So the GM’s weren’t any good and the owners are to blame because they hired poor GM’s and kept them around too long. So the problem is not that the Hunts haven’t been “truly trying to win” as you said above (paraphrasing Jaworski who was speaking generally and not about the Hunts); the problem is that they have done a poor job hiring and firing GM’s.

Its easy to say that the Chiefs could have drafted a QB in the upper rounds, but Soren Petro (local radio host) has gone through that many times…the chiefs have really not been in position to draft a sure fire QB in the first round because they have all gone in the 1st few picks. Guys like Tom Brady, who went in the 7th round are obviously missed by everyone, so that is luck. Guys like Matt Ryan et al are always gone by the time the Chiefs pick (maybe next year). You are correct in saying that RBs are essentially interchangeable, but I would argue that QBs are that to a lesser extent. there are a number of veteran plug-ins you can win with if you have the right supporting cast (see Kerry Collins).

NFL GMs appear to be as slow to recognize the value of the LINE as the MLB GMs were to realized the value of OBP. Carl Peterson’s biggest failure was his failure to address both the offensive and defenisive lines effectively. Much of this is bad luck or bad coaching, i.e. signing sure fire D lineman who do not pan out, but clearly signing LJ instead of a proven lineman and getting rid of a proven D-lineman (Allen) for unproven talent may have been his downfall. The latter may turn out to be okay if Albert turns out to be a pro bowl LT, but the former was a colossal mistake and the whole world knew it at the time, this is not a case of hindsight being 20/20.

An example of the DL failure is the emergence of Kawika Mitchell, who was unable to cut it with the Chiefs but was the starting MLB for the super bowl champs…its amazing what you can do when you are not tripping over your own D-line as they are being pushed back.