Chiefs, Smith head into offseason with more questions

KANSAS CITY, MO. » The final pass Alex Smith threw this season was an incompletion over the middle on fourth down, one that would have given the Kansas City Chiefs a chance to kick a winning field goal had he completed it.

It may ultimately be his final pass with the Chiefs, too.

Smith is under contract next season, but the cash-strapped Chiefs are expected to trade or release the veteran quarterback and turn the franchise over to first-round pick Patrick Mahomes II. And if that is the case, Smith’s career in Kansas City will be summed up by that errant throw over the middle.

He was good enough to lead the Chiefs to the playoffs.

He wasn’t good enough to lead them much farther.

“I’ll get into all that in the next couple of weeks,” said Smith, who did say that he wants to remain with Kansas City, but ultimately knows the decision is out of his hands.

“I’m under contract for another year,” he said. “Like I said, I’m not thinking about anything else. Right now, I’m obviously disappointed. Like I said, I felt like we had a good chance. It’s gone. It’s over.”

As the Chiefs head into the offseason after a 22-21 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Saturday, a game in which they blew a 21-3 halftime lead, the biggest question mark becomes their quarterback situation.

Smith certainly made it a tougher decision than most had expected.

He threw for more than 4,000 yards for the first time, and he had 26 touchdown passes with just five interceptions during the regular season. He led the Chiefs to backto-back AFC West titles for the first time in franchise history, made the playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons and set all kinds of club records along the way, including pass attempts and postseason touchdown passes.