SAM FARMER / ON THE NFL Kansas City's Todd Haley cites role models for Chiefs

Coach points to the '89 Steelers and '99 Jets — both of which recovered from early setbacks — as he addresses a K.C. team that lost big in its NFL opener.

"I was a little nervous before that talk," Haley conceded in a phone interview. "You have to organize your thoughts and talk it through pretty clearly when you're talking to them, especially about those Steelers, because you're talking about something that happened when these players were infants, mostly."

Haley spoke to his team before Wednesday's practice and, for inspiration, invoked two up-from-the-rubble teams: the 1989 Pittsburgh Steelers and 1999 New York Jets. Both of those teams overcame big setbacks to advance further than anyone could have imagined.

The Kansas City Chiefs coach, whose 0-1 team plays at Detroit on Sunday, is at a pivotal moment in his career. His team needs to make a better showing than it did in a 41-7 loss to Buffalo in its opener, and the Chiefs must do so without second-year safety Eric Berry , one of their best players, who's done for the season because of a knee injury.

The Chiefs, who won 10 games and the AFC West last season, weren't the only playoff team to stumble. Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis were stomped in their openers, but at least each of those teams plays at home Sunday. (Seattle lost too, and the Seahawks were a playoff team, but how much can be expected of a team that reached the 2010 postseason with a 7-9 record?)

"The Steelers feel like we do; they got trounced and they lost a player they really need," Haley said, referring to injured tackle Willie Colon. "Indianapolis feels like we do; they got trounced and they've lost their quarterback. Atlanta, Seattle — how do they respond? We're in that category."

Haley has a personal connection to both the '89 Steelers and '99 Jets. His father, Dick Haley, was Pittsburgh's longtime personnel director and was still with the franchise in '89 when the team lost its first two games, 51-0 at home and 41-10. The Steelers regrouped to finish 9-7 — with Chuck Noll winning NFL coach of the year for the only time in his career — and made it to the divisional round of the playoffs before losing to Denver.

"If you're not careful, a devastating loss can drag you down," Haley said. "The Steelers didn't let 51-0 do that to them."

Dwight Stone, a receiver from that Steelers team, called Haley this week with some words of encouragement. Stone also played for the '99 Jets — Haley was the receivers coach — when New York lost quarterback Vinny Testaverde in its opener and wound up losing six of seven. That team regrouped too, winning seven of its final nine to finish 8-8 and narrowly miss the postseason.

That Jets team, Haley said, spent too much time trying to find the ideal replacement for Testaverde rather than trusting the player they had in backup quarterback Ray Lucas. Once the team turned to Lucas, it began to string victories.

The way Haley sees it, losing Berry has the Chiefs in a similar situation, and an unfamiliar one since Kansas City didn't lose a single starter because of injury or illness for more than one game last season.

"I don't think you can ever count on saying you're going to replace Eric Berry with the next Eric Berry," Haley said about the first Chiefs rookie to make the Pro Bowl since the late Derrick Thomas in 1989. Berry played about 1,100 snaps last season, more than any of his teammates.

"It's got to be a collective effort to replace a guy that gives you that many snaps and that much production," Haley said. "But I think that's what good coaches are for. You've got to find the solution."