For the Chiefs, 24-22 Victory Is a Real Kick

KANSAS CITY —  On a day of football upsets, how about this one: Marty Schottenheimer’s team comes back on John Elway with its own mini-version of the “The Drive” to set up Pete Stoyanovich’s 54-yard winning kick on the final play.

And it was pandemonium at midfield, overwhelmed fans in Arrowhead Stadium racing onto the field, and as a smiling Kansas City running back Marcus Allen kept repeating, “just a great game, just a great game.”

The Kansas City Chiefs (8-3) were ahead, 21-19, with two minutes to play; behind, 22-21, with one minute to play; and then bang, the final gun sounded as Stoyanovich’s kick cleared the crossbar with a yard to spare for a 24-22 victory over the Denver Broncos (9-2) in front of 77,963.

“Given the importance of this game as it relates to the current standings, it’s obviously one of the most important wins that we have had here,” said Schottenheimer, who ran off the field, both fists held high above his head, screaming with delight at the Chiefs’ adoring fans.

This is the same Schottenheimer who is consistently successful until his team reaches the playoffs, who is still in search of coaching greatness, his career most notable as a platform for Elway’s legendary heroics.

It has been a wonderful life, one much better had Elway never been born. But in 14 years as an NFL coach, Schottenheimer’s teams have never had a losing season, winning as many as 10 games a year eight times.

But that Elway--it was Elway who gunned down Schottenheimer’s Cleveland Browns in back-to-back AFC Championship games, and then came back five more times during Schottenheimer’s years in Kansas City to rally the Broncos to victory.

Two minutes to play, and who has the ball and the fate of Schottenheimer’s team in his hands again but Elway, and in a game that could all but clinch the AFC West Division title or recharge the Chiefs with five games left.

Instead of dying a slow death, however, the torture came in a burst of big plays, with Elway moving the Broncos from their 24-yard line to the Kansas City 16 in 17 seconds.

And what was Schottenheimer thinking while staring at another nightmarish ending? “I’m thinking clock management,” said Schottenheimer, and so his team began calling timeouts.

The Broncos responded by making their intentions obvious. They would settle for a go-ahead field goal, and in doing so, would run the ball and force the Chiefs to use their timeouts.

Jason Elam kicked his fifth field goal of the day, a 34-yarder with 1:08 to play, and the Broncos had a 22-21 lead and the Chiefs had no timeouts and an ineffective Rich Gannon at quarterback.

Gannon, a loser in his first start for the Chiefs last week after Elvis Grbac broke his collarbone, had completed two passes in the second half and only seven in the game before Kansas City’s final drive.

The Chiefs had 54 seconds after returning the kick to their 27-yard line, and “The Drive” began with Gannon passing 18 yards to Allen, then passing again to Allen, who had scored his 140th and 141st career touchdowns earlier, for one yard.

“Denver had a hall-of-famer at quarterback, just like we have a hall-of-famer at running back, and their hall-of-famer did his thing, and our hall-of-famer did his,” said Kansas City wide receiver Andre Rison. “Marcus got us going, and that was important.”

Then Rison caught a 12-yard pass from Gannon to keep The Drive moving. The clock was running down, however, and Gannon spiked the ball with 10 seconds to play and the ball at the Denver 42-yard line. The Chiefs, in a panic, were penalized for delay of game, pushing the ball back to the 47.

“Denver was probably thinking about what we did in Oakland earlier this year when we went to the end zone in that situation,” Rison said.

Denver wasn’t thinking at all. Its defense began retreating toward the end zone, almost oblivious to the obvious: Throw a short pass, get some yards, stop the clock and call on Stoyanovich.

“They have a guy 25 yards downfield who’s off Andre,” Gannon said. “I can’t get the ball quick enough to throw it to him.”

Rison, catching the short pass, scared Kansas City supporters by fighting for extra yards before falling out of bounds at the Denver 37 with four seconds to play.

“That’s the difference in the game--Andre fighting for an extra yard,” said Stoyanovich, who kicked a 58-yarder against the Chiefs while employed with the Dolphins. “The ball just made it over the crossbar because Andre got us that extra yard. In pregame warmups I couldn’t hit from that distance; I thought 50 yards was our max in that direction.

“Looking at it and what it meant to our team, it was probably the kick of my career,” said Stoyanovich, who was buried by teammates. “At one point, I had to ask everyone to get off me because I had a hard time breathing.”

This one took the air out of the Broncos too. They stood stunned in the middle of the Chiefs’ party. But then, moments later, Elway was predicting another comeback.

“We’ve got five games left, so this isn’t going to make or break our season,” he said. “One thing is for sure, we’ll bounce back.”