Broncos Clock Chiefs Another Playoff Setback For Kansas City

Time was preciously slipping away Sunday - the drive, the game, the season for the Kansas City Chiefs. It was the final seconds and the Chiefs trailed by four points and were deep in Denver Broncos territory. Click, click, click. A ball of confusion. Tick, tick tick.

And then, suddenly, after a fourth-and-2 Chiefs pass from the Denver Broncos 20 fell harmlessly into the end zone, there was no time left for Kansas City. No football, either. Another glorious regular-season wasted. Another dream dashed.

Denver did it. It created an imaginative offensive plan and assembled a daring, forceful defensive scheme and then put both into action. Denver stuffed the Chiefs running game and then punched their defense with a grinding ground game. It mixed the run and pass efficiently on offense and dared the Chiefs to win with their passing game. A gamble. A roll of the dice. A lucky seven.

Denver won, 14-10, in Arrowhead Stadium before 76,965 stunned and disappointed fans who once again saw their beloved Chiefs earn homefield advantage throughout the playoffs only to lose in their first playoff game. In 1995, it was the Indianapolis Colts who strode in here and pulled the upset. Now this from Denver, one of the Chiefs’ nastiest rivals.

Denver (14-4) plays at Pittsburgh (12-5) Sunday for the American Football Conference championship and the right to represent the AFC in Super Bowl XXXII on Jan. 25.

Kansas City (13-4) stays home.

“I don’t know - this is the second time we had the table set,” said a stoic and hurt Marcus Allen, the Chiefs’ special running back. “There is not a lot of rhetoric right now. There is nothing but disappointment.”

It was the end, though, that befuddled all.

Kansas City got the ball at its 17 with 4:04 left and down 14-10. Everything was set for a game-winning drive.

The Chiefs moved upfield and at the two-minute mark they were at their own 49. Coming out of that timeout, quarterback Elvis Grbac hit receiver Andre Rison on a 23-yard gain.

Ball at the Denver 28 now and Kansas City had one time out left. It inexplicably used it.

And then on the next three pass plays of one, three and four yards, the Chiefs did not get out of bounds. That set up fourth-and-2 from the Denver 20.

And then Kansas City, rather than going for the first down, tried the Grbac pass to receiver Lake Dawson in the end zone.

Cornerback Darrien Gordon was there to swat it away, and in, effect, swat the Chiefs away. Only 12 seconds remained. One Denver snap and - poof!

- it was all up in smoke for the Chiefs.

Why call a time out after the two-minute warning had just given you one?

“Because I thought at that point in time I wanted to make sure that we got everything organized and ready to go,” said coach Marty Schottenheimer.

Why throw a 20-yard pass into the end zone when you need two yards for a first down?

Grbac’s answer: “It was fourth down and we had some communication problems with the head set and the crowd noise. I couldn’t hear. It really was even before that play that I had to call plays on my own.”

In a word, this is what the Kansas City clock management in that final situation was: horrible.

“They certainly looked confused,” said Broncos cornerback Ray Crockett.

“I was really surprised at the end,” said Broncos end Alfred Williams. “He went for the whole thing when they only needed a couple of yards for a first down.”

“I don’t know what was going on with that,” Gordon said. “It’s something for them to think about for all of their offseason.”

Broncos 14, Chiefs 10

Denver 0 7 0 7 - 14

Kansas City 0 0 10 0 - 10

Second quarter Den-Davis 1 run (Elam kick), 1:56.

Third quarter KC-FG Stoyanovich 20, 9:42.

KC-Gonzalez 12 pass from Grbac (Stoyanovich kick), :12.

Fourth quarter Den-T.Davis 1 run (Elam kick), 12:32.

A-76,965.

Den KC First downs 16 18 Rushes-yards 32-109 24-77 Passing 163 226 Punt Returns 1-36 1-10 Kickoff Returns 3-71 3-69 Interceptions Ret. 0-00 0-00 Comp-Att-Int 10-19-0 24-37-0 Sacked-Yards Lost 1-7 4-34 Punts 6-36.2 5-46.4 Fumbles-Lost 4-2 2-0 Penalties-Yards 8-64 7-65 Time of Possession 28:54 31:06 Individual statistics RUSHING-Denver, Davis 25-101, Griffith 4-9, Loville 2-0, Elway 1-(minus 1). Kansas City, Allen 12-37, Grbac 4-22, Anders 3-9, Bennett 3-4, Aguiar 1-3, Hill 1-2.

PASSING-Denver, Elway 10-19-0-170. Kansas City, Grbac 24-37-0-260.

RECEIVING-Denver, McCaffrey 3-56, Sharp 2-33, Smith 2-19, Carswell 1-26, Green 1-19, Davis 1-17. Kansas City, Rison 8-110, Popson 5-26, Gonzalez 3-26, Dawson 2-20, Anders 2-4, Horn 1-50, Hughes 1-13, Allen 1-8, Vanover 1-3.

MISSED FIELD GOAL-Kansas City, Stoyanovich 44 (WL).

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: AFC countdown Divisional playoffs Pittsburgh 7, New England 6 Denver 14, Kansas City 10 Conference championship Denver at Pittsburgh 9:30 p.m. Sunday (NBC)