#SuckForLuck

The Suck For Luck campaign is in full swing in the Kansas City area after two blowout losses to start the season (other campaigns include: Fire Todd Haley/Hire Josh McDaniels; start Ricky Stanzi/Stanzi City Chiefs; so on and so forth).

The way this season has started, these notions may be completely reactionary, but the Suck For Luck campaign is the one I find the most interesting, because I have mixed feelings on the issue. If you're not sure who the 'Luck' that I'm referring to is, Andrew Luck is the quarterback from Stanford and is the first consensus franchise quarterback since John Elway in 1983 (by the way, has anyone ever considered that the Broncos are a John Elway away from complete irrelevance?). The reason why Luck is so highly regarded is because of his on-field intelligence and his extreme accuracy. He would have gone number one overall in the 2011 draft to the Carolina Panthers (who then settled for Cam Newton) if he hadn't decided to go back to Stanford for one more year so he could graduate. 

Now, without further ado, I present to you my thoughts on the Suck For Luck campaign:

Why I don't like Suck For Luck

• It's only two games. Theoretically (work with me here), the Chiefs could go 14-2. So, in other words, it's way too early to declare this season a disaster and even consider being the first overall draft pick (which is what we would need to be in order to get Luck).
• Speaking of the first overall draft pick, the Chiefs have never had it. Never. In all the horrible years of the late 70s, 80s, and mid 2000s, the Chiefs have never drafted first overall. There is a first time for everything, but we have history on our side and a young group of talented players who might have overachieved last season but are so far underachieving this year.
• I can't and won't root for the Chiefs to lose. While Nick Wright might have helped kick off the Suck For Luck campaign in Kansas City, his reasoning was for the fans to actually have something to cheer for when we're getting blown out. If we're getting blown out, I can't cheer for anything. I don't even want my fantasy team to do well if the Chiefs lose badly. I've been around for some horrible Chiefs football in my days, and it doesn't get any easier from one season to the next as far as losing is concerned. 
• And if the Chiefs do regress this season to a couple-of-wins team, than there is no guarantee that Todd Haley will be back in Kansas City the following season. I am a Haley fan, and I think he will rally the troops (see post below this). But by rooting for a failure this season, it would be like rooting for Haley to be fired. That I can't do.
• And here's the kicker: worst-case scenario Chiefs go 0-16 (hurts even considering it); I have a gut feeling that Scott Pioli (here it comes) wouldn't even draft Andrew Luck. This is completely a gut feeling on my part and has no evidence to back it up, but I just get the vibe that Pioli wouldn't take him. Matt Cassel is in the middle of a six year deal that Pioli himself implemented when he brought him over from New England. Even though Andrew Luck is a "once-in-a-generation" sort of quarterback, drafting him would almost make it look like Pioli made a mistake with the Cassel move. Afterall, Pioli chose to go the route of Cassel opposed to drafting a quarterback in 2009 (Mark Sanchez and Josh Freeman would have both been available). 
• Besides, it's not like Andrew Luck is going to be the only quarterback available in the first round, and it's not like Andrew Luck is going to be the only franchise quarterback that comes out of that draft. With Matt Barkley and Landry Jones also probably entering the draft, either are first-round talent and both are highly regarded. You don't have to be the number one overall pick to be a Super Bowl winning quarterback. 

Why the Suck For Luck campaign has me slightly excited

• Although it's theoretically possible for the Chiefs to go 14-2, it's also possible the Chiefs don't win a game this season, which the scores would lead you to believe is all but a certainty. And since I know I can't enjoy watching the Chiefs lose no matter the circumstances, a Suck For Luck campaign offers a light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel kind of feel that could possibly numb some of the pain. 
• By the way, that light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel feeling, that's what the prospect of having the organization's first true franchise quarterback feels like. The Chiefs have never had a drafted quarterback that has turned out to be anything at all, and although we've had our opportunities in the first round, they've all been failures. But Luck is different; any scout or analyst will tell you so. He is as close to a sure thing as you can have, and he can finally be that final piece that the Chiefs need to be not just good, but great. 
• If baring through an awful season leads to the drafting of a player that could change the course of the franchise for the better for the next 15 years, isn't that worth it? After seeing Cassel in the first two weeks of the season, it's hard to argue that theory.