The Scott Pioli-Todd Haley combination was supposed to return the Kansas City Chiefs to relevance. We know how that worked out.
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Pioli, the general manager, fired Haley, the coach, in the midst of a third season. The Chiefs went 19-26 during that span, including a four-win season and 5-8 start to 2011. The Pittsburgh Steelers scooped up Haley during the offseason and put him in charge of their offense.
The Steelers host the Chiefs on "Monday Night Football," and don't think Haley wouldn't like to put it on his former employer.
"He wants to win every game, as we all do," Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger told The Kansas City Star on Wednesday morning. "But without him saying it, you can see it ... anytime you've got a guy on your team who used to play for another team, there's always a little incentive that you want to win for that guy.
"We haven't practiced yet, but throughout meetings and stuff, you can kind of see it a little bit. I don't think he's admitted it yet."
Haley won't admit that he'd like to run up the score on the Chiefs. That's more of a Rex Ryan kind of thing to say publicly. But who wouldn't feel that way inside? Haley was fired one year after winning the AFC West -- after a 2011 season in which running back Jamaal Charles was lost for the season in Week 2. It was his first opportunity as an NFL head coach, and Haley surely believes there was business left unfinished.
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland.
