K.C. wins, but gets no help
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In a world of smartphones, text messages and Twitter, there’s a good chance that just about everybody inside Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday knew about the Chiefs’ precarious postseason position.
Well, except for the Chiefs.
Even as they were knocking San Diego from contention with a 19-7 victory, they refused to ask about what was transpiring elsewhere.
It was only later that they learned just how close they were to hitting on a three-team parlay — Baltimore getting beat by Cleveland and Houston losing to Jacksonville — that would have gotten them into the playoffs.
“Nobody knew. Nobody wanted to know,” said the Chiefs’ Chase
“We end up missing the playoffs, so while it’s fresh in the players’ minds, it’s important that they feel how important every game is in this league.”
Andy Reid, Kansas City head coach
Daniel, who started in place of injured quarterback Alex Smith. “We were focused on the game at hand, the task at hand.”
By the time the Chiefs got to their locker room, though, they knew: The Ravens and Texans both rallied in the second half for victories, giving Baltimore the final AFC wildcard spot.
“We end up missing the playoffs,” Kansas City head coach Andy Reid said, “so while it’s fresh in the players’ minds, it’s important that they feel how important every game is in this league. There’s so much parity in the league and these games are so close.”
The playoff disappointment overshadowed plenty of positives Sunday.
Justin Houston had four sacks for the Chiefs (9-7) to break Derrick Thomas’ franchise record with 22 in the season. Cairo Santos kicked four field goals, and Daniel played decently in his second NFL start, throwing for 157 yards without an interception.
The Chiefs’ only touchdown came when wide receiver Dwayne Bowe fumbled inches shy of the goal line early in the second quarter. Tight end Travis Kelce recovered in the end zone, not only giving the Chiefs a 10-0 lead, but also keeping a dubious streak intact: No Kansas City wide receiver caught a TD pass all season, the first time in at least 50 years that has happened.
The Chargers (9-7) really didn’t give themselves a chance at the playoffs.
Nick Novak missed a 52-yard field-goal attempt late in the third quarter. Midway through the fourth, a touchdown pass to Eddie Royal was overturned by a review because the ball appeared to skip off the turf. San Diego then went for it on fourth down and Philip Rivers threw incomplete. Then with about four minutes left, Donald Brown was stuffed on 4th-and-1 at the Kansas City 20.