The Achilles Heel

Ah, Greek Mythology.  So many lessons, so little time.  You've all heard of Achilles, yes?  He was a Greek Hero of the Trojan War.  His exploits in and around Troy are the primary concern of Homers llyad.  His feats (no pun intended...ok, so it was) were mighty but his downfall derived from an arrow stiking his heel.  How could one so mighty fall from so small a wound?

The story, which is great entertainment in itself, has become an adage.  We now refer to any such wound to a mighty combatant as such.  As in, 'The glass jaw was that boxers achilles heel.  He just couldn't take a punch".  Of course the Achilles heel, can be any seemingly small problem that given time, becomes a mortal wound.  This can be either literal or figurative.

So, why the history lesson Aiken?  What is this all about?  Glad you asked.  I believe that our new HC, namely Andy Reid, is setting himself up with not one, but several situations that could all prove to be (either singularly or combined) his own Achilles heel.  We've all been discussing them already, but let's take a look at what's happened to date under Mr. Reid's tenure.

Ya Just Gotta LOVE That Andy Reid!!

LOVE that Joker!!  Just like the Joker in the old Batman movie, you just gotta love old Andy Reid!  He's handing out money just like the Joker did, throwing it in bundles off the float in the Gotham City parade.  If you are one of the myriad Chiefs fans that have hated the last few years of low spending on players (maybe even one of those who likes to call the Chiefs the cheaps to define your sufference) you simply gotta love what is happining right now.  Clear the decks, here comes the guy with the  money bags!  Wooooo-hooo!

That is, until you really look around and see just what the money is buying.  If you actually, you know, do that--well, you just might not be quite so happy about it.  In fact, if you look back into Chiefs history a little bit, you just might recognize a time when we did something similar to what's happening now.  The good part is that it led to the most successful five year period in Chiefs history post Joe Montana.  The bad part is that the success of which I speak, that looked sooo promising, led to exactly one playoff game in five years and yes, the Chiefs lost it.

2013 Kansas City Chiefs--Let The Fireworks Begin!!

Fireworks Aiken?  Yep, fireworks.  As this off season has gained momentum, something occurs to me in a bigger picture context--namely that Andy Reid and John Dorsey (at the behest of Clark Hunt) are doing everything in their power to create a winning football team.  Now many of you are going to say, what's so special about that?  Isn't that what they are supposed to do?  Big deal Aiken, big deal.