KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Todd Haley tried to stop himself, but he had to laugh.
Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Charlie Weis has been getting around on a motorized cart since training camp, and there is just something about him puttering around that amuses Haley.
Thursday, during Haley’s afternoon visit with reporters, one of the organization’s more intense people showed that these days he doesn’t always take things seriously.
“I’m hard on Charlie,” Haley said after a pause to finish laughing. “I’ve been making fun of that cart for a number of months now.”
In case Chiefs fans had forgotten what it’s like, this is life with a winning NFL team: A grueling routine broken by lighter moments, like the coach ribbing his offensive coordinator’s transportation, jokes about Haley’s hair by linebacker Mike Vrabel, anda locker room hopping like a dance club. If there’s not an iPod blaring through speakers in some player’s locker, one can usually find left tackle Branden Albert serenading the group.
Chiefs headquarters isn’t a gloomy place anymore, and that’s what a few victories will do. The week used to be a grind. Now it’s an opportunity. Practices used to be joyless episodes in a cold and depressing environment. Now they’re full of life and enthusiasm.
For most, anyway.
“I’ll take the abuse,” Weis said with a smile. “I can live with that.”
The Chiefs can live with a lot these days, because at 4-2, they are fun again. The good days are full of work, but there is laughter and hope in the air, too. Haley said after the team lost at Houston, an especially painful setback, that even the losses have beenmore fun than they were last year.
In 2009, the Chiefs lost often and usually didn’t know where to turn. Now, defeats point out mistakes and weaknesses, and that’s valuableinformation for a team that doesn’t plan on making the same errors twice.
“Encouraging signs,” veteran safety Jon McGraw said. “As a team, we can still look at our two losses and can still see some growth through those. Whereas there were some losses last year where we maybe didn’t have that sense.
“After losing as many games as we lost the last couple of years, it was easy to get in that frustrated mentality, like, ‘Gosh, what are we working so hard for?’ This year, the wins make a big difference.You know there’s some fruit from all the hard work. ... If you’re winning games, life is good.”
There also are blossoms of confidence in the Chiefs’ locker room. The roster was reinforced over the offseason with youngsters with the attitudes to be leaders, but with the awareness to wait their turns. The team emphasized ability, maturity and direction - not necessarily in that order.
Months later, that investment has begun to pay dividends.
“I’ve never been around guys like Eric Berry, Javier [Arenas], Kendrick Lewis,” veteran defensive linemanShaun Smith said of three Chiefs rookies. “They’re playing a lot, not acting all bigtime, Hollywood, like they’re too good. If we say something to them, they listen.”
The Chiefs brought in free agents with leadership qualifications, drafted rookies who had been team captains, and put the building on notice - with signs on the walls and subtle hints - that losers were no longer welcome.
“The energy has changed,” Waters said. “Last year, there was just so much negativity coming into the season that it just led to a longer grind than what was necessary. This year, from the head down, I think everybody is more comfortable in what their part of this thing is and more comfortable in their jobs and what they’re being asked to do.”
Waters said the change isn’t limited to the walls at the team’s Arrowhead practice facility. Some friends andfamily members have begun phoning Waters after years of silence, because maybe the thing Chiefs football was most effective at since the middle of 2007 was killing conversations and moods.
Now, old friends call Waters and ask about young players and rising stars, wondering where the Chiefs foundthem and what might be possible in a year or two. Waters humors them, rolling his eyes sometimes but relishing the idea that his job is no longer an untouchable subject.
“You definitely feel a difference in how people treat you,” he said. “People can say, ‘Hey, great job,’ instead of, ‘Hang in there.’ ”
For three seasons, the Chiefs tried to stay engaged with a plan that promised results but kept changing, too. Better days were ahead, but the Chiefs never seemed able to make it over a hill that looked closer than it really was. There was nothing fun about a loss, because sour weekends stop feeling productive after a dozen or so each season.
Haley said last year that an NFL team had no business having fun if it wasn’t winning. The coach rarely joked with players, and he was more likely to scream than smile. He never found anything fun or interesting about a loss.
Now, the man finds the positive side of losing, and that allows him to make fun of his coordinator’s cart and, believe it or not, occasionally dance his way into a meeting room.
Sports, Pages 27 on 10/31/2010