The Kansas City Chiefs fired head coach Todd Haley effective immediately on Monday after the team dropped to 5-8 following their loss at New York to the Jets.

“This was a difficult decision but one that we feel is best for the future of the Chiefs,” Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt said in a statement. “Although there have been bright spots at different points this season, we have not made meaningful progress and we felt that it was necessary to make a change. We appreciate Todd’s contributions during his time with the club, and we wish him well in the future.”

Haley led the Chiefs to a 10-6 record last season and a AFC West Division title and becomes the fall guy for a team that lost their star running back Jamaal Charles  in week two of the season. That injury came after tight end Tony Moeaki was lost in the preseason. Matters became worse when starting quarterback Matt Cassel went down with a hand injury, pushing quarterback Tyler Palko into the starting job.

“Todd helped this team in many valuable ways over the past three seasons, and I am thankful for his contributions,” Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli said in the statement. “Unfortunately, we have not been able to establish the kind of consistency we need to continue to build a strong foundation for the future and we believe a change is important at this time.”

In a recent poll on Missourinet.com, over 80% of our respondents felt Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo would be fired before Haley.