AP

We have our second head coach removal of the 2011 regular season.

The Chiefs announced that Todd Haley has been fired by the team.

Haley’s removal isn’t a huge shock, although the timing of the move is a surprise. The Chiefs are 5-8, but they had been playing hard in recent weeks until Sunday’s blowout loss against the Jets.

(Apparently a bean bag game and a beard can only do so much.)

There was talk that Haley almost lost his job after last season, and that was when the Chiefs nabbed a surprising playoff spot. Kansas City went 19-27 in Haley’s three seasons, including the playoff loss to the Ravens.

“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 a 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.”

Haley was Pioli’s choice as head coach, but the friction between them was the NFL’s worst kept secret. The two men seemed to diverge on how a team should be run. It makes you wonder if something happened Sunday night to speed up this decision.

Let the Josh McDaniels speculation begin.