Kansas City, Bono Share Sunny Outlook This Season

Oh, the futility.

A paltry 494 yards gained in two games. A measly 3.7 yards per rush. An offense that generated one touchdown last Sunday. A quarterback who was 11 of 19 for 135 yards.

Only Cincinnati’s team stats are more of an eyesore.

The Seattle Seahawks? No, it’s 2-0 Kansas City, perhaps the best team in the AFC and Seattle’s opponent Sunday in the Kingdome.

Kansas City’s game is field position, special teams, dominating defense and a quarterback who doesn’t gum up the winning formula.

Steve Bono’s numbers (32 of 56, 327 yards) are barely better than Seattle’s Rick Mirer (31 of 52, 304 yards). The exception: Bono has three touchdowns and zero interceptions - the opposite of Mirer.

“He does a good job of making sure if we don’t get it, they don’t get it,” Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer said of Bono. “That’s always been a high priority around here.”

“There are a lot of people on his (Bono’s) back,” Chiefs cornerback Dale Carter said. “But we’re winning and that’s the only thing Steve’s worried about.”

Bono led the Chiefs to a 13-3 record last year, but was grilled for throwing three interceptions in a playoff loss to Indianapolis. Bono was replaced by Rich Gannon in the fourth quarter.

“Definitely for me, it was my worst game last year,” Bono said. “That loss isn’t going to go away, but I’ve tried to use it positively.”

Schottenheimer felt he made the right move. “The only thing that would have confirmed it is if we’d gone on and won the game,” he said.

But Schottenheimer admitted quarterback controversies - like the one that’s festering in Seattle - can be divisive.

“I experienced it (a QB controversy) when I was a player and that’s the thing that’s made me try to avoid it as best as I could,” Schottenheimer said.

New England “acquired Joe Kapp in a trade and, in a couple of weeks, Joe was inserted in the lineup, and it split the team right down the middle.”

Mirer, who hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass since the 12th game of the 1995 season, will start against the Chiefs. However, he was benched in favor of John Friesz for the second half of last Sunday’s loss to Denver. Ironically, Friesz’s stats were exactly the same as Bono’s - 11 of 19, one touchdown - except Friesz had 137 yards to Bono’s 135.

An unsettled QB position is “difficult for coaches, players, everyone,” Schottenheimer said. “I’ve always been a fan of Rick Mirer.”

“We still have a lot of confidence in what we’re doing,” Seattle coach Dennis Erickson said. “Three weeks ago, I felt this was going to be a good football team and I still feel that way.”

The Chiefs, however, won’t give Mirer and Co. much breathing room.

Former Washington State Cougar James Hasty and Dale Carter might be the best cornerback tandem in the AFC. They play sticky man-to-man coverage, freeing up linebackers to stuff the run or blitz.

Linebacker Derrick Thomas sacked Seattle’s Dave Krieg an NFL record seven times in a 1990 game. End Neil Smith had 12 sacks last year.

SI jinx

Sports Illustrated last month predicted Kansas City will win the AFC and defeat Green Bay in the Super Bowl.

That has led to hand-wringing for some Kansas City fans aware of the infamous SI jinx. The theory goes that, if you make SI’s cover, bad things are around the corner.

Schottenheimer, ever the optimist, noted that the picture of the Chiefs’ players wasn’t actually on the cover. That honor went to a handful of Packers.

“We were on the inside cover,” Schottenheimer pointed out, laughing.

Expectations are high, though. Said Derrick Thomas: “I really believe we have the potential to win them all this year.”

, DataTimes