It Could be a Long Season… Finale.

For the entirety of the Chiefs season, I’ve blogged after every game with the title, “It Could be a Long Season”.

I should have scratched that title around week 12. It HAS been a long season!

Mercifully, it’s over now. We lost in overtime today, 13-10 to the equally bad New York Jets… ironically… Herm’s last team, which also finished at 4-12. It was one of the ugliest games I’ve seen.

I really don’t need to say much about today’s game, though… as with the last couple weeks, we haven’t learned anything new about this team’s faults or needs. We lost due to the same problems we’ve been fighting all year… lack of a decent running game… horrific offensive line play… critical defensive breakdowns… poor special teams… coaching and play-calling which both leave a lot to be desired.

So we go into the off-season full of questions:

Will Brodie Croyle develop into a decent NFL quarterback?
Will we be able to rebuild our offensive line?
Can we find some decent YOUNG cornerbacks to replace overpaid dinosaurs Surtain and Law?
Will our defense develop enough consistency to stop opponents in the clutch when we really need them to most?
Who will replace Eddie Drummond as return man? (Granted, just about anyone would be a step up!)
Can Larry Johnson bounce back from injury and return to pro-bowl form of 2005 and 2006?
Will we find some decent receivers to complement Tony Gonzalez and Dwayne Bowe?
Will we replace Mike Solari as offensive coordinator?
Is Herm really the guy to rebuild the Chiefs, given the major steps backwards we took this year?
What is Carl Peterson’s future? Will Clark Hunt maintain course, hoping Carl can right the ship, or will he shake things up to keep fan interest high in anticipation of stadium renovations?
Are we headed back to the misery of the late 70’s and 80’s, or was this down year simply a result of a rebuilding process that will lead to the heights of the early 90’s?

I’m sure there are more.

The bottom line is that this will be a very interesting off-season. Faces will change dramatically, and the free-agency period and draft should be an exciting time.

No one knows what we will look like next year.

Here’s hoping next season is long for an entirely different reason than this one.