Kansas City Chiefs' Conservative Game Plan Results in Blowout To Chargers, 31-0

There are two ways to gamble when you are playing with house money! You can either say, "what the heck" throw caution to the wind and go for the big bucks, or you can place small bets one at a time and try to wait for a great hand to be dealt to you. The Kansas City Chiefs chose to place small bets all game long against the San Diego Chargers and when the final horn sounded they realized the Chargers had won all the chips.

The Chiefs conservative play calling on both sides of the ball, allowed the Chargers to take control of the game early. Kansas City appeared to have little interest in advancing the ball down field. Without starting quarterback Matt Cassell, who was out after undergoing an appendectomy operation last Tuesday, Kansas City seemed unwilling to allow back up quarterback Brodie Croyle the opportunity to turn it loose and play with the houses money. With numerous offensive weapons at his disposal in Jamaal Charles, Thomas Jones, Dexter McCluster, Tony Moeaki and Dwayne Bowe, the Chiefs chose to run into the line of scrimmage over and over on first and second down and continually throw short of the sticks on third down. Three times in the first half the Chargers forced Kansas City into a quick punt, only to take possession and move the ball into Kansas City territory stopping in the end zone for seven points and a dance!  During Sundays telecast early in the fourth quarter with Kansas City trailing 24-0  television analyst Steve Tasker, after watching the Chiefs run the ball into the line on two consecutive plays in their end of the field, commented and chuckled, "Kansas City has chosen to go the ultra conservative route today"

The Kansas City defense fared only slightly better than their offense as San Diego quarterback Phillip Rivers received very little pressure from Kansas City's front four. Facing little to no blitzing, Rivers was able to set up the run and pass at will against the Chiefs soft zone coverages. The Chargers scored on three consecutive possessions en route to a 21-0 halftime lead. In the second half Romeo Crennell dialed up a little more pressure on Rivers resulting in a sack and fumble by Tamba Hali and an interception by rookie Eric Berry. Neither turnover resulted in points for the Chiefs.

The inability of the Kansas City offense to stay on the field coupled with the inability of the defense to get off the field resulted in a rather long and humiliating day for the Chiefs. The offense gained only 80 yards on the day 19 yards short of the franchise record low of 61 yards.while the defense gave up 423 total yards to the Chargers.

The Chiefs entered Sundays contest at 8-4 with a two game lead over the defending AFC West Champion Chargers who trailed with a record of 6-6 with three games remaining. Had Kansas City won this game it would have eliminated the Chargers attempt to capture the division for a fifth consecutive season. For now the Chiefs have no margin for error coming down the stretch. With San Diego trailing by just one game and holding the tiebreaker advantages over the Chiefs, Kansas City must finish ahead of the Chargers in order to capture the division.

The Chiefs also missed on an opportunity to close out the Oakland Raiders who dropped to 6-7 after losing to Jacksonville on Sunday 38-31. With a victory Sunday the Chiefs would have needed to win only once more in their remaining three games to clinch the division. By staying only 2 games ahead of the Raiders, the Chiefs have made things more interesting. Lose another game, and they put themselves in the position of having to defeat the Raiders in the final game of the regular season at Arrowhead.

It calls into question whether or not Matt Cassell will be healthy enough to play next week at St, Louis. You would have thought Kansas City would take a chance and let Brodie Croyle be more aggressive knowing they had nothing to lose with a two game lead. Maybe Kansas City didn't want to risk Croyle getting hurt against San Diego and not having Cassell available next week also. This would leave practice squad call up quarterback Tyler Palko as the teams only option going to St. Louis.

Personally, I would have said "what the heck" and threw all my chips on the table today. Bet big.and win and you eliminate what may have been your biggest challenge to a division title. Bet small and lose, you give the other players at the table a chance to collect more chips and hang around. I mean after all you were playing with house money today!

dwayne davis