered unsolicited support of Crennel on Thursday, one day after star linebacker Tamba Hali said he’d like to see the Chiefs’ defense coordinator and current interim coach get the job on a permanent basis.

“The defense has started to turn the corner. It would be a shame to change that,” Muir said. “I think Romeo’s demeanor as a football coach, he relates very well to the players, he has a sternness to him, about being a dictatorial-type of man. I just think he would do a good job.”

Crennel took over nearly two weeks ago, when the Chiefs fired Todd Haley after a 5-8 start.

With the team in turmoil, the former Cleveland Browns coach provided a calming presence in the Chiefs’ locker room, helping keep together a team with flickering playoff hopes.

Kansas City responded with its best performance of the season in a 19-14 upset of the previously unbeaten Green Bay Packers. Now, the reigning AFC West champions need to win their final two games and get help from Buffalo and San Diego to slip into the playoffs for the second straight year.

“I think anybody on this team would agree with me, if we can keep Romeo as our head coach here it would be great,” Hali said. “We love what he does and his game plan and as you can see what happened on Sunday, he was able to control the clock along with our quarterback and that’s something we haven’t been able to do here in a long time is control the clock. Now to win games.”

Exactly: Time to win games.

Crennel, who was 24-40 in four seasons in Cleveland, said his focus is on the remaining regular-season games against Oakland and Denver. After the season ends, it’ll be up to general manager Scott Pioli and CEO Clark Hunt to decide whether to give him the full-time job.

“I’ve won one game. Let’s see if we can win another, and whatever happens will happen after the season is over,” Crennel said. “The only thing I can control is my players and how we play and whether we win or lose or not, so that’s what I’m going to do.”

Crennel said he appreciate the support, which has been nearly universal, especially when it comes from a coaching staff that has rallied together since Haley’s firing.

“I know that I can lean on these guys any time I want to or need to, and the biggest thing that I’ve done as far as leaning on them is letting them do their job,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing, because they are experienced coaches, and they know the game of football.”

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Kansas City quarterback Kyle Orton (AP file photo)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Former Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton will be a starter for the Kansas City Chiefs against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday unless an injured finger on his throwing hand prevents him from playing.

Interim Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel said Wednesday that he made the change to jump-start the team’s stagnant offense. Journeyman quarterback Tyler Palko had led the Chiefs to only two touchdowns in four games since taking over for the injured Matt Cassel.

“We made the change and we’ll see how it plays out,” said Crennel, who took over Monday after the firing of Todd Haley. “If it works out with more points on the board, then it’ll be a good change.”

Crennel said that if Orton is unable to play, fifth-round draft pick Ricky Stanzi will start for Kansas City.

Orton took snaps under center with the first-team offense Wednesday during the brief portion of practice that the media was allowed to observe. He was wearing a sleeve on his index finger, which he dislocated on his only play as a member of the Chiefs two weeks ago at Chicago.

Roethlisberger not practicing. Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s sprained left ankle remained in a walking boot, and backups Charlie Batch and Dennis Dixon are preparing as if they will play Monday night in San Francisco.

Footnotes. Wade Phillips, a veteran coach who has turned the Houston defense into the NFL’s best, will have surgery this week to resolve a kidney condition and will be away from the team for a week to 10 days.

• Deep-threat wide receiver Denarius Moore returned to practice for the Raiders after missing the previous three games with an injured right foot.

• Browns president Mike Holmgren said Pat Shurmur will “absolutely” be Cleveland’s coach next season.

• Titans coach Mike Munchak said he is assuming QB Matt Hasselbeck will play Sunday at Indianapolis until he sees otherwise.

The Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Romeo Crennel wants another chance to be a
head coach in the NFL. He may have the opportunity with the Kansas
City Chiefs if he can hold together a franchise in disarray over
the next three weeks.

Crennel spoke Tuesday for the first time since he was appointed
interim coach, telling reporters on a conference call that he wants
to be considered for the permanent job in Kansas City. Crennel will
lead the Chiefs through the end of the season after Todd Haley was
fired on Monday.

‘There were no conditions to this,” Crennel said. ‘I want to try
to be helpful in this situation, and I knew one of the ways I could
be helpful was to be the interim coach.”

Long considered one of the game’s brightest defensive minds,
Crennel has spent the past two seasons as the Chiefs’ defensive
coordinator, presiding over a unit that has been their biggest
strength. His track record includes five Super Bowl rings as an
assistant coach.

Crennel received his first chance to be a head coach in
Cleveland, where he had mixed results in five seasons. He took over
a moribund franchise and went 10-22 his first two years, but had
the Browns on the cusp of the playoffs after finishing 10-6 in
2007. Crennel received a contract extension, but the team slipped
to 4-12 the following year and Crennel was let go.

‘You know what? When I left Cleveland, one of the things I felt
was that my competitive nature, my competitive energy that I have,
I would like to be a head coach again and show I could get it
done,” Crennel said. ‘I know how to get it done and I think the
experience will make me better.”

Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli said Monday that Crennel will
be given the opportunity to interview for the full-time job, though
he’s by no measure a certainty.

Potential candidates could include Rams offensive coordinator
Josh McDaniels, who worked with Pioli in New England, and Iowa
coach Kirk Ferentz, who has rebuffed every overture from the NFL in
recent years. It’s unclear whether Pioli has even begun to
formulate a wish list.

‘I know the respect Romeo commands in the locker room,” said
Pioli, who was New England’s personnel director when Crennel was
the Patriots defensive coordinator. ‘We talked with Romeo and I
think he’s someone we’re definitely going to be talking to.”

Crennel said that he doesn’t plan to make wholesale changes to
the way the team operates through the end of the season, especially
with the unbeaten Green Bay Packers coming to town Sunday.

He’ll continue to call the plays on defense, though he’ll
delegate some of the game planning to assistants Emmitt Thomas and
Gary Gibbs. Offensive coordinator Bill Muir will continue to call
plays on that side of the ball, though Crennel said he’ll offer his
input when it’s warranted.

‘I will tell them what I think, what’s important, and they will
use that as a framework to develop a plan that gives us a chance,”
Crennel said. ‘If I don’t think plays are good, I’ll say, ‘Let’s
not run this play. Have you thought about this as a
possibility?’”

Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson said he’s convinced that
Crennel can keep the team together after only the second in-season
firing of a head coach in franchise history.

‘Coach Crennel is a great guy, a great coach. Very
well-respected,” Johnson said. ‘He’s a guy who knows what he’s
doing. He’s a proven leader in this league, and for this three-game
season, he’s going to do the best he can.”

Kyle Orton will start at quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday unless an injured finger on his throwing hand prevents him from playing.

Interim coach Romeo Crennel said Wednesday that he made the change in an effort to jump start the stagnant offense. Journeyman quarterback Tyler Palko had led the Chiefs to only two touchdowns in four games since taking over for the injured Matt Cassel.

“We made the change and we’ll see how it plays out,” said Crennel, who took over Monday after the firing of Todd Haley. “If it works out with more points on the board, then it’ll be a good change.”

Crennel said that if Orton is unable to go, fifth-round draft pick Ricky Stanzi will start for Kansas City. The rookie out of Iowa has yet to play in a regular-season game.

“Orton is going to play if Orton can play. If Orton cannot play, then I want to see Stanzi, to see what he can do,” Crennel said. “I know it’s tough duty for him. It’ll be a tough duty for him going against the Packers, but as some point he will have to go into the game and he will have to run the team, and if he can run the team that probably bodes well for him.”

Orton took snaps under center with the first-team offense Wednesday during the brief portion of practice that the media was allowed to observe. He was wearing a sleeve on his index finger, which he dislocated on his only play as a member of the Chiefs two weeks ago at Chicago.

Crennel said he made the decision Wednesday morning to switch quarterbacks, let Palko know and then informed general manager Scott Pioli. Crennel said he didn’t want the situation to become an overbearing distraction during a week of pronounced change within the organization.

“They can focus on game plan, they can focus on plays, they can focus on what we need to do to beat Green Bay,” he said. “They’re not focusing on what the coach is going to do, who the quarterback is going to be, is the offense going to be different for this guy or different from that guy. The offense is going to be what it’s going to be, and we’re going to go play football.”

Crennel said he considered waiting until later in the week to make the announcement because he wanted every possible advantage over the Packers, who are 13-0 and chasing a perfect season.

Then it occurred to Crennel that the Packers probably don’t care who’s starting.

“When you look at our guys,” Crennel said, “they look at Tyler and what he’s done the last couple weeks, they look at Orton and know he has a finger, they look at a rookie, so I don’t think they’re shaking in their boots about those choices.”

If both are healthy, who should theKansas City Chiefs start at quarterback??

“There were no conditions to this,” Crennel said. “I want to try to be helpful in this situation, and I knew one of the ways I could be helpful was to be the interim coach.”

Long considered one of the game’s brightest defensive minds, Crennel has spent the past two seasons as the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator, presiding over a unit that has been their biggest strength. His track record includes five Super Bowl rings as an assistant coach.

Crennel received his first chance to be a head coach in Cleveland, where he had mixed results in five seasons. He took over a moribund franchise and went 10-22 his first two years, but had the Browns on the cusp of the playoffs after finishing 10-6 in 2007. Crennel received a contract extension, but the team slipped to 4-12 the following year and Crennel was let go.

“You know what? When I left Cleveland, one of the things I felt was that my competitive nature, my competitive energy that I have, I would like to be a head coach again and show I could get it done,” Crennel said. “I know how to get it done and I think the experience will make me better.”

Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli said Monday that Crennel will be given the opportunity to interview for the full-time job, though he’s by no measure a certainty.

Potential candidates could include Rams offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who worked with Pioli in New England, and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, who has rebuffed every overture from the NFL in recent years. It’s unclear whether Pioli has even begun to formulate a wish list.

“I know the respect Romeo commands in the locker room,” said Pioli, who was New England’s personnel director when Crennel was the Patriots defensive coordinator. “We talked with Romeo and I think he’s someone we’re definitely going to be talking to.”

Crennel said that he doesn’t plan to make wholesale changes to the way the team operates through the end of the season, especially with the unbeaten Green Bay Packers coming to town Sunday.

He’ll continue to call the plays on defense, though he’ll delegate some of the game planning to assistants Emmitt Thomas and Gary Gibbs. Offensive coordinator Bill Muir will continue to call plays on that side of the ball, though Crennel said he’ll offer his input when it’s warranted.

“I will tell them what I think, what’s important, and they will use that as a framework to develop a plan that gives us a chance,” Crennel said. “If I don’t think plays are good, I’ll say, ‘Let’s not run this play. Have you thought about this as a possibility?’”

Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson said he’s convinced that Crennel can keep the team together after only the second in-season firing of a head coach in franchise history.

“Coach Crennel is a great guy, a great coach. Very well-respected,” Johnson said. “He’s a guy who knows what he’s doing. He’s a proven leader in this league, and for this three-game season, he’s going to do the best he can.”

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

He had just fired coach Todd Haley after a miserable 5-8 start, leaving the Chiefs’ general manager to explain the organization’s failures.

Pioli pointed his finger right at himself.

“We have a locker room that has talent. We also have a good makeup of character in that locker room,” Pioli said, “but it’s abundantly clear that we’re not in a spot we need to be with our record where it is and our team in a position it is. I need to do a better job.”

Kansas City has lost five of its last six games to fall from a tie for first in the AFC West to the brink of another losing season. After winning the division title last year, devastating injuries and discouraging losses have quickly turned the environment surrounding the team toxic.

The Chiefs’ 37-10 loss to the New York Jets on Sunday culminated in the decision to fire Haley, once a rising star in the NFL, and the appointment of defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel as interim coach for the final three games of the regular season. The Chiefs host the unbeaten Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

There was no shortage of blame to heap on Haley, from an unorthodox approach to training camp that left the team woefully unprepared to the decision to stick with journeyman Tyler Palko as his quarterback once Matt Cassel went down with a season-ending injury. But there has been just as much reason to blame Pioli for the shortcomings, something he was quick to acknowledge.

“I do believe in the players we have here,” Pioli said. “We need to continue to improve this roster and improve the depth of this football team.”

Palko has led the offense to two touchdowns in four games. Jackie Battle and Thomas Jones have been unable to fill in for Pro Bowl running back Jamaal Charles, who was lost for the season with a torn ACL. The tight end position has been virtually non-existent since Tony Moeaki sustained the same injury, and Pro Bowl safety Eric Berry’s torn ACL has left an enormous void in the secondary.

Original Print Headline: Chiefs GM vows to ‘do a better job’

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Vs. Green Bay • Noon Sunday

TV: KOKI-5/23 • Radio: None

Romeo Crennel wants another chance to be a head coach in the NFL. He may have the opportunity with the Kansas City Chiefs if he can hold together a franchise in disarray over the next three weeks.

Crennel spoke Tuesday for the first time since he was appointed interim coach, telling reporters on a conference call that he wants to be considered for the permanent job in Kansas City. Crennel will lead the Chiefs through the end of the season after Todd Haley was fired on Monday.

“There were no conditions to this,” Crennel said. “I want to try to be helpful in this situation, and I knew one of the ways I could be helpful was to be the interim coach.”

Long considered one of the game’s brightest defensive minds, Crennel has spent the past two seasons as the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator, presiding over a unit that has been their biggest strength. His track record includes five Super Bowl rings as an assistant coach.

Crennel received his first chance to be a head coach in Cleveland, where he had mixed results in five seasons. He took over a moribund franchise and went 10-22 his first two years, but had the Browns on the cusp of the playoffs after finishing 10-6 in 2007. Crennel received a contract extension, but the team slipped to 4-12 the following year and Crennel was let go.

“You know what? When I left Cleveland, one of the things I felt was that my competitive nature, my competitive energy that I have, I would like to be a head coach again and show I could get it done,” Crennel said. “I know how to get it done and I think the experience will make me better.”

Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli said Monday that Crennel will be given the opportunity to interview for the full-time job, though he’s by no measure a certainty.

Potential candidates could include Rams offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who worked with Pioli in New England, and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, who has rebuffed every overture from the NFL in recent years It’s unclear whether Pioli has even begun to formulate a wish list.

“I know the respect Romeo commands in the locker room,” Pioli said. “We talked with Romeo and I think he’s someone we’re definitely going to be talking to.”

Crennel said that he doesn’t plan to make wholesale changes to the way the team operates through the end of the season, especially with the unbeaten Green Bay Packers coming to town Sunday.

He’ll continue to call the plays on defense, though he’ll delegate some of the game planning to assistants Emmitt Thomas and Gary Gibbs. Offensive coordinator Bill Muir will continue to call plays on that side of the ball, though Crennel said he’ll offer his input when it’s warranted.

“I will tell them what I think, what’s important, and they will use that as a framework to develop a plan that gives us a chance,” Crennel said. “If I don’t think plays are good, I’ll say, ‘Let’s not run this play. Have you thought about this as a possibility?’”

Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson said he’s convinced that Crennel can keep the team together after only the second in-season firing of a head coach in franchise history.

“Coach Crennel is a great guy, a great coach. Very well-respected,” Johnson said. “He’s a guy who knows what he’s doing. He’s a proven leader in this league, and for this three-game season, he’s going to do the best he can.”

Todd Haley was fired as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs are 5-8, one loss away from officially being eliminated from the playoffs with three games left. Their next home game is against the Green Bay Packers who are undefeated at 13-0.

Firing Haley, whether I agree with it or not, was timed well enough to ensure a longer process of finding a head coach. Even though Haley dealt with team injuries, the reason for the team’s lack of performance rests solely on the head coach.

Several things can be taken from Haley’s firing. First is that unlike the Indianapolis Colts who still have head coach Jim Caldwell after an 0-13 start, the Chiefs know that football is a team sport. Somehow the Colts lost Peyton Manning for the season and suddenly can’t win squat after being regular playoff contenders for a decade. Kansas City doesn’t rely on just one player as evidenced by several guys who stepped up this year in a pinch.

At least GM Scott Pioli realized the season wasn’t tanked just because of massive injuries, which weren’t necessarily Haley’s fault. The NFL lockout, partially caused by the owners such as Clark Hunt, may also be to blame as player’s fitness levels weren’t up to speed.

There are several teams worse that Kansas City this year who still have their head coaches. That is inexplicable to me. It’s a good thing that the Chiefs’ top brass has higher standards than the rest of the NFL.

Haley almost had his job intact. The two games before the debacle against the New York Jets Dec. 11 were actually very good defensive efforts against the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers. Yet the games on either side of the decent outings were horrible. Three points against the New England Patriots and just 10 against the Jets may have helped end Haley’s season prematurely.

At least it’s not 2008 when Kansas City went 2-14. Even though the scorelines of games were better, mounting losses led to Herm Edwards’s firing. A 54-31 thrashing at the hands of the Buffalo Bills was difficult to take in the middle of the 2008 season. Seven games were decided by a touchdown or less in that dismal year. Yet in 2011, only three of the eight losses have been within reach of a victory.

The offense has sputtered all year long. The defense is the unit that has sent the team on a roller coaster of highs and lows. At least the defense stepped up for some games instead of tanking all of them.

Hopefully interim head coach Romeo Crennel can at least make the team respectable over the final three games of the season.

William Browning is a fan of the Kansas City Chiefs after latching on to the team during the lean years of St. Louis football. Born in the gateway city, he is also a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

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The Miami Dolphins and the Kansas City Chiefs dismissed their head coaches—Tony Sparano and Todd Haley, respectively—on Dec. 12 with just three games left in the season, creating a puzzling question: Why now?

Despite their 4-9 record, the Dolphins are on an upswing, recovering from an 0-7 start to go 4-2 over the past six weeks. They’ll finish with a losing record and miss the playoffs this season, but that was pretty much a done deal at 0-7. With three games left in the season, what’s the point in firing Sparano now?

The Chiefs also got off to a slow start with three straight losses to open the 2011 season before ripping off four consecutive victories. However, Kansas City has lost five of its last six games and sits at 5-8 on the year. As with the Dolphins—perhaps even more so, since the Chiefs are technically still alive for a playoff spot, and Haley just led the Chiefs to the AFC West title last season—what’s the point in firing Haley now?

It’s a curious move by each team. Certainly, if management wasn’t happy with the coaches, the coaches should be removed, but in-season? And with just a few games left? That seems more disruptive than it’s worth. Just ride out the season and make a coaching change in a month or so.

I’m well aware that fans in Miami and Kansas City wanted Sparano’s and Haley’s heads on pikes a long time ago, but do those fans really think that Todd Bowles and Romeo Crennel—he of the 24-40 coaching record with the Cleveland Browns—are going to do any better the rest of the way? Even if they do, and the teams go 3-0 down the stretch, how is a 7-9 or 8-8 record going to help anyone? It would seem that at this point, moving up the draft order ladder would be more beneficial.

The Rationale

“The results speak for themselves,” said Dolphins owner Stephen Ross about Sparano’s termination. “We’re looking to becoming a winning organization, and I thought this was the best time to make the change and let us go in a direction that will allow us to become that.”

Uh huh. I guess I’m just not seeing how firing your head coach with three games left is going to point the team in the direction of becoming a winning organization.

“Timing in these situations is always difficult. There never seems to be a right time,” said Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt about Haley. “We just felt the inconsistent play the team has experienced throughout the season, including yesterday’s game, made today the right day to do it.”

Interesting. Have you seen the guys who are on your roster, Mr. Hunt? Or more accurately, have you seen the guys who aren’t on your roster?

The Chiefs

In Kansas City, the inconsistent play might be a result of season-ending injuries to starting quarterback Matt Cassel, starting running back Jamaal Charles, starting tight end Tony Moeaki, Pro Bowl defensive back Eric Berry, and linebacker Brandon Siler. Just a thought. It tends to put a damper on things when you lose all of those key positions to injury.

The Chiefs are left with Tyler Palko, who has been abysmal, at quarterback, but they made a shrewd move by picking up Kyle Orton off waivers after he was released by the Denver Broncos. Orton, however, lasted all of one play before he dislocated a finger in his throwing hand. Back to Palko went the Chiefs.

Kansas City certainly has room to improve, but given the rash of injuries at vital positions, coupled with Haley’s very recent success in the AFC West, his firing strikes me as throwing the baby out with the bath water.

The Dolphins

The Dolphins also lost their starting quarterback, Chad Henne, to a season-ending injury, and their second-stringer, Matt Moore, just got his bell rung and gave way to J.P. Losman in the team’s 16-point loss to Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles. Prior to that, the team’s only loss in the past five games was by one point to the Dallas Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.

Low home attendance figures seem to have contributed to Sparano’s demise, but Miami only has one remaining home game: January 1 against the New York Jets. Is firing Sparano now going to pack the house on New Year’s Day? I tend to doubt it.

If the rationale is that the Dolphins want to pursue a high-profile head coach like Bill Cowher, Jon Gruden, or Jeff Fisher, they certainly shouldn’t feel the need to dispose of Sparano first. After all, they publicly courted Jim Harbaugh in the off-season while Sparano was still in place. It doesn’t seem to bother the Dolphins organization at all to treat its head coach that way.

So I’m baffled by the timing. Why now?

Believe me, I understand wanting to see a head coach move on down the road. I’m a fan of the Indianapolis Colts. I probably don’t have to tell you how disastrous this season has been. Jim Caldwell can’t hit the bricks soon enough after the final gun on the season, as far as I’m concerned, but we’re well past the point of no return on the 2011 campaign. There is absolutely nothing to gain by firing Caldwell at this juncture. In fact, if you look at it through the Andrew Luck lens, there’s a lot to lose by winning our final three games.

Perhaps the Dolphins and the Chiefs will soon show me the light and I’ll see the error of my ways. But for now, I have a hard time understanding how the terminations of these two head coaches at this point in time is anything but detrimental to the teams.

The author is a Featured Contributor in Sports for Yahoo! Contributor Network. You can follow him on Twitter at @RedZoneWriting and on Facebook.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs fired coach Todd Haley on Monday with the team he led to the AFC West title less than a year ago stuck at the bottom of the division following a series of devastating injuries and discouraging blowouts.

The Chiefs dropped to 5-8 after Sunday’s 37-10 loss the New York Jets. Kansas City committed 11 penalties for 128 yards in another dismal performance, including a 15-yarder on Haley for unsportsmanlike conduct that may have ultimately sealed his fate.

“This was a difficult decision but one that we feel is best for the future of the Chiefs,” Chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said in a statement released before a scheduled afternoon news conference. “Although there have been bright spots at different points this season, we have not made meaningful progress.”

Romeo Crennel was named the interim coach. Crennel, the former Browns head coach, served as Haley’s defensive coordinator.

“We felt that it was necessary to make a change,” Hunt said. “We appreciate Todd’s contributions during his time with the club, and we wish him well in the future.”

There had been rumblings about Haley’s status ever since training camp, when the NFL lockout caused him to take an unorthodox approach. Rather than going full speed throughout camp, Haley opted instead to spend the majority of the time on conditioning and strength training.

He hoped that would cut down on the risk of injuries given an abbreviated offseason.

Instead, the Chiefs lost linebacker Brandon Siler to a torn Achilles in camp, and starting tight end Tony Moeaki went down with a torn knee ligament in their preseason finale. Pro Bowl safety Eric Berry sustained the same injury in Week 1 against Buffalo, and All-Pro running back Jamaal Charles tore a ligament in his left knee the following week at Detroit.

After three lopsided losses to start the season, Kansas City managed to rattle off four straight wins and pull into an improbable tie atop the division. Haley was being applauded for keeping the team together despite such adversity, and there was a happy-go-lucky attitude at the practice facility.

That all changed when the Chiefs lost to previously winless Miami at home, the start of a dismal stretch in which they dropped four straight and five of their last six. Along the way, quarterback Matt Cassel broke his right hand against Denver and landed on injured reserve, and the lack of depth behind him forced Haley to start journeyman Tyler Palko the past four games.

Kansas City has managed only two touchdowns with Palko under center.

Besides the lousy performance on the field, it was not a secret within the walls of the team’s practice facility that there was friction between Haley and general manager Scott Pioli.

Pioli has said he values consistency in an organization, and that he’s used the Steelers as a blueprint for rebuilding the Chiefs. But the decision to part with Haley was just the second in-season firing of a head coach in franchise history — Paul Wiggins was fired after seven games during the 1977 season — and leaves the team in tumult with three games remaining.

Read More: josh mcdaniels, todd haley, Kansas City Chiefs

Is former Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels in play for the Kansas City Chiefs should head coach Todd Haley be dismissed at the end of the season? That is the speculation right now, according to Dan Pompei of the National Football Post. The rumors crop up about this because the team’s general manager is Scott Pioli, formerly of the New England Patriots, also the home of McDaniels before he was the coach of the Broncos. Right now, McDaniels is the offensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams, a team without much of an offense.

The Chiefs have gone through three phases so far this season. First, there was the three-game losing streak that put Todd Haley on the hot seat. A four-game winning streak made that disappear, but since the start of November, the Chiefs have been in phase three: a 1-4 stretch that includes a four-game losing streak.

The losses of Eric Berry and Jamaal Charles at the beginning of the season, the hand injury that ended Matt Cassel’s season and the reliance on Tyler Palko as the starting quarterback have all contributed to this. While the team did beat the Chicago Bears last week, 10-3, they faced a Jay Cutler- and Matt Forte-less Bears squad.

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The Kansas City Chiefs have some major decisions to make at quarterback. Will Matt Cassel come back after injury and be the franchise QB the team wants him to be? Was he that even before the injury? Should the team invest a high draft pick next April in the position? Do they have anything in Ricky Stanzi worthy of notice? What about Kyle Orton if he impresses in the next few weeks? Mel Kiper might have the best question yet: Why not trade for Peyton Manning from the Indianapolis Colts?

Kiper made a recent list of several teams that warrant consideration should the Colts decide to trade Manning and the Chiefs come in the top four destinations. “In my analysis last week I pointed out that Matt Cassel is by no means a bad NFL quarterback,” writes Kiper, “but he’s been very up and down, and it goes without saying that if the Chiefs had elite QB play, they’d be in play to win a pretty even division. In fact, with Manning, don’t the Chiefs become the favorites out West next season?”

That last line is really the bottom line. What puts the Chiefs in the best position to win? Whatever is the answer to that question is the very thing the team must do.