MONDAY NIGHT Ex-coach returns to Kansas City

Gunther Cunningham is now an assistant with the Titans.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Gunther Cunningham is proof that time, and a healthy lack of ego, can heal any pain.
Cunningham first came to coach in Tennessee bitter and upset over being fired as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs. He returns on Monday night to coach against the Titans as defensive coordinator of the Chiefs, and he said Tuesday it will be especially emotional for him.
"I tell you, it took me 10 hours to say good-bye to the support people in that facility when I went back. You just can't imagine, when you get to be my age and you feel like your whole life has fallen apart professionally, and you meet people like I met down there," he said. "And that starts with the head coach."
Thanks, Jeff
Cunningham credits Titans coach Jeff Fisher with resurrecting his career by hiring him as linebackers coach in 2001 shortly after the Chiefs fired him after a 16-16 record in two seasons. Cunningham learned of his firing on the Internet.
He came to Nashville, a short drive from where his mother lived, and took over a veteran group of linebackers. The Titans switched gears in 2002 and went younger with Keith Bulluck and Peter Sirmon. "He had a real way of forming a special bond with each person and kind of figuring out what each person's personality was and pulling you aside at the right time," Sirmon said.
Cunningham said being on Fisher's staff revived his love of the sport.
"I walked into the room every day or into the office and it was camaraderie, it was respect and it was people feeling about the game like I feel about it," he said.
"That is when I decided I could do anything."