Gutty Chiefs Beat Steelers In Overtime

From Arrowhead Stadium

On an afternoon when the Steelers Nation took over Arrowhead Stadium and turned it into a Terrible Towel waving horde that made it Heinz Field West, the Chiefs put together their best performance in two years, make that three years, maybe longer than that.

With their normal home-field advantage gone, the Chiefs did not give up. They were not pretty at times, they were far from perfect. But when Ryan Succup’s 22-yard FG pierced the uprights in the east end zone the Chiefs had a 27-24 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

“Obviously it’s a big win for this team,” head coach Todd Haley said. “We’re a young team and I really feel like we’ve been making progress. I felt like going into this game this would be a great opportunity to measure where we are as a team.”

This wasn’t a victory over the horrid Raiders or the bumbling Redskins. These were the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers, the 6-3 on the season Steelers. That Pittsburgh is now 6-4 on the season and the Chiefs are 3-7 was testimony that yes, the red and gold are improving.

“That’s what we’ve wanted to show everybody, that we are getting better as a team,” said WR Bobby Wade. “Sometimes when you are losing it’s hard to see the improvement, but everyone in here knew it was happening. Now, everybody knows, the fans, the media, the rest of the league.”

As unhappy as Chiefs fans have been with the team’s losing ways of late was how unhappy the Chiefs players were when they took the field for warm-ups and found out they were not really playing a home game. They were playing at Heinz Field West. Before they went back to the locker room, veteran LB Brian Waters called the team together and spoke about what was going on in the stands.

“We didn’t like that at all,” said RB Jamaal Charles. “Before the game Brian brought the team together and talked about it. Obviously our fans didn’t think we could win.”

And who could blame them. The Chiefs had not won two consecutive games since October 2007. Nothing in the victory last week over the Raiders revealed anything that would have pointed to a victory against Pittsburgh.

But it happened.

“They are the Super Bowl champions and they are an organization to be like and try to get to,” said QB Matt Cassel. “To come out here and get a big win is huge, for not only this team going forward, but also this organization.”

It started on the very first play of the game, when Charles took back the opening kickoff 97 yards for the Chiefs first kick return touchdown in 71 games, dating back to 2005.

“That just energized everyone,” said TE Leonard Pope. “Jamaal has that kind of ability and to get that too start the game was huge.”

The Steelers reacted as one would expect: they dominated the rest of the first half, getting an eight-yard TD pass from QB Ben Roethlisberger to WR Hines Ward and a pair of Jeff Reed FGs to take a 17-7 lead into intermission.

The Chiefs defense was playing OK, as they forced a fumble at one point. But they couldn’t get the Steelers offense off the field. It was the start of a huge statistical advantage for the Pittsburgh offense, as they finished the game with 515 offensive yards and a nearly two-to-one advantage in time of possession.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs offense was struggling. They finished the first half with just 47 offensive yards, and only 19 passing yards. Cassel was just four of 10 for 35 yards and he’d been sacked twice.

“We couldn’t get any rhythm going and you’ve got to give the Steelers defense a lot of credit for that,” said WR Chris Chambers. “We just kept work and working it.”

The Chiefs defense gave their team an opportunity right at the start of the third quarter. A Roethlisberger pass bounced off the hands of TE Heath Miller and into the arms of OLB Andy Studebaker. That turnover set up a seven-play, 62-yard drive that ended with a Cassel 21-yard touchdown pass to TE Leonard Pope. The Steelers blew the coverage and Pope was wide open on the right side for his first TD catch as a member of the Chiefs.

Succop’s PAT kick made the score 17-14 and suddenly it looked like the second half might be a ball game.

Later in the third quarter, Studebaker struck again. He picked off a pass intended for Ward two yards deep in the end zone and ran it back 94 yards before he was tackled at the Pittsburgh eight-yard line. The Steelers defense rose up in the situation and sacked Cassel twice.

But Succop nailed the 27-yard FG and with only five seconds to play in the third quarter, the score was 17-17.

Pittsburgh pulled ahead when Roethlisberger connected on an eight-yard TD pass to RB Rashard Mendenhall with just nine minutes left in regulation. That possession was set up by the Chiefs only turnover of the day, when Cassel was sacked by LB Lawrence Timmons and coughed up the ball. Steelers LB James Harrison recovered the fumble and set up his offense at the Kansas City 27-yard line.

“I got outside the pocket and I was trying to make a play,” said Cassel. “But the defense was going on the field saying ‘Don’t worry about it.’ I was upset that I let it happen. But to respond the way we did, I think says a lot.”

After struggling to throw the ball all day, suddenly the Chiefs passing offense clicked. On a 3rd-and-9 play, Cassel found WR Lance Long deep down the middle for a 30-yard play. On the next snap, Cassel and Chambers hooked up for a 47-yard gain that took the ball to the Pittsburgh 13-yard line. Four plays later, Cassel threw a short two-yard TD pass to Charles. Succop’s PAT tied the score at 24-all.

Both teams had two more possessions in the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t get close to the end zone and the game went into an extra period. Earlier this year, the Steelers beat Tennessee 13-10 in an extra period, while the Chiefs fell to Dallas 26-20 in an overtime game at Arrowhead in October.

Pittsburgh won the toss kept the ball for five minutes, but the Chiefs defense was up to the task. They chased Roethlisberger from the game, as he suffered a concussion when tackled by Studebaker and Derrick Johnson. Eventually the Steelers punted and the Chiefs got the ball at their own 20-yard line.

On the first play, Charles got a first down on a 10-yard run. Cassel found Pope for a five-yard gain and then the Chiefs QB got lucky. He threw one deep to Chambers, but Pittsburgh’s Ike Taylor grabbed the ball for what looked like an interception. But when he landed on the ground, the ball popped loose and the Chiefs had another play.

On 3rd-and-5, Cassel threw a short pass to Chambers for the first down. But he got away from the Steelers defense and before he was done, it was a 61-yard play and the Chiefs had 1st-and-goal from the Pittsburgh four-yard line.

Haley called Succop in and the 22-yard FG was good.

“It was by no means perfect,” Haley said of his first home victory as a head coach. “You need some positive reinforcement for as hard as these guys work. It’s nice to get a little reward against a team like that.