Todd Haley Fired: What Kansas City's Coaching Change Means for Chiefs in 2012

The Kansas City Chiefs kicked off the 2012 coaching carousel by firing head coach Todd Haley Monday morning.

When Clark Hunt replaced long-standing general manager Carl Peterson with Scott Pioli in 2009, he envisioned an era of consistency in Kansas City. Citing the Pittsburgh Steelers and their two coaches in 40 years, Hunt and Pioli both spoke about finding a coach who would lead the Chiefs for the next decade or more.

Instead, Todd Haley didn't even last three years.

The official word says the Chiefs think they still have an outside shot at the playoffs, and believe Romeo Crennel can turn things around. All but the most optimistic of fans know Kansas City is looking towards 2012 for anything seriously worth cheering for.

Next year will hold plenty in store for the Chiefs. Pioli will begin his search for a new coach if he hasn't already. Crennel will get a long look, while Bill Cowher's phone has likely already received a couple calls from the team that helped him grow into a Super Bowl champion coach. Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, a long-time friend of Pioli's, will also likely hear another argument for why he should move south and leave the college ranks.

One man who won't find any offer letters from Kansas City is Josh McDaniels. Despite the New England connection, Michael Holley's book War Room implies that Pioli and McDaniels don't often see eye-to-eye on a number of things; even if that weren't the case, Pioli won't look for a young coach like McDaniels for his next coach.

Odds are, if this one doesn't pan out it'll be his last. Pioli will receive plenty of latitude from Hunt; Clark and Lamar Hunt both thought highly of Pioli, and his reputation as an NFL executive is nearly unmatched. But Pioli can't miss on his next coach—there's too much talent on the roster and too many solid assistant coaches for the Chiefs to continue losing under another subpar head coach. If that happens, Hunt will need to find two new hires for the Chiefs instead of one.

What's more, Kansas City should be ready to finally draft a quarterback. Pioli reportedly believes once a team drafts a first-round quarterback, the timer starts on its staff to deliver a perennial playoff team. If they fail to produce regular games in January, an owner has little choice but to clean house.

In 2009, Pioli couldn't do that. There wasn't enough talent on the roster to make that happen. So Pioli traded a second-round pick for Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel instead.

Cassel is a good quarterback, but lacks that next level to be great. And Kansas City needs its Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers to be great.

Outside of a couple deficiencies on the offensive line, the Chiefs have the rest of the offense in line for a young quarterback to dominate on the field quickly. There's youth and talent at every skill position, and a Landry Jones or Robert Griffin III would have every opportunity to duplicate Cam Newton or Andy Dalton's success on the field.

Finally, Chiefs fans should expect great things headed into next season. The 2009 draft aside, Pioli's brought in two solid draft classes to upgrade the talent on Kansas City's roster. All seven of their picks from 2010 remain with the team; four of them are starters. 2011 only brought Justin Houston this year, but at least three others—Jonathan Baldwin, Rodney Hudson and Jerrell Powe—should be starting by Week 1 of 2012.

2011 brought plenty of surprises and disappointments for Kansas City this year; Haley's dismissal shouldn't be one of them.

In fact, it should provide one of the few bright points to a fanbase nearly desperate for a winning team. In 2012, their desire should be satisfied.