The 7 Best Moments of the Kansas City Chiefs' 2011-12 Season

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The 2011-12 season was an interesting football year for Kansas City Chiefs fans.

The Chiefs kicked off the season 0-3 and were last place in the league in points scored and gave up the most points after two weeks of football. The Chiefs were not expected to improve from their early drought.

But when it was least expected, Kansas City fought back and took first place in the AFC West at the halfway point of the NFL season. But the struggles never went away.

Kansas City dealt with injuries and humiliating losses that resulted in the loss of a head coach.

Regardless of the outcome, the Kansas City Chiefs gave their fans some things for them to remember a few years down the road.

Let's take a trip down memory lane and look back at the best moments from the 2011-12 season.

Oct. 2: Chiefs Pick Up First Win of Season

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It was a battle between two winless teams at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs hosted the Minnesota Vikings, both with an 0-3 record. The Chiefs took advantage of playing against a bad team and made the most out of it as they earned their first victory of the season.

Ryan Succop had the game of his life by making five field goals and not missing a single attempt. One of his field goal attempts came from 54 yards out, which was the longest of his career.

Despite struggling all game long to get into the end zone, Cassel found Bowe in the fourth quarter for a nice catch-and-run play that resulted in a touchdown.

The Chiefs defeated the Vikings to earn their first victory of the season, 22-17.

Oct. 9: Chiefs Come Back at Indianapolis

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The Chiefs were given another chance to earn a victory against another winless team in the Indianapolis Colts. Early on, it looked like the Colts had it in the bag, but the Chiefs never backed down.

Pierre Garcon was having a field day against the Chiefs with four catches for 119 yards and two touchdown catches in the first half. The Colts got off to a 17-0 start and had a 24-7 lead at halftime.

In the second half, the Chiefs shut out Curtis Painter and the Colts hot offense. Garcon had only one catch for six yards in the second half.

Bowe got the Chiefs going in the first half with a touchdown catch-and-run and had a circus catch in the end zone during the second half. Steve Breaston contributed as well by scoring a pair of touchdowns.

Bowe and Breaston both caught two touchdowns, which was enough to help the Chiefs come back to defeat the Colts, 28-24.

Oct. 23: Chiefs Defense Picks 6

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Chiefs fans have not enjoyed a dominant performance from the defense since Derrick Thomas earned seven sacks in a single game.

Kansas City's defense kicked off the game with a bang early on. Kyle Boller threw an interception on the first drive of the game to Kendrick Lewis. Lewis took the interception back for a touchdown as the Chiefs drew first blood.

From that point on, the Chiefs defense never looked back. Brandon Flowers helped the Chiefs get another pick-six for the Chiefs when Carson Palmer came in for the Raiders in the second half. It was the second interception of the game for Flowers.

Other defensive players who snagged an interception were Brandon Carr, Travis Daniels and Jon McGraw in the 28-0 victory.

Halloween: Monday Night Miracle at Arrowhead

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Arguably, the biggest miracle in franchise history.

Kansas City and San Diego squared off on Halloween on "Monday Night Football" with first place in the AFC West on the line.

After a hard-fought battle between both teams, the Chargers looked like they had the game after a hot drive late in the fourth quarter. However, it was Philip Rivers' fumbled snap that got everyone on their feet at Arrowhead Stadium as fans around the world watched in disbelief.

The Chiefs took advantage of the fumbled snap and won the game in overtime after Succop came away with the game-winning boot, 23-20 in overtime.

Dec. 12: Chiefs Fire Todd Haley

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Following the team's franchise-record fifth blowout loss of the season, Chiefs fans had a feeling Todd Haley's 37-10 loss against the New York Jets would be his final game as the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Monday morning headlines spoke about how embarrassing Sunday's loss was to the Jets as Haley received a penalty from the officials. Soon after the newspapers were read, many reports came out after the Chiefs confirmed that Haley was relieved of his duties as head coach after a 5-8 record in 2011.

After the "Monday Night Football" miracle, the Chiefs lost six days later to the winless Miami Dolphins, 31-3. The Chiefs' ugly collapse led to Pioli and owner Clark Hunt making the decision to fire Haley, as they felt it was in the best interest of the franchise to move on without him.

Although this isn't a positive highlight, Chiefs fans felt this was long overdue and were happy to see Haley out of town.

Dec. 18: Chiefs Hand Undefeated Packers First Loss

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By far, this was the most rapturous game of the year for the Chiefs. This was their "Super Bowl." The Chiefs did the impossible and ended Green Bay's 19-game winning streak.

The Chiefs gave Aaron Rodgers issues all game long as he was sacked four times. Kansas City's defense held Rodgers and Green Bay to a season-low of only 14 points.

The stunning  win came after the Chiefs had named Romeo Crennel as the interim head coach and Kyle Orton as the starting quarterback for the first time since picking him up off of waivers in November.

The Chiefs defeated the Packers, 19-14.

New Year's Day: New Year, New Team

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The Chiefs were simply playing for themselves since they were eliminated from playoff contention after Week 16. But the Chiefs wanted to seek revenge against Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos after what happened earlier in the season.

For the Chiefs, they dominated, at least on defense.

Denver only put up three points as Tebow fumbled once and threw an interception to Brandon Carr.

Tebow had a 20.6 quarterback rating as the Broncos were held to a season-low of three points. The Chiefs defeated the Broncos in the regular season finale, 7-3.