Kansas City Chiefs defeat New England Patriots, 26-16

Could the circumstances of a pair of teams that each began the day at 6-4 have been any different?

The Chiefs hammer the Patriots, 26-16 (it felt, and was, much worse than that), and the divisional water is still up to their nostrils. The Patriots are shoved around by the Chiefs and they're no worse off than they were when the day dawned. Compared to the Chiefs, they're sitting in the penthouse gazing down at the peasants, in complete control of their playoff destiny.
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The Patriots were in trouble from the start in yesterday's 26-16 loss to the Chiefs, but any hopes of making a comeback centered on a good second-half defensive performance.

When they forced Kansas City to punt for the first time, that was a start. But the next time the Chiefs, who led, 19-3, at the half, got the ball, they went 68 yards in two plays to take a commanding 23-point lead.

The dagger was a 52-yard strike from Trent Green to Dante Hall, which amounted to ...

New England hoped consecutive wins the past two weeks against New Orleans and Miami, teams that have combined to win seven games this season, were signs that a level of consistency had been attained.

Yesterday's visit to the Midwest, which ended with a 26-16 loss to the Chiefs, was further proof of consistency.

Play bad teams, win; play good teams, lose.

Welcome to NFL mediocrity.

As has been the case most of the season when the Patriots have faced a playoff-ca...

The Kansas City Chiefs did their homework all week. Yesterday they passed the test.

After six days spent studying every move the Patriots' receivers made this season and every throw Tom Brady delivered to them, Gunther Cunningham's defense hounded and harassed Brady into four interceptions, tipping balls, tapping his receivers, tipping him upside down, and trashing his running game until there was little left of what once had been New England's offense.

Gone was the ...