And we've got our first Steve Bono sighting of the day.
This Friday will be the 20th anniversary of Carl Peterson's hiring by the Kansas City Chiefs. Although he's been running the organization for nearly 20 consecutive years, it's really a tale of two different careers.
Hired in 1989, Peterson and Co. rang up 94 wins and playoff appearances in 7 of 9 seasons. In fact, he didn't produce a losing season until 1998, Schottenheimer's last year with the team. Here's a chart noting the success in Peterson's first 9 years on the job:
| Year | Record | Playoffs |
| 1989 | 8-7-1 | No |
| 1990 | 11-5 | Yes |
| 1991 | 10-6 | Yes |
| 1992 | 10-6 | Yes |
| 1993 | 11-5 | Yes |
| 1994 | 9-7 | Yes |
| 1995 | 13-3 | Yes |
| 1996 | 9-7 | No |
| 1997 | 13-3 | Yes |
Despite the lack of Super Bowl appearances (0), AFC Championship game appearances (1) and playoff victories (3), a case could be made for Peterson with a track record like this. Averaging nearly 9.5 wins over a 9 year span is playoff worthy. He demonstrated an ability to produce playoff teams that fell short due to some fatal flaw every year (QB, kicking game, defense).
He received a pass for some of his late career failures because of moves he made within his first five years as GM. Some major moves include:
Then, something happened during Schottenheimer's final season. Peterson apparently lost his touch to produce playoff teams. Take a look at his win loss record for the final 10 full seasons of his career.
| Year | Record | Playoffs |
| 1998 | 7-9 | No |
| 1999 | 9--7 | No |
| 2000 | 7-9 | No |
| 2001 | 6-10 | No |
| 2002 | 8-8 | No |
| 2003 | 13-3 | Yes |
| 2004 | 7-9 | No |
| 2005 | 10-6 | No |
| 2006 | 9-7 | Yes |
| 2007 | 4-12 | No |
These final ten seasons produced just an average of 8 wins per season. A drop of nearly a game and a half at the halfway point of his career. The NFL is full of examples of GMs who are canned after not producing playoff teams in the first 5-7 years ont he job. Carl was able to take 2 teams to the playoffs in 10 (!) years and still keep his job.
Other than the 2003 team that won 13 games (but had one of the worst defenses in the league), Peterson's final 10 years produced.....nothing.
Schottenheimer was here for 10 years. Carl got it right the first time. However, over the next seven seasons, he would hire 3 more head coaches who made it to the divisional round of the playoffs just once.
If there's anything to take from the Carl Peterson Era, it's to know when to cut ties. There's a reason people are making a big deal out of his departure - because it's insane to keep one guy in charge for 20 years
0 recs | 19 comments
Remembering Carl Peterson's Two-Sided Tenure
This is an excellent synopsis of Carl Peterson’s complex career with the Chiefs organization. For me, he will be remembered as the guy who revived a struggling franchise and brought excitement in the names of Joe Montana, Marcus Allen and Dick Vermeil. In more recent years, however, Carl Peterson has created frustration as he seemed to become increasingly stubborn about free agency. His reliance on “personal connections” , rather than selecting the best possible candidate, to make hiring/drafting decisions exacerbated fan distrust. My only hope is that his successor can improve the proud Kansas City Chiefs tradition.
Comanche - December 16, 2008
I Think You're Missing Something
The thing that cost Peterson the ability to build playoff teams was pretty much the loss of Marty Schottenheimer. Go look at the history of the Chiefs’ draft picks throughout Peterson’s tenure. His bust rate was pretty much the same with Marty as without. The big difference was that the coaches he hired after Marty weren’t able to do more with less like Marty was.
I appreciate that Peterson did a lot of good things for the Chiefs (kept them financially stable, kept them heavily involved in local charity work, kept fan interest high) but I’ve come to the conclusion after looking it all over that the only reason Peterson did as well as he did in the first half of his career was that he hired an outstanding coach who could overcome Peterson’s shaky ability to judge talent.
UCrawford - December 16, 2008
outstanding
everywhere but the playoffs, lest we forget
Official Arrowhead Pride Parade - December 16, 2008
I must have
the red plether shirt that Carl is wearing in that photo =)
PVChiefsfan - December 16, 2008
That was hot sh*t back in the day
Part of us still thinks Chan probably sports one with some micromesh GT shorts and black socks with sneakers.
And BTW if the Chiefs hire Terry Bradway, this is a preemptive strike to have UCrawford banned for exhorting the premise that fear of something new should never prevent making a change. Terry Bradway is not only worse than CP, he’s worse than if we grew a culture of the AIDS virus and found a way to make it into an entire human-like organism. Chris Mortensen had BETTER be talking out of his ass.
Official Arrowhead Pride Parade - December 16, 2008
I Never Said It Couldn't Get Worse :)
Just that keeping Peterson meant that things would never get better. Given a choice between guaranteed failure and possible improvement, I’ll always go for the possible improvement.
UCrawford - December 16, 2008
Just make sure it's not Bradway hoss
Official Arrowhead Pride Parade - December 16, 2008
Like I Have Any Control Over That :)
But I agree with you about Bradway. Don’t want him.
And Clark Hunt would appear to have excluded him from consideration with his caveat about wanting someone from a successful organization to run things. Which would also appear to exclude Mayhew, but oh well, I’m okay with that. I just want a GM who can build a great football team and a coach who can take them to a championship…doesn’t have to be the specific GM and coach I’d prefer.
UCrawford - December 16, 2008
I was waiting
for someone to make a comment on that shirt. I would have but I am not witty enough. But, is that sweat or hair product that is soaking thru the shirt?
dragon6172 - December 16, 2008
Hair Product
No doubt in my mind
bigbe - December 16, 2008
For all the bad mouthing of Carl...
I need to defend the man a bit. Sure he once damn near ran me over on the Plaza in his lil’ bitch Merc. But the one time I felt I was treated rudely while at Camarohead he handled the situation like a pro. I wrote him, identified myself as a 20 year season ticket holder, and told him I felt that a member of his staff had soured our otherwise remarkable experience. Carl responded immediately and personally, letting me know that the situation was being looked into and apologizing for the inconvenience. Carl knew who his customers were and knew how they should be treated. Cheers to that.
HIV 2 Elway - December 16, 2008
Good story about Carl's wardrobe
A good friend of mine whose dad owns a large construction company in KC (read:he’s loaded) was at a “western” style fundraiser out in southern Johnson County (some charity). My friend said he was talking to some guy wearing some really interesting western attire, in fact it looked as though it was taken out of the 60’s or something. Extremely tacky with giant bucket shaped cowboy hat. So my buddy proceeds to chide this fellow a little bit about what he is wearing. Everybody around the conversation was chuckling and according to my buddy “he was on a role”. Anyway the wannabe cowboy strolled off a little flustered and some people began giving my buddy a hard time about how he was kind of rough on the old man. About this time Brodie and Herm walk in together and start chatting with the cowboy….just as my buddy is watching that happen his friend turns and says, “I can’t believe you were making fun of Carl Peterson’s outfit, did you even introduce yourself??”. He had NO IDEA who he was talking to. At least Carl didn’t wear a black leather trench coat.
bigbe - December 16, 2008
Ouch
Poor Carl.
And I mean that sincerely…he was always good about being involved with the charity stuff and did some nice things for the community. Even required the players to be involved as part of their contracts.
UCrawford - December 16, 2008
I think Clark will continue that himself
It’s too bad it even has to be a requirement.
Lanier63 - December 16, 2008
Yeah...that's the truth
They have the ability to do so much good without having it part of their contract.
THE_TRUTH - December 16, 2008
Very True
They really have the ability to be such great role models for children. I still remember all the Chiefs i loved as a kid growing up in KC.
bigbe - December 16, 2008
Sometimes Young People Just Need A Little Prodding To Get Started
It was something that I respected Peterson for. It didn’t change my opinion of him as a GM, but I thought it said a lot about him as a person outside of the job.
UCrawford - December 16, 2008
Bono
Bono in the background with the caption just makes this post by the way…he had a better record than Brodie, Damon and Thigpen put together…
bigbe - December 16, 2008
Bradway
The Chiefs were pretty good when Bradway was here. Since he left, their drafts have been AWFUL. Logic – The Chiefs were a playoff team when he was here. The Jets were a playoff team when he went there. We are awful right now. Therefore, bring on Bradway. We need to have winning Drafts. That is the first key to success in today’s NFL. That is the greatest contribution a GM brings to the team. Draft well and you will probably succeed and continue to succeed when some of your guys leave in Free Agency. Look at the Steelers defense as an example. How many OLB’s have they lost since the 1990’s. They keep bringing guys in that succeed in their system. So I’m OK with Bradway, I believe he had a big hand in the draft when he was here, and did a good job of getting the jets back on track in his first go-round. Ron Wolff was the first GM of the Bucs remember, and learned from his first go-round and look what he did. Bring him in and lets go!
tgcoat - December 17, 2008
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