Romeo Crennel deserved to be the Head coach for Kansas City Chiefs
The hunt for a new head coach had been going for almost a month ever since Todd Haley was fired for failing to repeat last season’s performance when the Kansas City Chiefs had raced to the playoffs. Going down to 5-8 had not been
taken easily by General Manager Scott Pioli who was intent on making it to the playoffs no matter what happened, so Chiefs’ fans saw defensive coordinator elevated to the post of interim coach.
Reaching the playoffs was still a challenge for Pioli who said that mathematically there was still a chance. Crennel was the only man who could see to his dream coming true. And he almost did it. Under Crennel, the Chiefs emerged
as a completely changed team surprising everyone with their amazing performances in their last three games.
Beating the unbeaten Green Bay Packers was such one beginning in which Crennel made a successful debut. No one could have imagined the Chiefs to rebound from five defeats in past six games to beat the Packers 19-14. The determination
showed by Crennel was impressive and surely made his day to prove himself as the dominating coach.
"Everybody had marked it off as a win for the Packers, but those guys in the locker room, they're football players. They decided they were not going to lay down, they were not going to give up, so they went out and played a tremendous
game." Crennel said.
The speed with which the Chiefs were progressing had Pioli hoping for playoffs. However, the optimism was dealt an end blow as the Chiefs failed to repeat their last game performance against the Oakland Raiders who had them routed
16-13 to deprive them of a playoff opportunity. Keeping in mind the close call the Chiefs had and the desire for revenge by which the Raiders were driven, a border line loss didn’t seem to hurt Crennel’s chances for the future head coach much. The Raiders
had been humiliated by a 28-0 loss sustained at the hands of the Chiefs in October and were looking for a chance to equal the score.
And it was exactly a win over the Denver Broncos in the season’s finale game that Crennel found chances increased. What was a dream for Crennel as he had announced earlier on was made a reality Sunday night when the Chiefs signed
him for three years.
Among all the possible contenders for the head coach slot, Crennel looked the most deserving of all. And that included being better than former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio and Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator
Joe Philbin. Coming up with a 2-1 track record despite injuries having been sustained by key players like Cassel, Jamaal Charles, Tony Moeaki and Eric Berry sure called for him to be the new coach.
It wasn’t just these three games that Crennel drives his strength from. Earlier on as the defensive coordinator for the chiefs, he transformed the chiefs’ defence into their biggest strength. Even Pioli had recognized him as a
possible contender saying that Crennel would be interviewed as he spoke of the “respect” that Crennel enjoyed in the locker room.
"I know the respect Romeo commands in the locker room." Pioli had said earlier on.
Two chief players Tamba Hali and Bill Muir had already voiced their support for Crennel saying they wanted him retained as their future head coach.
Crennel has had other experiences too. He worked with the Cleveland Browns as the head coach managing to gain a contract extension too but had to leave once the Browns declined to a 4-12 dismal performance. Crennel was determined
to be a head coach again once he left the Browns talking of his “competitive nature” and “competitive energy” which he said will help him prove his claims one day. That experience had Crennel polished to be a head coach even though his tenure with the Browns
had ended in a disaster.
"I know how to get it done and I think the experience will make me better." Crennel said.
So, when Crennel obtained the chance to prove himself, he did it. And it took just three games and not a whole season for him to make people realize that he deserved what he was asking for.
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