Kansas City Chiefs: Winners and Losers at the Season's Quarter Mark

The Kansas City Chiefs' season has been tumultuous from the start. The team's roster has been gutted by season-ending injuries to key players at multiple positions.

Big-play tight end Tony Moeaki suffered a torn ACL in the final game of preseason, second-year safety Eric Berry was primed to improve on an impressive rookie campaign before also tearing his ACL and elite running back Jamaal Charles went down in Week 2 to...a torn ACL.

These injuries and the loss of Charlie Weiss as their offensive coordinator seemed to combine for some serious deficiencies on the offensive side of the ball. 

The offense that finished 12th in the league last season is currently ranked 29th in total offense and are 30th in points per game with a measly 12.3 point average.

The defense hasn't fared much better, either. They go from allowing 20.4 points per game last season to a league-worst 31.5 this year.

However, with their first win of the season coming on Sunday against the apparently even lousier Minnesota Vikings, the Chiefs believe they may be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

"You don't really talk about it because you never want to think of yourself crossing that line from being 0-4 to being 1-3," linebacker Derrick Johnson said after he was asked whether beating the winless Vikings constituted a must-win situation. "It's a little thing, but it's a big thing, too."

With the team being 1-3, it's tough to find a lot of "winners," but let's see if we can weed some out of all the "losers" on this squad. 

Loser: Todd Haley

Any fans of the Arizona Cardinals watching Sundays game between the Chiefs and Vikings witnessed a familiar scene on the sidelines: Chiefs coach Todd Haley screaming at a player. In this instance, it was starting quarterback Matt Cassel, but Cardinal fans would recall it happening with then-Arizona receiver Anquan Boldin.

Haley was already under fire for playing his starters deep into the second half of the team's final preseason game. Matt Cassel and Moeaki were hurt during the game—Moeaki suffering the aforementioned season-ending injury.

Injuries aside, the screaming on the sideline will get old really quick if the team keeps its losing ways. Haley must find a way to help this team adjust to the key injuries they've suffered so far.

Winner: Tamba Hali

Tamba Hali is coming off a 14.5 sack four forced fumble season, but with the Chiefs defense struggling so mightily this year, his contributions go largely unnoticed.

Of the five total sacks the Chiefs defense has this season, four of them belong to Hali. He also has 25 tackles this season after making 51 the season before. 

For all the mistakes the Chiefs defense have and will make this season, Hali is perhaps playing at an even higher level than 2010. He is showing himself to be a quality player and a leader on Kansas City's defense.

Loser: Matt Cassel

With Jamaal Charles down to injury, Cassel has had to shoulder a bit more of the burden of moving the chains offensively.

Unfortunately, he has not responded well. To date, Cassel is passing for an average of 172 yards a game and has thrown five interceptions to four touchdowns.

Only the Peyton Manning-less Colts, the quarterback-swapping Jaguars and the inept Vikings have been worse at gaining yards through the air.

By no means is Cassel a top-10 quarterback, but if the Chiefs are going to have any chance of getting their season back on track, they'll need him to at least play the way he did in 2010.

Winner: Dwayne Bowe

It's tough to produce on a team that's only averaging 172 passing yards a game, yet that's the task lain before Dwayne Bowe.

Bowe has made 16 catches for 292 yards and two touchdowns so far—almost double his production at this point in 2010.

Last year, Bowe had made nine catches for 152 yards and one touchdown. He currently is averaging a career-high 73 yards per game, a career-high 18.3 yards per catch and has already made five catches of 20-plus yards and two of 40-plus yards.

If Kansas City can adjust to life without Charles, Bowe may be able to turn into the touchdown machine that he became late last year.

Undecided: Thomas Jones and Dexter McCluster

Dexter McCluster (17 receptions for 52 yards, 28 carries 164 yards) is leading the backfield in production, but he’s averaging a staggeringly low 3.05 yards on 17 receptions.

The 5.9 yards per carry are something that Coach Haley must take notice of with the ineffectiveness of Thomas Jones.

Thomas Jones (39 carries, 111 yards) is averaging just 2.82 yards per touch and is on pace for an innocuous 452 total yards. Jackie Battle (five carries, 22 yards) took over for Jones in clock-killing mode.

The loss of Jamaal Charles cannot mean that the Chiefs simply give up on the running back. The team was ranked No. 1 in the league in running the ball last season.

They must find a way to get more production from the rushing attack, or they will remain a very predictable offense.