"His name has been hot, and it has been mud. In Kansas City these days, it is at least part of the buzz on who might replace Todd Haley as Chiefs coach.

Josh McDaniels is high on the list, the polarizing former Denver Broncos head coach who's now offensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams. The gambling website Bovada lists McDaniels as the second-best bet, behind only interim coach Romeo Crennel, with the odds listed Thursday at 5-to-2 that McDaniels will lead the Chiefs in 2012.

In some ways, it makes sense. He worked with Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli when both were with the New England Patriots, and McDaniels was the Patriots' coordinator when quarterback Matt Cassel was forced into the starting lineup in 2008 after Tom Brady suffered a knee injury. The Patriots, facing the same stacked deck as the 0-13 Indianapolis Colts faced this year without starting quarterback Peyton Manning, instead finished 11-5 that season.

Crennel, whose odds of remaining the Chiefs' head coach were listed at 2-to-1, worked with McDaniels in New England. Still a young coach now at 35 years old, McDaniels was a defensive quality-control coach under Crennel, who at the time was the Patriots' coordinator.

"A good football mind," Crennel said this week. "You could tell then that he had a future.""