Bengals keep promise, hand Chiefs first loss

CINCINNATI -- Those 1972 Dolphins can pop the corks and make the toast now. The NFL's only perfect record is safe for one more season.

Cincinnati's Peter Warrick eclipsed Kansas City's playmakers with a 68-yard punt return and a 77-yard touchdown catch, setting up a 24-19 victory Sunday.

Trying to become the first team since 1998 to start 10-0, the Chiefs instead unraveled against the up-and-coming Bengals (5-5), who backed up their boast and finished the day tied for first.

Receiver Chad Johnson repeatedly guaranteed the victory all week, and the Bengals pulled it off in front of a record crowd of 64,923 at Paul Brown Stadium. The victory moved them into a first-place tie with Baltimore in the AFC North. The Bengals haven't been in contention this late in a season since 1990, the last time they had a winning season.

Trent Green threw two touchdown passes in the final seven minutes, the last one a 3-yard toss to Jason Dunn with 3:19 to go. The Chiefs never got the ball back.

Rudi Johnson ran for 165 yards and Jon Kitna threw two touchdown passes and avoided a game-turning mistake as Cincinnati positioned itself to pull off the upset. Warrick finished with six catches for a career-high 114 yards.

-- AssociatedPress