Kansas City Chiefs 2004 schedule | 2003 results | 2003 stats More Teams 49ers Bears Bengals Bills Broncos Browns Buccaneers Cardinals Chargers Chiefs Colts Cowboys Dolphins Eagles Falcons Giants Jaguars Jets Lions Packers Panthers Patriots Raiders Rams Ravens Redskins Saints Seahawks Steelers Texans Titans Vikings

Priest Holmes Doug Benc/Getty Projected starting lineup Offense No. Player Pos. 87 Eddie Kennison WR 77 Willie Roaf LT 54 Brian Waters LG 62 Casey Wiegmann C 68 Will Shields RG 76 John Welbourn RT 88 Tony Gonzalez TE 80 Johnnie Morton WR 49 Tony Richardson FB 31 Priest Holmes RB 10 Trent Green QB 8 Morten Andersen K Defense No. Player Pos. 99 Vonnie Holliday DE 90 Ryan Sims DT 93 John Browning DT 98 Eric Hicks DE 59 Shawn Barber OLB 57 Mike Maslowski MLB 51 Scott Fujita OLB 44 Eric Warfield CB 22 Dexter McCleon CB 21 Jerome Woods S 25 Greg Wesley S 9 Jason Baker P 2004 Draft Rd. Player Pos. School 2 Junior Siavii DT Oregon 2 Kris Wilson TE Pittsburgh 3 Keyaron Fox LB Georgia Tech 4 Samie Parker WR Oregon 4 Jared Allen DE/LS Idaho State 6 Jeris McIntyre WR Auburn 7 Kevin Sampson OT Syracuse Outside the Huddle Home sweet home Mouth-watering BBQ hasn't been the only thing cooking in K.C. The Chiefs went 8–0 at Arrowhead during the 2003 regular season and have won 13 consecutive regular-season home games overall. However, the Chiefs have lost their last three home playoff games. Red alert The Chiefs were the NFL's best red zone team for the second consecutive season. They led the NFL in red zone points (324), red zone TDs (42) and red zone scoring percentage (98.1). Playing takeaway One thing the Chiefs did do right defensively in 2003 was force turnovers. The Chiefs led the NFL in giveaway-takeaway differential at plus-19. Since 1990, the Chiefs are an NFL-best plus-159 in that department. Playoff drought The Chiefs made the playoffs for the first time since 1997 but will enter the 2004 season seeking their first postseason victory since beating the Houston Oilers in a second-round game way back in January 1994. Aside from the expansion Houston Texans, only Detroit, Cincinnati and Seattle have gone longer without a playoff win. Quiet excellence Chiefs fans can count on it. Summer ends, football season rolls around ... and Will Shields lines up at right guard. Shields has made 175 consecutive starts since cracking the starting lineup in the second game of his rookie season in 1993. 2003 Revisited The Prophecy: "Despite the selection of Larry Johnson in the first-round of the 2003 draft, the Chiefs insist that [Priest] Holmes remains the starter." The Lie: " ... the team plans to give [Larry] Johnson ... meaningful carries throughout the season." --Athlon Sports Pro Football 2003

What does a team do the year after "the year?" That's the question floating around One Arrowhead Drive as the Chiefs prepare to bounce back from a 2003 season in which so many great things -- a 9–0 start, Dante Hall's thrilling returns, Trent Green's first Pro Bowl and Priest Holmes' flawless recovery from hip surgery -- were wiped away by a defense which gave up yards and points as though it were playing in the Arena League.

The Chiefs blew a favorable schedule, a 13–3 record, a record eight Pro Bowlers and an uncanny run of good health by getting torched at home by Peyton Manning and the Colts in the AFC playoffs.

The challenge of making another run at the Super Bowl and fixing the NFL's 29th ranked defense will fall to a familiar face -- former head coach Gunther Cunningham.

Shortly after Dick Vermeil tearfully dispatched Greg Robinson as defensive coordinator following the playoff debacle against the Colts, he turned to Cunningham, who was head coach during the 1999 and 2000 seasons and remains a popular figure in Kansas City.

The Chiefs are counting on "Gun" to be the driving force behind any defensive improvement because all 11 starters will return to a unit which allowed 5.2 yards per carry and 21 points per game during the 2003 season.

"We have to bring the passion back up and get them to play with that," says Cunningham. "In the '90s the Chiefs were feared on defense, and I hope that fear comes back with me by coming into this organization, with that attitude I have about coaching defense."

Green views his breakthrough in 2003 not as a culmination of a long journey but the beginning of something special. In short, the 34-year old Green thinks he can follow in the footsteps of Rich Gannon and play great football well into his late 30s.

"After how long it took me to get where I am, they're going to have to drag me off the field," Green said shortly after learning that he'd been named to his first Pro Bowl.

Green, now three years removed from knee surgery, hasn't missed a game since coming to Kansas City in 2001 and is coming off the best season of his 11-year career. Aside from Rams head coach Mike Martz and Chiefs offensive coordinator Al Saunders, nobody understands the ins and outs of the offense better than Green.

Backup Todd Collins has to feel like the Maytag repairman. Since coming to Kansas City as a free agent in 1998, Collins has attempted 22 regular-season passes. Undrafted rookie free agent Casey Clausen will have a chance to develop as the team's third quarterback. He was a four-year starter at Tennessee.

Holmes' surgically repaired hip was the source of much concern this time last year. Not anymore. Holmes didn't miss a game, set an NFL record with 27 rushing touchdowns and put up 2,110 yards of total offense. Since arriving in Kansas City in 2001, Holmes has averaged 1,530 yards rushing per season and has scored 61 touchdowns.

Holmes' brilliance, combined with Vermeil's belief in riding his workhorse, relegated first-round pick Larry Johnson to scout team duty. Johnson showed flashes of brilliance when given a chance but struggled to learn pass protection, and watched as the versatile Derrick Blaylock moved ahead of him as Holmes' primary backup.

Fullback Tony Richardson was named to his first Pro Bowl last year and continues to do all of the dirty work as Holmes' lead dog.

It's hard to be critical when an offense finishes second in the NFL in passing yards, but the Chiefs went into the offseason hoping to upgrade their receiving corps. Johnnie Morton has not lived up to the free-agent contract he signed upon joining the team in 2002, while Eddie Kennison remains a solid, if unspectacular, No. 2 type. The team's leading receivers were Holmes and all-world tight end Tony Gonzalez.

The Chiefs spent a fourth-round pick on the speedy Samie Parker with the hopes that he can do for the Chiefs what Az-Zahir Hakim did for Vermeil's Rams during the Super Bowl season of 1999. Hall remains a dangerous weapon as the third receiver, but the team would like to see him become more consistent catching the football.

Holmes will once again work behind the NFL's best offensive line. Left tackle Willie Roaf and right guard Will Shields have combined to play in 18 Pro Bowls, while left guard Brian Waters and center Casey Wiegmann each played at a Pro Bowl level in 2003. The task of replacing right tackle John Tait, who signed a huge free-agent contract with the Bears, will fall to either John Welbourn, Chris Bober or 2003 fourth-round pick Brett Williams.

Second tight end Jason Dunn doesn't catch many passes but is a devastating blocker, particularly when he lines up next to Roaf on the left side.

The defensive line remains the team's biggest question mark mainly because high draft picks like Ryan Sims, Eddie Freeman and Eric Downing have not developed. Cunningham hopes the monstrous Junior Siavii, the team's second-round draft pick, can be the run-stuffing, block-eating presence that has been missing since Chester McGlockton left following the 2000 season. Sims has yet to live up to his hype as the sixth overall pick in the 2002 draft, and defensive ends Vonnie Holliday and Eric Hicks combined for only 11 1/2 sacks in 2003. The key will be whether or not John Browning, Lional Dalton, Sims and Siavii can hold the line of scrimmage and keep teams from running the ball at will.

The Chiefs were 9–1 when middle linebacker Mike Maslowski went down with a knee injury, and the already struggling defense only got worse. Maslowski, who makes up for a lack of speed with intensity and instinct, will return, along with outside linebackers Shawn Barber and Scott Fujita. Second-year man Kawika Mitchell will compete for playing time. Cunningham needs better tackling and more playmaking out of this unit if the Chiefs are going to make a drastic improvement on defense.

The bright spot on this defense can be found in the secondary, where safeties Jerome Woods and Greg Wesley form a hard-hitting, ball-hawking tandem. Woods is coming off his first Pro Bowl and is looking forward to working under Cunningham once again. Look for Wesley to be used more as a blitzer and in run support. He's rangy and is the team's best tackler.

The starting corners will again be Dexter McCleon and Eric Warfield. Julian Battle and William Bartee will battle it out to be the third corner. McCleon and Warfield combined for 10 interceptions in 2003 but must cut down on the number of big plays they allowed.

Hall remains the NFL's ultimate X-factor. With seven touchdown returns during the last two seasons, Hall has become the most dangerous return man in league history. He forces opponents to reconsider how they approach kickoffs and punts.

Vermeil is running out of patience with punter Jason Baker, who had a net average of only 33.2 yards in 2003. Veteran Morten Andersen remains accurate from 40 yards and in but no longer has the kind of range he did earlier in his career.

The Chiefs will bring back 21 of 22 starters from a 13–3 team, giving the team an almost unheard-of level of continuity in today's free agency era. However, in making no major personnel changes to the league's 29th-ranked defense, Vermeil is gambling that Cunningham will be the difference-maker in 2004.

The other key factors will be health -- Maslowski was the only starter to go down last year -- and a far more difficult schedule. This year's slate features tricky home games against Carolina, Atlanta, Indianapolis and New England and road contests against Baltimore, Tennessee and Tampa Bay. The season will come down to the final six games, five of which will be against AFC West foes. It's entirely possible that the Chiefs could field a better team this season yet come nowhere near matching last season's 13–3 record.

• Click here for a complete list of 2004 Team Previews from Athlon

To Purchase the 2004 NFL Preview from Athlon Sports, click here.