Georgeblowfish: it was 1984 my cousin's now dead and uncle now dead and a couple cats we had now dead headed to raytown road. We knew if we went that way we could stop at sambos for some food. We were all tired from watching Ray Adams fright nite. Wendell Anchewtz was said to flip the coin that day. As we walked into the Price Chopper entrance I couldnt help notice cub foods had cheaper prices.

LNBS: Why were the Chiefs bad in the 1980s?
 

No one likes to admit it now but Carl Peterson dragged the moribund franchise into competitiveness

Jack Steadman was an absolute cancer on the team in the 70s and 80s


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Our GM ran the team like it was the amusement park......Worlds of Fun!

"It's not bust QBs that tank franchises, it's the GMs who draft them."

Sure, I can see that, but I really think the QB on the field complete sucking asshole helps a lot

Hank Stram was such a singular force in the franchise’s initial success, that Lamar had no clue how to replicate that success until Marty/Carl.

Damn I forgot how hideous our cheering were.

Nope, that sums it up nicely.

Also why loaded teams in the 90's lost in the 1st round every year.

It was the failure of that loss that moved the universe to create the tulpa/Savior that was Patrick Mahomes....

I lived through it all.

Here are some of the things that I think killed the Chiefs of the 70s and 80s

1 - Early success led people in the org to believe they knew exactly what they were doing, when they didn't.

2 - Lloyd Wells had great connections to small "black" colleges at a time when the NFL was dragging its collective feet with integration. That source dried up when the NFL moved quickly to bring in black players they previously overlooked.

3 - The Blackledge fiasco stopped the org from drafting a 1st round QB for 35 years.

4 - Jack Steadman was not competent for the position he was in. He was just a friend of Lamar.

I'm sure there are more, but these things stand out in my mind. Any one of these things can bog down a franchise, but we were battling all four of them. It was a horrible time to be a Chiefs fan.

No, that was all Carl Peterson.

Carl wasn't here for Blackledge and had no connection to it. His refusal to draft a QB in rounds 1 or 2 for over a decade handcuffed this team.

Marty left KC and immediately drafted a franchise QB and put up 12 wins with a garbage franchise...

Fair enough, but there were a bunch of years between drafting Blackledge and Peterson taking over, and then after Peterson was gone and the Chiefs finally taking Patrick. It's not ALL on Peterson.

It’s hard to remember because half the games weren’t on tv then. Had good receivers and secondary and a kicker, but no QB, and the death of Joe Delaney who only played in 81 and 82 were what I remembered. We sucked in the 70’s too, so I’m guessing our draft history was pretty terrible for a 15-20 year stretch. We fired Marv Levy after the strike season in 82 and brought in Mackovic. Maybe if Levy was around for one more season, we draft Marino or Jim Kelly instead of Blackledge. I just remembered we sucked, every other team in the division had a better QB and listening to a lot of games on the radio.

JFC.. I tried picking one, but.. Holy crap…

The late-seventies and early-eighties also suffered from terrible drafts and hanging onto players that were past their prime. In an era before free agency, that was the perfect formula for suck.

Yep, I would like to get his take on it as well.