lmaooo
Chiefs may not be what we thought they were
By SAM MELLINGER
The Kansas City Star
Dwayne Bowe couldn’t make a catch on what would have been a first down with 2:15 left in regulation.
Chiefs wrap: Defining U-G-L-Y
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Chiefs may not be what we thought they were
OAKLAND, Calif. | An hour after the Chiefs’ first real failure this season, birds circled over the field, almost like vultures who know something. Something died on this field, at best a perfect record of improvement, at worst a myth about what the Chiefs are, but either way it changes how the rest of the season is consumed.
The Chiefs don’t deserve your disappointment and frustration just because they lost to the Raiders 23-20 here on Sunday. They lost twice before, and showed more good than bad each time.
No, the Chiefs deserve your disappointment and frustration because of the way they lost. There can be no rationalizations here, no talk about steps being taken or arrows pointing up or a young and developing team getting closer to being good.
Because here is the cold, plain truth: The Chiefs failed in exactly the kind of game they’re built to win.
“We just gotta learn from this,” coach Todd Haley says.
Haley talks about this all the time. He prides on winning ugly. No mistakes. This is how the Chiefs are supposed to win. It’s what they’re about, the genesis of everything they do, and when they needed it most, they failed in a miserable way that leaves them now fighting for a playoff spot instead of looking at a possible first-round bye.
All because they couldn’t take advantage of a day custom-made for their win-ugly mantra.
• • •
Shoot, you want ugly? This one included six fumbles, 27 penalties, dumb decisions by both teams’ coaches, and we’re not even mentioning the referees.
The Raiders took 15 penalties for 140 yards, turned the ball over three times, missed a field goal and still beat a team built on the ability to win ugly games.
Either the Raiders out-Chiefed the Chiefs in winning ugly or the Chiefs out-Raidered the Raiders in giving a game away.
No matter what the answer, Kansas City now faces an uncomfortable week of wondering whether its team has lost its mojo.
“All we can do is keep fighting,” defensive lineman Shaun Smith says. “That’s what we’ll do.”
Over the previous nine quarters — 10, if you count a full overtime against Buffalo — the Chiefs gave away two 10-point fourth quarter leads in Houston, needed luck to beat the league’s last winless team, and now … this.
The Chiefs gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown and wiped out a punt return of their own with a penalty. They lost a field goal on a holding penalty, and at least three more points on an interception at the end of the first half. They took an effective 31-yard penalty on a kick return, and whiffed on fielding the opening kickoff of overtime.
The Chiefs built a half-season’s worth of good vibes on playing solid and smart and gave away what could have been 2010’s defining moment by playing flaky and stupid.
• • •
One loss doesn’t mean disaster, no matter how ugly, no matter how alarming, no matter how inexcusable. In a league built for parity, with no truly dominant teams, everything needs to be taken in context.
The NFL’s best five teams might be the Patriots, Ravens, Steelers, Jets and Colts. Well, the Patriots just got blown out by Cleveland, the Ravens gave up 514 yards to Buffalo two weeks ago, the Steelers scored 24 points total in their two losses, the Jets have been shutout once, and the Colts now have three losses.
In other words, everybody’s got issues. Even the Super Bowl winner will be flawed.
But this loss still puts the Chiefs in a worse spot today than last week. This season has taken us from monitoring a rebuilding process to a playoff push, and the best thing about the Chiefs is they’ve made progress each week.
Haley’s talking point about “a young, developing team” held up because we could see the development.
But now?
• • •
All those Kansas City insecurities are coming back, aren’t they? You’re noticing that none of the Chiefs’ wins came against teams that are above .500, and that when the other team finally stacked against the rush, the Chiefs offense stalled out.
Some of you will cuss Dwayne Bowe for dropping what could have been a game-icing catch in the fourth quarter, or the coaches for giving Jamaal Charles only 10 carries and making bizarre play calls like a deep pass to the tight end on third and 1.
Haley likes to say that great coaches don’t coach the result as much as they cause the result. That thinking helped after the Chiefs’ first two losses, but only makes this one sting worse. For the first time this season, the Chiefs failed.
If they’re a team of solid citizens and hard workers and smart players — as we thought — this will be only a temporary setback during a surprising playoff run.
Then again, if they were the team we thought, they wouldn’t have lost this game.
To reach Sam Mellinger, call 816-234-4365, send e-mail to
[email protected] or follow twitter.com/mellinger. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com
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