Kansas City Chiefs in Good Hands with Todd Haley After Charlie Weis Departure

There are often times when coaches get more credit or blame then they deserve. Such was the case last season when Chiefs' offensive coordinator Charlie Weis got a lot more credit than he deserved.

Weis came in with great credentials (as an offensive coordinator) following his stint with the Patriots under Bill Belichick's careful watch. Weis won three Super Bowl titles as a coach with the Pats as he called the plays for one of the league's most prolific offenses.

Many fans of opposing AFC West teams assumed that Weis would come in and ruin the progress of running back Jamaal Charles, because Weis was a "pass-first play-caller," but that was not the case.

Weis called many running plays during the course of the 2010 season, the most running plays in the league in fact, as the Chiefs ran the ball a whopping 556 times.

The Chiefs played to their strengths and got the ball to their playmaker (Charles) as often as possible, well not as often as possible, but enough. So what was my problem with Weis?

Weis was supposed to be an offensive mastermind, someone who could take quarterback Matt Cassel and the Chiefs passing attack to the next level.

Cassel was better last season, there is no denying that, but how much of the quarterback's success was because of the improved players around him, rather than his offensive coordinator?

The Chiefs upgraded their offensive line by adding veterans Casey Wiegmann and Ryan Lilja during the offseason. Kansas City's offensive line was still not among the league's best last season, but they were much better than in 2009.

Receiver Dwayne Bowe finally decided to be the Pro Bowler that fans have been expecting, making his first trip to Hawaii and cut down on his drops (although he arguably cost the Chiefs at least two victories with crucial drops last season).

With the improved play of the offensive line and of his No. 1 receiver, it's no surprise Cassel's numbers also improved.

Weis does deserve some credit, but he did nothing in terms of his play-calls that made the Chiefs offense what it was. Dwayne Bowe consistently got open and made plays, and Jamaal Charles' ability to gain five yards a carry behind a pee-wee football offensive line is not out of the realm of possibility. 

If anything, there were times that Weis' play-calls hurt the Chiefs. In Week 6 against the Texans, the Chiefs held a big lead late in the game, only to see it disappear in the final minute. Kansas City had a chance to seal the deal with just under three minutes remaining, but instead of giving the ball to the league's best runner with on a 3rd-and-2, Weis decided to get tricky as he called a play-action pass.

It is hard to second guess a coach and his play-call, but the Chiefs needed just one more first down to put the game away and instead of giving the ball to Charles, Cassel faked a hand-off and threw an incomplete pass deep across the field.

This was the one time that Weis did not need to be tricky, yet it was one of the few times all season where he tried to get creative.

Another example of Weis trying to get creative at the wrong time came in the playoffs when the Chiefs were battling hard against the Ravens. With the Chiefs trailing by just three at the start of the third quarter, Kansas City drove the ball down to the Baltimore 33-yard line when Weis made a disastrous call on 4th-and-1. The Chiefs faked an inside hand-off (it wasn't much of a fake though) as Cassel pitched the ball to Charles who broke to the outside. The play never had a chance.

Charles lost four yards on the play and all of the momentum that the Chiefs had was gone, as Kansas City failed to run the ball again until they trailed 30-7 in the fourth quarter.

Bowe saw double-coverage for nearly the entire game and Weis did nothing in the way of play-calling that helped his star receiver to get open. Meanwhile, Todd Heap and Anquan Boldin had a field-day running underneath routes for the Ravens offense.

The lesser-talked about concern of Weis play-calling during the regular season, which was rarely discussed while the Chiefs were winning, reared it's ugly head in the playoffs.

Weis is now gone, having taken the same coaching position for Will Muschamp's Florida Gators, and the Chiefs will turn to coaching veteran Bill Muir for their offensive coordinator duties.

Muir will not be the one calling the plays though, that job will turn to head coach Todd Haley, and I expect Haley to do a better job than Weis did.

Haley was a creative play-caller during his time with the Cardinals. He did have stars in Warner, Fitzgerald and Boldin, but he was a big reason for their success.

New quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn is one of the best in the business, and he has the track-record to prove it. Zorn did wonders for the Seahawks while working with Matt Hasselbeck and in Baltimore with Joe Flacco. There is little question that both quarterbacks would love to have Zorn back, and there is no doubt that Cassel will be happy to have his new QB coach on board.

Zorn does not come with the huge ego that Weis had, and I expect the Haley-Zorn marriage to be a much merrier one at Arrowhead.

With Charles in the backfield, the Chiefs will have no problem running the football, but I expect Haley's play-calling to make a noticeable difference for the Chiefs offense (Jon Baldwin shouldn't hurt either), and instead of regressing, Kansas City's offense will only get better in 2011.